Indonesia Hospital المستشفى الإندونيسي | |
---|---|
Medical Emergency Rescue Committee | |
Geography | |
Location | Bait Lahia, Gaza Strip, Palestine |
History | |
Construction started | 2011 |
Opened | 2016 |
Closed | 2023 (occupied by the IDF) |
Indonesia Hospital (Arabic: المستشفى الإندونيسي, romanized: al-Mustashfá al-Indūnīsī) was a hospital located in Bait Lahia, North Gaza Governorate, Gaza Strip, Palestine.
The hospital has 100 ward beds, 4 operating theaters, and a 10-bed intensive care unit.[1][2] The staff includes some 400 Palestinians, paid by Gaza's health ministry, and several volunteers from Indonesia.[3]
Construction of the hospital began in 2011 on 16,000 square meters of land donated by the government of Gaza.[3][1] The project cost IDR 126 billion and was funded by donations from Indonesian people and organizations such as the Indonesian Red Cross Society and Muhammadiyah, collected through the Indonesian humanitarian organization Medical Emergency Rescue Committee (MER-C).[4][5] Then-Indonesian Vice-president Jusuf Kalla inaugurated the hospital on January 9, 2016.[3]
On 20 November 2023, as part of the 2023 Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, the IDF completely surrounded and besieged the hospital.[6][7] Israel claims that Hamas fighters were using the hospital for military purposes, although this is disputed.[6][8][9] As of December 2023, the occupied building was later turned into an IDF military base.[10]
The Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi issued the "harshest of condemnations" after the assault. She declared this during a diplomatic visit to China, who holds the presidency of the UNSC in November 2023, as an effort to push for a ceasefire on moral grounds.[11]
Al Jazeera reported that on Friday, November 24, Israeli forces attacked the hospital, leaving much of it damaged.[12] A Gaza Health Ministry spokesperson[13] and other reports said the patients and personnel were then evacuated.[14][15]