Israeli combat medicine slashes IDF deaths after Oct 7, draws US military interest

JERUSALEM — The growing number of Israeli army battlefield life-saving measures have emerged during the Iranian regime-backed multi-front war against the Jewish state that those new technologies are helping the U.S. too.

Fox News Digital was briefed on the most current insights and data on Israel’s success rate in saving soldiers’ lives from a senior Israel Defense Forces (IDF) medical specialist in battlefield medicine.

The grueling Israeli ground offensive against the U.S.-designated terrorist movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip, which started in Oct. 2023, following the Jihadi organization’s invasion of Israel on Oct. 7, introduced cutting-edge medical tactics to the battlefield.

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Hamas brutally murdered over 1,200 people in southern Israel, including more than forty Americans, and kidnapped 251 people.

An IDF spokesman laid out the new advances: "The IDF Medical Corps adapted its operational capabilities during the war, including casualty evacuation, innovative medical technologies and providing treatment under fire in a challenging terrain. "

The IDF medical specialist told Fox News Digital that during "the Second War in Lebanon [in 2006 against the Lebanese-based terrorist group Hezbollah] it took 15 to 20 minutes for advanced life support to reach a casualty. Now advanced life support can reach a casualty immediately or within 4 minutes."

The placement of "medical personnel on the battlefield, including a doctor in every company, allows the IDF to make critical decisions early on during the care process, said the IDF medical specialist. The use of helicopters to deliver seriously wounded soldiers to medical facilities, as seen in video footage provided to Fox News Digital, plays a critical role in preventing death.

The second advance is, according to the IDF medical specialist, "rapid evacuation," which means "We can evacuate casualties to Israeli hospitals rapidly."

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There has been "an emphasis on the use of blood products since 2013 on stopping bleeding," said the IDF medical specialist. He added that the IDF is the first medical organization that "used plasma on the point of injury instead of salt and water."

He noted the IDF implemented a sophisticated rapid-fire system for providing blood to injured soldiers. A telling example: Blood was placed on the back of first responders in coolers to stop bleeding and control the hemorrhaging. The method "saved significant numbers" of injured soldiers.

An additional improvement in lifesaving first response medicine in the war zone involves an "advanced system of learning and the collection of data that transmits the data over technical networks so that every provider can see patient data."

The IDF specialist said that "Every relevant medical officer on the chain can see the patient data. This system had very good results."

The case mortality rate is the best index for quantifying care, said the IDF medical specialist. The results have been dramatic. According to IDF data, the mortality rate during the 2006 war against Hezbollah was 15% in contrast to 7.1% during 2023. 

The IDF medical specialist said Israel’s military medicine apparatus has relied on the bedrock 2012 U.S. study "Death on the battlefield (2001–2011): Implications for the future of combat casualty care," which covered American medical aid during the war in Iraq.

Dr. Marc Siegel, senior medical analyst for Fox News, is also a clinical professor of medicine and a practicing internist at NYU Langone Medical Center, told Fox News Digital, "Battle field advances based on the latest technologies that have been developed in Israel, including surgical techniques as well as the latest burn treatment Nexobrid help not just today’s wounded but fuel medical and surgical advances around the world."  

Siegel's latest book "The Angels Among Us: How God's Messengers Play a Role in Healing," features a chapter involving a medical rescue during the Gaza war.

The U.S. Army and the IDF have been cooperating in how to advance battlefield medicine for years.

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According to an April 2026 U.S. military report titled "Israeli Defense Force Medical Lessons Learned," the American military authors explained in the 78-page study the pressing need to absorb Israel’s advances from the start of the Swords of Iron War campaign in 2023.

The U.S. Army wrote, "In the fields of operational health and force readiness, the IDF executed proactive public health measures – including robust bio-surveillance, forward-positioned preventive medicine teams and stringent food safety protocols – to mitigate health threats and maintain operational readiness."

The American army warned that "Despite Israel’s preparations, it had to undergo a painful process of transformation in contact that the U.S. now has the opportunity to avoid. The time for preparation is now. Simply possessing clinical and tactical skills is insufficient."

An IDF spokesman told Fox News Digital that the U.S. Army study of Israel's emergency health care providers during the wars" was a joint collaboration, and American officers came to learn from the IDF."