Israeli tanks besiege Gaza’s Indonesian Hospital

According to the Ministry of Health of the war-torn enclave, Israeli tanks have surrounded Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza after artillery fire killed at least 12 Palestinians there.

The situation in Indonesian Hospital, where hundreds of people are still trapped, is catastrophic, according to Ashraf al-Qudra, a spokesman for the Health Ministry of Gaza, who spoke to Al Jazeera on Monday.

“The staff at the Indonesian Hospital is adamant that they remain to provide care for the injured. The hospital is home to about 700 people, including medical professionals and injured patients, according to him.

Israel’s military, which hardly ever reports troop movements, made no comment right away.

The Beit Lahia facility in northeast Gaza was reportedly hit by artillery fire, according to the Palestinian news organization WAFA. Health officials in Palestine reported frantic attempts to remove civilians from danger.

The hospital staff denied seeing any armed militants there.

The World Health Organization evacuated 31 premature babies from al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City the day before the facility’s improvement, which was built in 2016 with funding from Indonesian organizations.

Since Israeli forces entered the compound, more than 250 critically ill or injured patients have been left behind.

The largest medical facility in the region, which has 7, 000 residents inside, has been under siege for several days and is currently being evacuated at gunpoint.

Following widespread strikes and a lack of fuel and medical supplies, the UN humanitarian organization OCHA has reported that “services” have “collapsed” at hospitals throughout northern Gaza.

Hamas, the organization in charge of Gaza, is alleged by the Israeli military to have constructed underground infrastructure beneath hospitals for military purposes.

Israeli tanks could be seen from the windows, according to Marwan Abdallah, a doctor at the Indonesian Hospital.

He said, “You can see them firing and moving around.” Children and women are frightened. Explosions and gunfire are audible all the time.

Numerous people were killed and injured overnight in air raids and shelling, according to Abdallah.

More than 1,200 people were killed by Hamas’ brutal cross-border raids on October 7, the majority of whom were civilians, according to Israeli authorities, before Israel launched its offensive against Gaza.