IDF soldier wounded in Operation Protective Edge. Photo: Soroka Medical Center

Twelve operations later, an IDF special forces infantryman who was critically wounded in Operation Protective Edge in Gaza is walking again, thanks to the staff at a Beersheba hospital, Israel’s NRG News reported Thursday.

Maglan (Ibis) unit soldier, Daniel Fish, who was hit by a bomb blast on July 30 at a building he was occupying with his elite unit, was wounded by shrapnel in his left eye, and sustained severe damage to both legs, with extensive blast injury to his left thigh and foot.

Doctors at the city’s Soroka Medical Center say he will need to undergo a corneal transplant, and will likely retain good vision.

“He came to us in a difficult situation, where the blood vessels in both legs were completely torn at the knee and the palm of the right hand was mangled,” Dr. Korngreen told Israel National News. “Daniel underwent several operations carried out by experts in many fields – hematology, plastic surgery, and orthopedics.”

Senior physician Dr. Amit Frankel, said “Daniel surprised us by how fast he recovered from his serious injuries. He is still expected to undergo a long rehabilitation process, but without a doubt he has overcome the main struggle.”

Fish will next be transferred to a rehabilitation facility in the city of Ra’anana, north of Tel Aviv, for further treatment, according to the medical team.

The army’s crack Maglan unit was in the forefront of much of the fighting in the 50-day battle to stop Hamas rocket fire and attack tunnels beneath Israeli territory.

Trained to fight deep behind enemy lines, Maglan special forces recently offered a dramatic, painful, close-up glimpse of their missions.

A video profile on the unit aired by Israel’s Channel 2 in August opens with IDF engineers blowing up part of a tunnel near Khan Yunis in southern Gaza. The tunnel’s entrance was within a building that had housed a UNRWA clinic that Hamas terrorists had rigged with 80 kilograms of explosives.

On July 30, 1st.-Sgt. Matan Gottlieb, 21, from Rishon LeZion, 1st.-Sgt. Omar Chai, 21, from Savion, and 1st.-Sgt. Guy Algranati, 20, of Tel Aviv, were killed and 15 soldiers were wounded, when the booby-trapped facility blew up.