Israeli doctors say they have performed a complex surgery to separate one-year-old conjoined twins, the first such effort ever in Israel. The twin girls were separated in a 12-hour procedure by Israeli and international medical experts at the Soroka Medical Center in southern Israel’s Beersheba, the center said in a statement sent to The Associated Press. “To our great joy, everything went as we have hoped,” said Dr. Mickey Gideon, the director of pediatric neurosurgery at Soroka. The twins were born in August of last year in Soroka hospital. The medical teams prepared to perform the operation over the course of the year. Months before the operation, the twins were given skin and tissue expanders to stretch the skin and close the scalps after the procedure, the Soroka medical statement said. It said the team used 3D models and virtual reality models to map out the complex procedure. This enabled …