Indonesian Volunteers Talk of Last Hours at Gaza's Hospital Under Israeli Siege

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesian citizens volunteering at the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza shared their last hours at the hospital which was under Israeli siege last week before evacuation. They said they decided to stay at the hospital until the Israeli military forced them to leave.

“We were evacuated via a route used by the International Red Cross with the permission of the Israeli army. There were three evacuations on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, and we were evacuated last as we prioritized the wounded who were at the Indonesian Hospital,” Fikri told Al Jazeera today, Nov. 27.

Fikri said that Israeli troops deliberately destroyed the only working generator at the Indonesian-funded hospital, killing 12 people on the first, second, and third floors of the building.

“Before we were evacuated, the attacks got worse and worse, hour by hour,” he said. Previously, the Indonesian Foreign Ministry confirmed that they could not reach the Jakarta-based Medical Emergency Rescue Committee volunteers for several weeks until they were evacuated to Khan Younis in southern Gaza.

“I saw it with my own eyes. There were three large tanks around 50 meters from the Indonesian Hospital building and they fired periodically at the hospital, which was devastating. Now the Indonesian Hospital has been completely taken over by the Israeli army,” he added.

The attack on one of Gaza's largest medical facilities came days before a four-day truce with Hamas that began on Friday.

Violation of International Law

Sarbini Abdul Murad, head of Mer-C Jakarta, said the attack on the hospital was a violation of international law and hoped Indonesia would do more to hold Israel accountable given the country's ties to the hospital. The Indonesian hospital in Gaza was funded by Indonesian citizens and humanitarian organizations and was inaugurated in 2016 by then-Vice President Jusuf Kalla.

“The most we can do at MER-C is to represent the Indonesian people and encourage the Indonesian government and the foreign ministry to take this case to the International Criminal Court (ICC),” Sarbini stressed as quoted from Al Jazeera.

He hoped that everyone would lobby the ICC, particularly the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, viz. China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. “And call for a permanent ceasefire.”

For now, Sarbini said there are no plans to permanently evacuate Fikri and the other two volunteers from Gaza because they are still needed to provide humanitarian aid to the injured and displaced victims in Khan Younis. The three volunteers are considering their situation while looking for the best way to help the people of Gaza.

Indonesia is one of the countries mandated by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on behalf of the OIC and the Arab League along with Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, Qatar, Turkiye, and Nigeria to urge world countries to take action to end the massacre in Gaza and achieve lasting peace between Palestine and Israel.

IDA ROSDALINA | DANIEL A. FAJRI | AL JAZEERA

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