Hadassah Opens Israel's Most Advanced Rehabilitation Center as War Drives Urgent Demand

The Hadassah Medical Organization has inaugurated the Gandel Rehabilitation Center in Jerusalem, described as the most advanced rehabilitation facility in the Middle East. The center was inaugurated in October 2025 by Israel's President Isaac Herzog and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a ceremony that underscored the facility's significance during a period when Israel faces an unprecedented demand for rehabilitation services.

Accelerated by Conflict

While the Gandel Rehabilitation Center had been in planning and construction for years, its completion was dramatically accelerated following the October 7, 2023 attacks and subsequent military operations. The first wing of the facility opened within just three months of the attacks to provide immediate care for wounded soldiers and civilians — an extraordinary timeline for a medical facility of this complexity.

Israel's existing rehabilitation infrastructure was quickly overwhelmed by the scale of casualties requiring long-term care. The Gandel Center's accelerated opening provided critical additional capacity at a moment of acute national need.

State-of-the-Art Facilities

The fully completed center features cutting-edge rehabilitation technology including robotic-assisted physical therapy systems, virtual reality environments for cognitive and motor rehabilitation, hydrotherapy pools with adjustable current systems, and advanced prosthetics fitting laboratories. The facility was designed by leading medical architecture firms with input from rehabilitation specialists worldwide.

Patient rooms are designed to support both clinical care and family involvement in the rehabilitation process, with accommodation for family members and private consultation spaces. Outdoor therapeutic gardens provide nature-based rehabilitation environments that research has shown accelerate recovery from physical and psychological trauma.

Addressing a Critical Shortage

Even before the October 7 crisis, Israel faced a significant shortage of rehabilitation beds. The country's aging population, combined with high rates of road traffic injuries and military service-related conditions, has created sustained demand that existing facilities could not fully meet.

"The Gandel Center doesn't just add beds — it raises the standard of what rehabilitation care can achieve," said Prof. Yoram Weiss, Director General of Hadassah Medical Organization. "The technologies and treatment protocols developed here will influence rehabilitation medicine globally."

Philanthropic Partnership

The center was made possible through a major philanthropic gift from the Gandel Foundation, one of Australia's most prominent charitable organizations. The Gandel family's commitment to the project predated the October 7 events but gained additional urgency and significance in their aftermath.

The philanthropic model — combining private donations with government healthcare funding — has become increasingly common for major medical infrastructure projects in Israel, where public healthcare budgets are stretched thin by population growth and rising treatment costs.

Training and Research Hub

Beyond direct patient care, the Gandel Center serves as a training hub for rehabilitation professionals from Israel and abroad. The facility includes lecture halls, simulation laboratories, and research facilities dedicated to advancing rehabilitation science. Hadassah's affiliation with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem ensures that clinical practice is closely integrated with academic research.

International rehabilitation medicine organizations have already begun partnering with the center for collaborative research projects, particularly in the areas of traumatic brain injury recovery and post-traumatic stress treatment — fields where Israel has developed deep expertise through decades of military and security-related healthcare.

The Gandel Rehabilitation Center stands as both a response to immediate crisis and a long-term investment in Israel's healthcare infrastructure, setting new standards for rehabilitation care in the region.