What is Happening Inside the Indonesian Hospital in Gaza – EXPLAINER

November 20, 2023

At least 12 Palestinians were killed in Israel's shelling of the Indonesian Hospital. (Photo: Anas al-Sharif, via Social Media)

The Indonesian Hospital, until this morning, was the last medical center in northern Gaza to receive wounded Palestinians. This is no longer the case. 

The Indonesian Hospital in Gaza City remains under Israeli siege. 

Though the vicinity of the hospital has come under Israeli attacks since the start of the war, it is now a major focus of Israeli forces in Gaza. 

Since dawn on Monday, Israel directly bombed the hospital, including the surgery ward, killing at least 12 patients and other members of their families. 

The attacks also wounded several doctors and other medical staff. 

Like other medical centers in Gaza, thousands of people had fled there in the early days of war, seeking safety. 

But since there is no safe place in Gaza, as international aid organizations have repeatedly warned, hospitals became a site of major massacres, starting with the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital on October 17, followed by the Rantisi Hospital, the European, the Indonesian, the Al-Shifa, and many others. 

Now that Al-Shifa has turned into a base for the Israeli military, the Israeli army has turned its attention to the Indonesian. 

Following the dawn massacre, Israeli tanks positioned themselves around all accesses to the hospital, shooting at anyone attempting to reach or leave the place. 

Spokesman for the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza, Ashraf al-Qidra said on Monday evening that around 500 Palestinians have already been evacuated from the Indonesian, to other medical facilities. 

The problem, however, per al-Qidra’s announcement, is that the “whole of northern Gaza has no medical services whatsoever.” 

Hundreds of patients, most of whom were wounded in previous Israeli strikes, are still at the Indonesian. 

Additionally, a large number of displaced refugees, sheltering at the hospital, are trapped inside.

Palestinians fear the worst as they have been through this very scenario in the recent past, and repeatedly so. 

“The displaced refugees are terrified by the prospect of another massacre inside the Indonesian Hospital,” Wael al-Dahdouh, Al-Jazeera correspondent said. 

Medical sources said that the Israeli army artillery had targeted the second floor of the hospital earlier today.

This forced many Palestinains to gather in parts of the hospital which they perceive to be safer. 

Footage aired by Al-Jazeera shows a glimpse of the desperation inside the hospital.

The Indonesian Hospital is the only one that received wounded Palestinians in the northern Gaza Strip.

According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, Israel has, thus far, killed over 13,300 Palestinians, including 5,600 children and 3,550 women. More than 31,000 Palestinians were wounded.

The Israeli army continues to pound civilian homes throughout the Gaza Strip with new massacres reported everywhere in the besieged enclave.

(The Palestine Chronicle)