Israeli Forces Surround Indonesian Hospital in Gaza, Trapping Hundreds

January 3, 2025 News
The Indonesian hospital following Israel's destruction. (Photo: Abdullah Obeid, via Eye on Palestine)

By Palestine Chronicle Staff  

The humanitarian crisis in Gaza deepens as Israeli forces surround the Indonesian Hospital, leaving civilians, patients, and medical staff trapped with no access to vital care.

Israeli occupation forces have surrounded the Indonesian Hospital in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza, and amidst gunfire, demanded the immediate evacuation of those inside.

Hundreds of civilians, patients, injured individuals, and medical staff are trapped inside the hospital, including those who were forcibly displaced from Kamal Adwan Hospital last week, the Quds News Network (QNN) reported.

Citing local sources, QNN reported that Israeli forces were intensively targeting the area surrounding the hospital.

Medical staff have also reported that the oxygen and electricity stations were destroyed amidst a severe shortage of medical supplies.

Oxygen, Electricity Supply Destroyed

The correspondent for the official Palestinian news agency, WAFA, also confirmed that the hospital’s oxygen and electricity stations were destroyed, leaving the facility unable to provide critical medical services.

The Indonesian Hospital has been overwhelmed with patients transferred from Kamal Adwan Hospital, which was burned and destroyed by Israeli forces last week.

Kamal Adwan Hospital, one of the largest healthcare facilities in the region, served over 400,000 residents before it was surrounded, forcibly evacuated, and shelled, according to WAFA.

The hospital’s director, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, along with medical staff and others, was detained when the Israeli army stormed the hospital.

In addition to targeting the hospitals, Israeli forces are bulldozing the surrounding areas, systematically dismantling infrastructure and erasing all semblance of normal life in the region, reported WAFA.

On Thursday, Israeli military drones fired on homes surrounding Al-Awda Hospital in Tel Al-Zaatar, in the northern Gaza Strip, according to QNN.

‘War Crime’ – UN

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) warned on Tuesday that “Under certain circumstances, the deliberate destruction of healthcare facilities may amount to a form of collective punishment, which would also constitute a war crime.”

The OHCHR stated that “Israel’s pattern of deadly attacks on and near hospitals in Gaza, and associated combat, pushed the healthcare system to the brink of total collapse, with catastrophic effect on Palestinians’ access to health and medical care.”

A report published by the UN Office documents attacks carried out between October 12, 2023, and June 30, 2024, raises serious concerns about Israel’s compliance with international law, it said.

Medical personnel and hospitals “are specifically protected under international humanitarian law, provided they do not commit – or are not used to commit, outside their humanitarian function – acts harmful to the enemy,” said the UN Office.

“As if the relentless bombing and the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza were not enough, the one sanctuary where Palestinians should have felt safe in fact became a death trap,” stated UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk. “The protection of hospitals during warfare is paramount and must be respected by all sides, at all times.”

500 Medical Personnel Killed

The study was released just days after the last functioning major healthcare facility in northern Gaza, Kama Adwan Hospital, was taken out of service after a raid by Israeli military forces, “leaving the population of North Gaza with almost no access to adequate health care.”

During the period covered by the report, there were at least 136 strikes on at least 27 hospitals and 12 other medical facilities, claiming significant casualties among doctors, nurses, medics and other civilians, and causing significant damage, if not complete destruction of civilian infrastructure.

The report explained that in the exceptional circumstances when medical personnel, ambulances, and hospitals lose their special protection because they fulfil the strict criteria to be considered military objectives, any attack on them must still comply with the fundamental principles of distinction, proportionality and precautions in attack. 

“Failure to respect any of these principles constitutes a breach of international humanitarian law,” said the OHCHR.

According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, by the end of June 2024, “more than 500 medical professionals had been killed in Gaza since 7 October,” the UN Office said.

Medical Evacuations ‘Slow’ – WHO

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) has once again “raised the alarm that patients in Gaza need urgent medical evacuation for life-saving treatment.”

“Yet the pace of evacuations remains excruciatingly slow,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Thursday.

He pointed out that “only 5383 patients have been evacuated with support from WHO since October 2023, of which only 436 since the Rafah crossing was closed. Over 12,000 people still need medical evacuation.”

“At this rate, it would take 5-10 years to evacuate all these critically ill patients, including thousands of children. In the meantime, their conditions get worse and some die,” warned Ghebreyesus.

The WHO Director-General urged Israel to increase the approval rate for medical evacuations, including no denials of child patients; expedite the process of approvals for medical evacuations; and allow all possible corridors and border crossings to be used for safe medical evacuations.

(PC, Agencies)

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