Several team members were survivors from Kibbutz Be’eri and Kfar Aza, and they insisted the device be dedicated as an “homage to October 7” in memory of victims who might have survived with faster bleeding control.
By Hezy Laing
In the aftermath of the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, when more than 1,200 Israelis were murdered and over 240 civilians and soldiers were taken hostage, a life saving medical device was created.
The unprecedented scale of casualties exposed critical gaps in rapid hemorrhage control, with Israeli medics reporting that a significant percentage of battlefield and civilian deaths resulted from uncontrolled extremity bleeding.
XMETIX, an Israeli medical‑technology company founded by Dr. Eyal Zimlichman, Chief Innovation Officer at Sheba Medical Center, and trauma‑care pioneer Prof. Avi Rivkind of Hadassah Ein Kerem, accelerated development of what it calls the world’s first fully automatic tourniquet.
The XM‑TQ1 uses a micro‑motorized tightening system capable of applying full circumferential pressure in under five seconds, compared to the 30–60 seconds typically required for manual tourniquets such as the CAT, SOFT‑T, or TMT models used by NATO and IDF combat medics.
The system incorporates a pressure‑feedback sensor array, a torque‑regulated motor, and a rechargeable lithium‑polymer battery rated for approximately 200 activations per charge.
Early testing was conducted at Sheba Tel HaShomer, Hadassah Medical Center, and the IDF Medical Corps, where over 100 simulated hemorrhage scenarios demonstrated a 97% success rate in achieving full arterial occlusion.
XMETIX CEO Yaron Shavit stated in an interview that several team members were survivors from Kibbutz Be’eri and Kfar Aza, and they insisted the device be dedicated as an “homage to October 7” in memory of victims who might have survived with faster bleeding control.
The company emphasized that the phrase is not celebratory but commemorative, reflecting a commitment to preventing avoidable deaths in future emergencies.
By early 2025, XMETIX received regulatory approval from Israel’s Ministry of Health and began export discussions with emergency‑medical agencies in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and additional NATO partners.
The automatic tourniquet represents a technological response to national trauma, combining Israeli medical innovation with lessons learned from one of the deadliest days in the country’s history.
