TEL AVIV — On Oct. 7, 2023, Dr. Efrat Bron-Harlev, the CEO of the Schneider Children’s Medical Center in Israel called her counterpart at the top hospital in southern Israel to tell him her staff was ready to care for the youngest survivors of the Hamas terror attack.
There were none to treat.
Sixty-seven children were killed that day and 38 were carried off the Gaza as hostages.
At first, Bron-Harlev believed that the youngest hostages would be released immediately.
“Who wants to keep a three-year-old and an 8-month-old baby as a hostage,” she told The Post during a visit this week.
But as days went by, she realized she needed to start preparing to treat these victims when they were finally freed — both their physical wounds and their mental scars.
“Everyone thought I was crazy,” she said.
“I just thought, ‘This is the only thing that I can do.’”
And so she set to work building a team of doctors, surgeons, psychologists, specialists and social workers to care for the hostages when they were freed.
There was no existing research or literature to follow — so they made up their roadmap as they went along.
“It was almost a month of planning and dreaming and deciding things,” she explained.
Protocols were devised and rehashed, from how they would bring the children into the hospital from the helicopters or buses, to how they would re-introduce them to their loved ones.
“We understood that every child that comes back has a different story,” Bron-Harlev said.
“They had four chapters in their lives: the first chapter up to Oct. 7; the second chapter, Oct. 7; the third, life in captivity; and the fourth starts now.”
One surprising edict was that only female staff should tend to the children.
Bron-Harlev admitted that it was a “controversial” decision but was devised because the team surmised that most of the children’s captors would have been men and the youngsters would probably be more comfortable with women.
Over 50 days later on Nov. 24, the first wave of hostages began to be released.
The medical center welcomed 26 freed hostages: 19 children, 6 mothers and one grandmother.
It was the largest number that any single facility received.
The hospital, established in 1991 by philanthropists the late Irving and Helen Schneider, is the only facility in the Middle East designed to provide comprehensive care to children.
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When the first hostages arrived, they were ready.
Staffers had white “tunnels” from soccer stadiums to shield the children from the glare of cameras and gawkers.
Rooms were filled with toys and fresh pajamas.
The shortest stay was 48 hours; the longest was two weeks.
“We said to them, ‘We are your anchor for whatever you need,” she shared, adding that she’s still in contact with at least five of the children’s families.
“We tried to give them trust and hope,” the doctor added, “and I really think we gave them that.”
The hospital, which treats all children irrespective of race, religion or nationality has only one goal in mind — to heal sick kick.
“Our North Star is to take care of children. Period,” Bron-Harlev said.
