PETAH TIKVAH, Israel — It's not uncommon in Israel today for a young man in his early 20s to be spotted on the streets with an amputated leg or serious wound.

More than 500 Israeli soldiers have survived serious injuries fighting in Gaza, according to the military.

Many of them endured catastrophic wounds that would have killed or maimed them in Israel's past wars, Israeli combat medics and surgeons say.

What has saved their lives? Medical advances, like drones delivering blood units on the battlefield, and lessons surgeons have learned treating many soldiers on the operating table.

" If it was the last war, I would have ... lived all my life with one leg and one lung," said Nevo, a 25-year-old soldier who was badly wounded in an explosion in Gaza in late 2023.

Maya Levin for NPR /

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