close
close

Hundreds of hornets attack IDF soldiers in southern Gaza

The IDF announced Friday afternoon that IDF soldiers in the southern Gaza Strip had been attacked by hundreds of hornets.

Sheba Medical Center reported that ten soldiers arrived at the hospital for treatment.

Several of them were transferred to standard wards for treatment.

One soldier was transferred to the intensive care unit.

Aerial view of Sheba Tel HaShomer Medical Center outside Tel Aviv on May 31, 2023. (Credit: Omer Fichman/Flash90)

Extremely rare occurrence

Dr. Avi Ironi, director of the Sheba Emergency Medical Center: “Some of the fighters were stung by hundreds of bees, others by fewer.”

“Some of them developed an allergic reaction to the large amount of stings they were exposed to. This involves intensive care, anesthesia, toxicology treatment, ophthalmologists and everyone else.”

“There are reports of cases getting worse. That’s why we want to monitor them and make sure that they don’t get worse and that there’s no systemic damage. They will continue to be monitored to ensure their condition stabilizes.”

“I have never seen a similar case where hundreds of bees attacked one person. There is no threat to anyone’s life at this time and they are in the safest place possible.”

Earlier in the invasion, soldiers had been attacked by wild dogs, leading to a mass killing of dogs in Gaza to prevent the spread of disease and to prevent the dogs from entering Israel and exposing Israeli dogs to rabies or other diseases.