As the war in Gaza enters a ceasefire stage, 64 Israelis are still hospitalized, including 10 in serious condition - among them freshly-married Aharon Karov.
Another of the 51 hospitalized soldiers is listed in very serious condition; he was in the building that was mistakenly targeted by friendly fire and in which three soldiers were killed.
One of the six soldiers in serious condition is 2nd-Lt. Aharon Karov – a yeshiva student from Karnei Shomron and Netzarim in Gush Katif – who was married on Thursday night, two days after having returned from a short army stint and two days before the ground offensive began. Just hours after his wedding, he was called up again on Friday morning for a briefing, returned for his Sheva Brachot [post-wedding festive] Sabbath 15 minutes before sundown, and was then called up once again on Saturday morning. Less than three days later, he was critically wounded in a battle with terrorists – and underwent six operations during the course of 12 hours: on his head, his eyes, ear-nose-throat, mouth and jaw, chest, and an orthopedic operation. He is currently being kept unconscious, listed in serious but stable condition, with a shrapnel fragment still lodged in his brain.
Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv, visited Karov at his bedside in Beilinson Hospital in Petach Tikvah on Thursday, as well as another seriously wounded soldier, Ben Spitzer. He later told Arutz-7 that as he recited a prayer for them and held the hand of one of them, “the hospital director, Prof. Boaz Tadmor, showed me that during the prayer, the pulse increased and the blood pressure went up. The body was able to sense the prayer.”
Jews around the world are praying for Karov (Aharon Yehoshua ben Chaya Shoshana), Spitzer (Ben ben Netiva), and the other wounded soldiers and civilians.
Thirteen soldiers are hospitalized in “moderate” condition, and 30 are listed as lightly wounded.
Among the 13 hospitalized civilians is 7-year-old Or’el Yelizrov, who was hit by a shrapnel in a rocket attack in Be’er Sheva last week. Two others are also listed in serious condition, wounded three weeks ago in the Ashdod rocket attack that killed Irit Sheetrit, mother of four. Two civilians are listed in moderate condition.