Always Ready: MDA Conducts Major Mass-Casualty Drill in Eilat and the Arava
Direct missile strikes. Coordinated terrorist attacks. Multiple mass-casualty scenes unfolding simultaneously across southern Israel. In a major multi-agency exercise in Eilat and the Arava, Magen David Adom teams tested their ability to respond to an extreme emergency scenario, while continuing to provide routine emergency medical care across the country.
Magen David Adom recently completed “Kedmat Homa,” a large-scale emergency exercise simulating simultaneous missile strikes and terrorist attacks across Eilat and the Arava region.
The drill brought MDA together with the IDF, Israel Police, Fire and Rescue Services, the Ministry of Health, local hospitals and other emergency authorities to test coordination and operational readiness for a complex mass-casualty event.
Across multiple simulated disaster scenes, dozens of MDA EMTs and paramedics practiced locating casualties, conducting rapid field triage, providing lifesaving medical treatment and evacuating patients according to the severity of their injuries.
The exercise required MDA to deploy a wide range of emergency resources, including ambulances, Mobile Intensive Care Units (MICUs), medicycles, medical evacuation helicopters and specialized Mass-Casualty Incident vehicles.
MDA’s Drone Unit was also deployed, using aerial capabilities to locate and track casualties across difficult terrain and provide teams with critical information from above.
One of the exercise’s central challenges was not only treating large numbers of casualties in Israel’s southernmost region, but determining how critically injured patients could be transferred rapidly to additional medical centers when local hospitals face significant pressure.
As part of the drill, MDA’s specialized MICU Bus worked alongside helicopter crews to practice transferring critically ill and injured patients from medical facilities in southern Israel to hospitals in the center of the country. The exercise tested the coordination required to maintain continuous advanced medical care throughout complex ground and air evacuations.
Behind the scenes, MDA’s National Emergency Dispatch Center coordinated the organization’s response in real time. Dispatchers managed simulated emergency calls and deployed teams and resources while coordinating the airlift of additional paramedics and blood supplies from central Israel to the south.
At the same time, MDA continued to test one of the most important elements of its national emergency preparedness: maintaining uninterrupted routine emergency medical services throughout Israel even as extensive personnel, vehicles and specialized resources were mobilized for a major incident.
The exercise allowed MDA and its partner agencies to test the entire chain of emergency response, from the first call for help and locating casualties, through treatment and triage in the field, to ground and air evacuation and hospital coordination.
Large-scale exercises such as “Kedmat Homa” are a critical part of MDA’s ongoing preparations for national emergencies, allowing teams to practice complex scenarios, strengthen coordination with Israel’s other emergency services and identify challenges before they arise in real-world incidents.
For MDA’s EMTs, paramedics, dispatchers and specialized units, the objective is simple: to ensure that when an emergency moves from exercise to reality, they are ready to respond.
