The Indonesian Hospital in Gaza Bears Proof of the Friendship Between Indonesian and Palestinian People

On November 6, the Indonesian Hospital, the second largest hospital in the Gaza Strip, entered into a power outage due to a shortage of fuel amid the Israeli siege against Gaza.

Israeli forces have bombed in and around the hospital numerous times, including on November 6. Israel bombarded the Indonesian Hospital on October 30 and November 3 when two other major hospitals, Al-Shifa and Al-Quds, were also targeted by the Israeli occupation forces. Currently, the operations of the hospitals have been reduced to the minimum, running on secondary generators, enough to keep intensive care units and ventilation going.

A picture shows the Rumah Sakit Indonesia hospital in Gaza City on November 1, 2023. (Bashar TALEB / AFP)

Built in the period between 2012 and 2015, the Indonesian Hospital was envisioned as “proof of the long-term friendship between the Indonesian people and the Palestinian people,” and it is now one of the bigger hospitals in the Gaza Strip with a capacity of 235 beds. The building process of the hospital was coordinated by the Medical Emergency Rescue Committee (MER-C), an Indonesian social and humanitarian organization, and financed through donations by the people of Indonesia.

While the hospital was handed over to the Palestinian Ministry of Health shortly after construction ended, MER-C continues to have a strong link to the facility. Their volunteers remain in Gaza as the Israeli attacks continue, but communication, like for most people, is severely impacted by the frequent blackouts. Despite this, the volunteers and health workers at Indonesian Hospital are determined to stay.

from the Peoples Dispatch / Globetrotter News Service