Beyond War: Israel’s New Emergency Drills Prepare for Total Infrastructure Collapse in the North

In a rare intersection of legal drama and national security, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu briefly stepped away from his ongoing trial on Tuesday to participate in a large scale emergency simulation in Northern Israel. Joining via video call from the Tel Aviv District Court, the Prime Minister oversaw an intensive activation at Ziv Medical Center in Safed, which focused on the state’s ability to handle catastrophic mass casualty events. The drill, which simulated both devastating earthquake damage and heavy missile barrages, pushed Israel's medical infrastructure to its absolute limit.

Health Minister Haim Katz led the operations on-site, coordinating with the Home Front Command and top medical officials. Netanyahu told the presiding judges that the exercise was a major deployment of field hospitals in the north, noting that a drill of this magnitude had not been held in 15 years. The simulation forced hospital teams to practice rapid reorganization, managing the intake of hundreds of simulated wounded patients while dealing with theoretical failures in local infrastructure.

A central component of the exercise was the deployment of Sheba Medical Center’s civilian field hospital capability. Known as a "hospital-in-a-box," this mobile unit is designed to provide full surgical, diagnostic, and pediatric care in disaster zones where traditional buildings may be compromised. Sheba Director Yitzhak Kreiss briefed the Prime Minister on the facility's readiness to surge during a national disaster, ensuring that lifesaving care remains uninterrupted even if the main hospital buildings are damaged or unreachable.

Local officials and the Home Front Command focused on "worst-case" scenarios that go beyond the usual threat of rockets. The exercise tracked a massive earthquake scenario, highlighting a shift in preparedness toward total civil collapse in the northern region. This includes the possibility of medical centers becoming "isolated islands" due to road destruction and communication blackouts. By integrating civilian field hospitals with existing medical centers like Ziv, the Ministry of Health aims to create a flexible, reinforced network capable of sustaining the population through the most severe trials of war or natural disaster.