Two dead in Israeli attacks on Indonesian hospital in north Gaza, volunteers say

JAKARTA: At least two patients have died at the Indonesia Hospital in north Gaza, while dozens of people remain trapped inside after Israeli strikes early on Saturday morning, Indonesian volunteers reported.

The hospital, which is funded by the Indonesian NGO Medical Emergency Rescue Committee, was one of just three partially functional hospitals treating critical patients and sheltering displaced Palestinians in northern Gaza since the latest Israeli offensive began earlier this month.

There were at least 40 patients and 15 medics trapped inside the hospital, Sarbini Abdul Murad, chairman of MER-C’s board of trustees in Jakarta, told Arab News.

“Two people died. We haven’t received any more updates but with the patients’ critical condition, and Israel complicating the medical supply process, we are very concerned about the lives of the other patients,” he said. “The Indonesia Hospital has been under Israeli attack, and the bombing destroyed the third and fourth floor. And now tanks are encircling the hospital.”

Murad said he was in touch with Gaza’s deputy health minister, Yousef Abu Al-Rish, and the hospital’s director, Dr. Marwan Al-Sultan, about the ongoing attack.

“The patients trapped there are in critical condition, and they cannot evacuate. The health workers can’t possibly leave them behind because of their condition, so they are staying because it is part of their moral and professional responsibility to help those who need medical attention,” he said.

North Gaza was also under a communications blackout following deadly air strikes in the area, said Fikri Rofiul Haq, a MER-C volunteer who has sought safety in the central Deir Al-Balah city after Israeli forces issued evacuation orders ahead of their latest ground and air attacks.

“They cut off electricity and the internet, please pray for the Indonesia Hospital — don’t let the Zionist forces destroy it again,” Haq wrote on social media.

The hospital has been targeted by Israeli forces before. In November 2023, intense shelling of the building killed at least 12 people.

In a statement issued on Saturday, Gaza’s Health Ministry said Israel was “intensifying its targeting of the health system in the northern Gaza Strip” and laying siege to and directly targeting the Indonesia Hospital, Kamal Adwan Hospital, and Al-Awda Hospital with the intention of “putting them out of service.”

More than a year since Israel launched its war on Gaza, its military has killed at least 42,500 people and injured more than 99,500. The real death toll is suspected to be much higher, with estimates published by medical journal The Lancet indicating that, as of July, it could be more than 186,000.