7 wounded from Ukraine are receiving treatment in Haifa: ‘Bnei Zion’ has launched an international project for recovery after severe eye injuries

In the Bnei Zion Medical Center in Haifa, the practical phase of an international project to assist people who have sustained severe eye injuries during the war in Ukraine has begun. Seven patients have arrived in Israel, along with three doctors and a nurse from Lviv, who will undergo training with Israeli specialists.

Details of the program were reported on July 15, 2026, by the local news site Haifa news haifaru. Israeli doctors will perform a series of complex surgeries on the patients, related to the reconstruction of the eye socket and facial tissues after severe injuries. Simultaneously, the Ukrainian medical team will participate in the treatment and adopt methods that are planned to be applied in Lviv in the future.

Thus, it is not only about helping seven specific people. The project is intended to become the foundation for creating Ukraine’s own system of treatment, eye prosthetics, and rehabilitation for patients with the consequences of mine-explosive, shrapnel, and other severe injuries.

From the arrival of the delegation to the start of operations

The Ukrainian delegation arrived in Israel on July 5, 2026, as part of cooperation with the UNBROKEN rehabilitation project.

Initially, it was reported that Ukrainian patients would undergo examinations and eye prosthetics at the Bnei Zion Medical Center, and doctors from Lviv would gain practical experience in oculoplasty and recovery from severe facial injuries. The main task of the program was stated to be the transfer of Israeli technologies to Ukrainian specialists, rather than organizing a one-time medical mission.

Now the project has moved from the organizational stage directly to treatment.

7 victims arrived in Haifa with injuries sustained during the war. Details about their identities, the nature of their injuries, and their affiliation with military or civilian structures are not publicly disclosed for understandable medical and ethical reasons.

It is known that the patients will require complex reconstructive interventions. Depending on the nature of the injury, they may include the restoration of the eye socket, eyelids, tear ducts, surrounding tissues, and preparation for the installation of an individual eye prosthesis.

The medical direction of the project is associated with Dr. Yoav Verdizer, a specialist at Bnei Zion in oculoplasty, orbital surgery, eyelids, and tear ducts.

Dr. Verdizer’s cooperation with Ukrainian specialists did not start now. As early as 2024, he visited Ukraine as part of a joint program between Bnei Zion and the organization Lev Echad, consulting patients and participating in the development of assistance for people with severe eye and facial injuries. At that time, the doctor emphasized that the goal of the project is to restore the quality of life and hope for the future to the victims.

What eye prosthetics means

It is important to understand that a regular eye prosthesis does not restore lost vision.

Its task is to restore the appearance of the eye and face, maintain the correct shape of the eye socket, protect tissues, and reduce the physical and psychological consequences of the injury.

Before installing the prosthesis, the patient often requires several operations.

Surgeons must restore damaged tissues, form the eye socket, eliminate the consequences of inflammations, and prepare the site for the future individual prosthesis. After healing, an ocularist specialist creates an artificial eye taking into account the shape of the face, the size of the eye socket, and the color of the healthy eye.

Modern eye prostheses are not just cosmetic products. They help fill the space left after tissue loss, support the anatomical structure of the face, and can significantly improve a person’s psychological state. Medical specialists also note their importance for long-term physical and social rehabilitation.

For a person who has sustained a severe injury in the war, such treatment means the opportunity to freely leave the house again, communicate, work, and not perceive their own reflection as a constant reminder of the trauma experienced.

Israeli knowledge should work in Ukraine

Along with the patients, three Ukrainian doctors and one nurse from Lviv arrived in Haifa.

They will be present during examinations and operations, familiarize themselves with Israeli methods of reconstructive surgery, learn to work with a damaged eye socket, and participate in preparing patients for prosthetics.

This is a fundamental part of the program.

Seven operations can change the lives of seven people. Trained doctors returning to Ukraine with new knowledge will be able to help dozens and hundreds of patients.

In Lviv, it is planned to create a specialized direction, and in the future, a medical center for eye prosthetics, working with the use of Israeli experience and with the support of specialists from Haifa. Such a center will allow Ukrainians to receive complex assistance closer to home, without the need to organize an expensive trip abroad each time.

The war has already led to a huge number of severe eye and facial injuries. They are caused by rocket and drone fragments, artillery shells, explosive waves, building debris, and mine-explosive injuries.

After saving a life, an equally complex path of recovery begins. It can last for months and even years, requiring several surgical interventions, prosthetics, psychological help, and social adaptation.

Therefore, the transfer of technologies is not an addition to treatment, but one of the main results of the entire program.

Who participates in the project

The organizer of the medical internship and cooperation with Bnei Zion was the Israeli humanitarian organization לב אחד — Lev Echad — ‘One Heart’.

Representatives of Israeli Friends of Ukraine joined the delegation’s accompaniment and volunteer support. The project was also assisted by the Embassy of Ukraine in Israel, the Ukrainian ambassador Yevgeny Korniychuk, consul Alex Zernopolsky, and the Ukrainian volunteer center ‘Razom’ from Haifa.

NANews — Israel News | Nikk.Agency has already reported on the arrival of the Ukrainian delegation and plans to create an eye prosthetics direction in Lviv.

New information shows that the project has not remained at the level of statements: patients are in Haifa, Ukrainian medics have begun training, and Israeli specialists have started practical medical work.

This is exactly the format of international assistance that can maintain significance for many years.

Diplomats help establish connections. Volunteers accompany patients and solve organizational issues. Israeli doctors perform operations and share experience. Ukrainian specialists gain knowledge that will then work within Ukraine.

The connection between Haifa and Lviv, built not on statements

For Ukraine, the project means the emergence of an additional opportunity to restore people after some of the most severe consequences of the war.

For Israel, it is an opportunity to transfer accumulated experience to a country where the need for reconstructive surgery and rehabilitation continues to grow.

Israeli medicine is well acquainted with treating people after terrorist attacks, explosions, combat injuries, and mass emergencies. This experience cannot simply be transferred in the form of instructions or textbooks. Ukrainian doctors need to see operations, participate in decision-making, and work alongside Israeli colleagues.

That is why the arrival of the medical team from Lviv is no less significant than the treatment of seven patients.

NANews — Israel News notes: real Ukrainian-Israeli cooperation is manifested not in protocol photographs, but in such projects — when a specific person receives help, a doctor gains knowledge, and a medical system capable of continuing this work independently appears in Ukraine.

The seven patients who arrived in Haifa are seven human stories behind the general statistics of the war.

For each of them, surgery at Bnei Zion can be a step towards restoring their face, confidence, and normal life.

And for Ukrainian medicine, this project can become the beginning of a direction that will help significantly more victims in the future.