Director of Indonesia Hospital in Gaza killed in Israeli airstrike
JAKARTA – The government and volunteer organizations have condemned the attacks that led to the death of Dr. Marwan al-Sultan, director of the Indonesia Hospital in Gaza, who was killed along with his wife and children by an Israeli airstrike that hit their house in the western part of the enclave.
'Our hearts are filled with sorrow, and words cannot express the magnitude of this loss,' a local volunteer of the Medical Emergency Rescue Committee (MER-C) in Gaza said in a post uploaded by the group on its Instagram account on Wednesday. The volunteer group funds the operation of the Indonesian Hospital in Gaza.
'May Allah have mercy on their souls, grant them the best place in heaven and give fortitude to all who knew and loved them,' he went on to say.
Marwan, an interventional cardiologist, and his family were among the casualties of a bombing by the Israeli military targeting residential areas and a school in Gaza on Wednesday, as reported by the Palestinian news agency WAFA.
At least seven Palestinians were killed in the airstrike, with all casualties brought to Al-Shifa Medical Complex.
Marwan has been working as a doctor at the Indonesia Hospital in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza since 2016, tending to the sick and wounded in the city.
The hospital itself has been bombarded several times during Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip that also targeted medical facilities in the area. In May, drone assaults inflicted severe structural damage to the hospital and disrupted critical medical services in its intensive care units.
Despite Israel's continuous attacks and resources shortage, Marwan 'relentlessly led the Indonesia Hospital under grave circumstances' to provide essential medical services to the Palestinians, MER-C wrote in a statement.
The group worked with Marwan to restore emergency services and full operations of the hospital between January and March.
The volunteer group condemned the killing of the doctor and his family, calling the act 'a flagrant violation of humanitarian principles and a grave act of injustice that must be held accountable,' MER-C wrote.
Responding to the death, the Foreign Ministry extended its condolences over Marwan's death and condemned the Israeli military's attack on the hospital director and his family.
'Indonesia appreciates [Marwan's] service, commitment and struggle for the sake of humanity and peace in Palestine,' the ministry wrote on its official X account on Thursday.
It added that Indonesia would continue to repeat its call for the end of Israel's atrocities and a ceasefire in Palestine, while continuing to closely monitor the situation around the operation of the Indonesia Hospital in Gaza.
Indonesia has been a fervent ally of the Palestinian cause, with President Prabowo Subianto stating that the country would 'continue to stand with Palestine' during a Parliamentary Union of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation Member States (PUIC) in Jakarta in May.
The President reiterated his support during a visit to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, where he and Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Muhammad bin Salman condemned Israel's policy of using humanitarian aid blockades and hunger as weapons against civilians in the Gaza Strip.
Both leaders also rejected in a joint statement the forced relocation of Palestinians inside and outside their homeland, asserting that peace and stability in Palestine could only be reached through the two-state solution approach.
Israel has recently expanded its military operations in the Gaza Strip, where the war since October 2023 has created dire humanitarian conditions and displaced nearly all of the territory's population of more than two million.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday vowed to eradicate Hamas, whose 2023 attack on Israel triggered the war, even after the Palestinian militant group said it was studying new proposals for a ceasefire from mediators, AFP reported.
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