December 9, 2024
JAKARTA – Indonesian volunteers who were providing medical assistance in a humanitarian mission in a hospital in northern Gaza Strip have been taken to safety following a recent assault by the Israeli military in and around the medical facility, the Foreign Ministry reports.
On Friday, Israel launched deadly air strikes and “direct fire” around Kamal Adwan Hospital in North Gaza, according to the strip’s civil defense agency as reported by AFP. Soldiers of the Israeli Army also reportedly stormed into one of the last functioning hospitals in the war-torn area and ordered all medical personnel to leave the facility; a claim later denied by the military.
Among the medical personnel were six Indonesians from the Medical Emergency Rescue Committee (MER-C) volunteering to treat patients at Kamal Adwan.
A video uploaded to the organization’s Instagram account on Friday showed them leaving the hospital and heading to Salah Al-Din Road, the main highway in the Gaza Strip, on foot along with dozens of patients. They were later picked up by an ambulance operated by Gaza’s health authorities.
The Foreign Ministry’s citizen protection director Judha Nugraha confirmed that the six Indonesian medics had successfully evacuated to Gaza City, where they resumed their humanitarian mission at the Public Aid Hospital in the vicinity.
“The Foreign Ministry continues to coordinate with MER-C regarding the whereabouts and safety of Indonesian medical personnel in Gaza,” Judha said, adding that the Indonesian embassy in Amman, Jordan, also monitored the volunteers’ condition.
Gaza’s civil defense agency reported that at least 29 people were killed and dozens wounded during Friday’s shelling by the Israeli military in North Gaza, including in the area around Kamal Adwan, AFP reported.
The agency said that Israel had been launching major military operations in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza for the past two months, which have again escalated in recent days, forcing thousands to flee.
But the Israeli military denied claims of storming the hospital, saying that it was operating next to the facility. It said it would continue to “operate against terror infrastructure and terrorists” in northern Gaza, including “adjacent to” the hospital.
In a separate statement issued on its official X account on Friday, the Indonesian Foreign Ministry condemned the attack of Kamal Adwan and the expulsion of the MER-C team from the medical facility.
“This attack is part of a series of Israeli aggressions targeting civilian facilities in Gaza, constituting a grave violation of international humanitarian law and international human rights law,” the ministry said on Friday.
It added that the country called for the international community to intensify pressure on Israel to “immediately cease all hostilities” and comply with obligations under international law to ensure the protection of civilians and humanitarian workers.
The eviction of the medical team took place days after the Indonesian medics arrived at Kamal Adwan on Dec. 1. They acted as part of a medical mission from the World Health Organization (WHO) to dispatch medical personnel and deliver a fuel tank and medical supplies.
The mission was the first medical team deployed to the hospital in 60 days, comprising two surgeons, two emergency nurses, a gynecologist and a logistician.
“That is extremely concerning and should never happen,” WHO spokesperson Rik Peeperkorn said in a briefing on Friday, as quoted by Reuters. He added that the hospital was now “minimally functional”.
Kamal Adwan director Hossam Abu Safiah said that no surgeons were left following the latest raid.
This was not the first time for the Israeli military to attack the North Gaza hospital. Last month, Israel launched an airstrike that hit the hospital and killed its intensive care unit director Ahmad al-Kahlut.
Aside from the attack in northern Gaza, Israel also launched a strike on a house in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza on Friday, according to Gaza’s civil defense agency. At least 17 people were killed in the strike in the early evening.
The war in Gaza was sparked by an attack launched by Palestinian militant group Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023 that reportedly killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians.
Israel launched a retaliatory military campaign in the strip which has killed at least 44,600 people, a majority civilians, according to figures from the Gaza health ministry.