(Haipo) – Following the escalation with Iran, the protected underground hospital at Rambam was activated this morning (Monday, June 8, 2026), and medical activity was moved underground. One of the first operations performed was a surgical procedure on a patient's brain - removal of electrodes - which was performed in her bed on floor minus three, in parking lot number 846.
The underground hospital was activated following the security escalation.
For over two and a half years, the protected underground hospital has been operating at Rambam in various shifts. The unique facility was established as a hospital designed to provide a full medical response in any scenario. This morning, following the escalation with Iran, Rambam began lowering medical activity underground. The patient was transferred to the neurology department on floor minus three, where the surgical procedure was performed in her bed. This is a minor surgery, dozens of which are performed each year on epilepsy patients, and it does not harm brain function but rather pinpoints the focus that requires further treatment.
Brain depth mapping to locate the epileptic focus
The advanced investigation involves inserting electrodes of minimal diameter into the brain tissue for in-depth mapping. The electrodes remain in the brain for several days, during which time the patients are hospitalized and the seizures are monitored in sufficient quantity to collect the information necessary for the success of the procedure. This is a complex process, which is navigated at Rambam by Prof. Yitzhak Schiller and Dr. Moshe Hershkowitz, neurologists with special expertise in epilepsy. The procedure performed this morning – removing the electrodes from the brain – is in fact the end of the first part of the procedure. The procedure was performed by Prof. Muni Benifala, director of the pediatric neurosurgery unit and an epilepsy surgeon at Rambam.
Next step: Surgery to neutralize the epileptogenic zone
About a month after the mapping phase, the second part of the procedure is carried out – the treatment phase of the epileptogenic area. At this stage, the neurosurgeons perform a minimally invasive surgery, the aim of which is to neutralize the area defined as the "diseased area causing epilepsy" through burning or excision. This is a complex two-stage procedure, which is carried out at Rambam as part of the comprehensive treatment of epilepsy patients, and continues to take place even in the emergency conditions of the underground hospital, while maintaining a full medical level and responding to the needs of the patients.