JAKARTA: An Indonesian nongovernmental organization has accused Israel of crafting a public lie to strike the Indonesian hospital in northern Gaza, Arab media reported on Monday.
The NGO that funds the facility’s infrastructure has categorically rejected the allegation by the Israeli military that the medical center has been used by Hamas to initiate an attack.
The Indonesia Hospital in Beit Lahiya started functioning in 2015. It was built from donations by the Jakarta-based Medical Emergency Rescue Committee, or MER-C.
The NGO also sends Indonesian volunteers, three of whom have been at the hospital since Israel’s deadly strike on Gaza on October 7.
The hospital is one of the last remaining hospitals in war-hit Gaza, which has treated over 3,500 Palestinian civilians as Israel continues its daily bombardment in the area.
The Israel Defense Forces has blamed Hamas of using hospitals in Gaza as bases of operation. It alleged the Palestinian group is using the Indonesian hospital to hide an underground command and control center.
MER-C, which was helped constructed the hospital since 2011, has strongly rejected those allegations.
Sarbini Murad, chairman of MER-C’s executive committee talking to reporters in Jakarta said on many occasions, Israel has tried to craft a public lie to make it seem as if the Indonesia Hospital has a bunker to store fuel.
He added the Indonesia Hospital is doing things that Israel deemed wrong.
Hospital is needed by the people of Gaza
He went on to say that the hospital was built in a professional context and is needed by the people of Gaza right now. He strongly believed that Israeli accusations may be a precondition to attack the Indonesia Hospital in Gaza.
He urged the international community to keep hospitals safe from Israeli bombing adding that such facilities are protected under international law.
Murad called on the public to condemn Israel so they do not commit brutal acts against the Indonesian hospital.
More than 9,700 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli bombardment in Gaza since last month. Israeli airstrikes have hit hospitals, ambulances, schools and refugee camps, as Tel Aviv cut off food, fuel, water and power supplies to Gaza.
