Lebanese woman with gunshot wound gets lifesaving treatment in Safed hospital

By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
A 47-year-old unidentified Lebanese woman was admitted to Ziv Hospital in Safed on Saturday afternoon as she was brought to the Israel-Lebanese border suffering from severe injuries from a high-velocity gunshot wound in the back. According to her son, who accompanied her to the border and to Ziv, they had been fleeing from the area of conflict. The pair is said to have been brought to an area near the northern border of Israel by a Lebanese physician and rescued under fire by Israel Defense Forces operating in southern Lebanon. The IDF transferred them to an ambulance that rushed to Safed, which itself has been under Hizbullah missile attack since the beginning of the war. Doctors in the trauma unit administered lifesaving procedures, according to hospital director Dr. Oscar Embon and deputy director Dr. Calin Shapira. She was found to have a large, deep wound across the right side of her back, contusions in the right lung and fractures in several ribs. She was hurried to the surgical theater for treatment of the wound and a closer examination of the injured area. Shapira said on Saturday night that the woman was in serious condition, attached to a respirator and under anesthesia. It was the first report of Israeli medical facilities treating any of the many Lebanese who have been wounded in the Israeli action in Lebanon.