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Levi had completed nearly all data collection before Oct. 7. After his death, colleagues at Soroka finalized the analysis and manuscript, committing to publish the paper in his name and dedicate it to his memory.
By Shula Rosen
A peer-reviewed medical study led by an Israeli physician murdered while treating patients during the Oct. 7 Hamas attack has been published in a leading international journal, following a contentious review process that colleagues say included resistance to acknowledging how he was killed.
Dr. Daniel Levi, an ear, nose and throat specialist at Soroka Medical Center, was among those killed when terrorists from Hamas assaulted Kibbutz Be’eri. Levi was working at the kibbutz clinic, which had been converted into an emergency treatment site, when he was killed by a grenade explosion shortly before 2 p.m.
The study Levi initiated before his death was published this month in Clinical Otolaryngology, listing him as a lead author.
The research examines the safety of surgery for obstructive sleep apnea in infants and toddlers, a population often viewed as having elevated surgical risk. According to the authors, Levi and Dr. Daniel Yafit contributed equally to the work.
Levi had completed nearly all data collection before Oct. 7. After his death, colleagues at Soroka finalized the analysis and manuscript, committing to publish the paper in his name and to dedicate it to his memory.
“For us, this was about more than commemoration,” said Dr. Oren Ziv, a senior physician in the hospital’s ENT department. “It was about ensuring Daniel’s work reached the medical community.”
The retrospective study reviewed outcomes from 419 children who underwent surgery for obstructive sleep apnea, dividing patients into three age groups: under 1 year, ages 1 to 2, and over 2. While younger children experienced longer hospital stays and higher precautionary admissions to pediatric intensive care, researchers found no meaningful differences in serious complications once surgical type was taken into account. No cases of postoperative bleeding or dehydration were recorded among infants.
The analysis did show higher rates of repeat surgery over a decade among children under 2, though those differences lost statistical significance after adjustment. Researchers concluded that surgery in children aged 2 and younger is generally safe when performed with appropriate techniques and follow-up, while advising that parents be counseled about longer hospitalization and the possibility of additional procedures.
Ziv said several journals initially declined to review the paper after the authors included a dedication noting that Levi was killed while treating patients during the Oct. 7 attack.
The team refused to remove the reference. The final publication retained the dedication: “In memory of our beloved Dr. Daniel Levi, who was brutally murdered on 7/10/23 while treating patients in the infirmary of Kibbutz Be’eri.”
Levi’s widow, Lihi, said the publication, released days before what would have been his 37th birthday, brought both pride and pain. “It’s an enormous source of pride,” she said. “But it also sharpens the sense of everything he didn’t get to finish.”
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