As Israel's war on Gaza intensified on Monday, Israeli forces targeted another hospital in Gaza, the Indonesian hospital, killing 12 people. The Indonesian Foreign Ministry said it had lost contact with its Indonesian volunteers in the hospital which has been sheltering hundreds of displaced people.
The hospital is located in the city of Beit Lahiya in North Gaza. It was built with the funds from donations by Indonesian citizens and groups including the Indonesian Red Cross Society and the Muhammadiyah Society, one of Indonesia’s largest Muslim organisations.
A medical worker inside the facility and the Health Ministry in Gaza said a shell struck the second floor of the Indonesian Hospital, killing 12 people. Both blamed Israel, which denied shelling the hospital, saying its troops returned fire on militants who targeted them from inside the 3.5-acre (1.4 hectare) compound.
According to a report by Al Jazeera, one medical worker inside the complex said that Israeli tanks were operating less than 200 metres (656 feet) from the hospital, and that Israeli snipers could be seen on the roofs of nearby buildings. The Indonesian hospital is the latest target of Israeli forces who have been using hospitals as battlegrounds.
Gaza's largest hospital Al Shifa turned into a 'cemetery', according to the World Health Organisation, after Israeli forces battled Palestinian militants outside its gates for days before entering the facility last Wednesday. Shifa can no longer provide most treatment after it ran out of water, medical supplies and fuel for emergency generators because of a territory-wide blackout.
