Deep underneath the central Israeli city of Ramat Gan, medics lined up beds and checked monitors in the underground parking garage of one of Israel’s largest hospitals, as barrages of Iranian missiles flew overhead for a second consecutive day.
At Sheba Medical Center, what was until a day ago a routine parking lot has been transformed into a fortified hospital complex, housing maternity wards, an emergency department and specialist units.
Medical staff were seen moving equipment through concrete corridors, preparing delivery rooms and monitoring patients in the underground facility.
The strikes the United States and Israel launched as part of a large-scale assault on Saturday (February 28), killing Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, plunged the region into a conflict that, according to President Trump, aims to grant Iranians a chance to topple the regime.
As retaliatory missiles were fired from Iran towards Israel, many hospitals have taken the initiative to secure their wards and ensure the safety of patients, with hospitals moving patients to underground facilities.
At Sheba medical centre, Israel's biggest hospital, staff said they took a step forward and decided to move all their wards, including 2000 beds, to the underground parking lot located beneath the hospital.
The underground parking lot was converted overnight to a vast complex complete with operating and delivery rooms, they said.
“Nothing was here yesterday,” said Michal Fishel Bartal, head of the Maternal Fetal Medicine Division at Sheba Medical Center. “Yesterday around 8 a.m. (0600 GMT) when we got the alarms that things started, all the people from the division came to help, and construction from Sheba Medical Centre created this amazing place in order for patients to deliver safely underground.”
Fishel Bartal said that 10 labour and delivery rooms have been installed, including three induction rooms and an operating room for caesarean sections.
Located near Tel Aviv, Sheba's underground hospital also accommodates an emergency department, as well as neurological and neurosurgery units, said Dr. Yoel Har Even, VP Sheba Global.
Har Even said the relocation was driven by concerns over the destructive power of incoming missiles.
In June 2025, when Israel fought a two-week war against the Iranian regime, an Iranian missile ripped through Soroka Medical Center in southern Israel, injuring dozens and causing severe damage.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards said then they had targeted Israeli military and intelligence headquarters near the hospital. An Israeli military official denied there were military targets nearby.
“We understand that we’re in a different story because these missiles can now carry up to 1,000 kilos of explosive and there is no building that can take this amount of explosion,” Har Even said. “Therefore, the decision was made to bring all patients, between 2,000 beds that Sheba has, underground to a safe and sheltered place.”
(Production: Yigal Elimelech, Andreea Popescu, Lee Marzel)