[News] Gaza doctor at Indonesian Hospital: ‘Come and see, you won't find tunnels and bombs, you will only find our people dying.’

[Anti-Imperialist News]

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<https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20231110-gaza-doctor-at-indonesian-hospital-come-and-see-you-wont-find-tunnels-and-bombs-you-will-only-find-our-people-dying/>
Gaza doctor at Indonesian Hospital: ‘Come and see, you won't find tunnels
and bombs, you will only find our people dying.’
Middle East Monitor - November 10, 2023
------------------------------

The war in Gaza has had a devastating impact on the region’s healthcare
system. The ongoing Israeli attacks on hospitals, in addition to homes,
shelters and schools, have been a hallmark of the war.

At least 16 out of the 35 hospitals in Gaza are no longer operational, and
51 out of the 72 primary healthcare clinics in the besieged area have
ceased to provide services since 7 October.

[image: Dr Marwan Sultan, Medical Director of Indonesian Hospital in Gaza]
<https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Dr-Marwan-Sultan-e1699632610560.jpg?ssl=1>

Dr Marwan Sultan, Medical Director of Indonesian Hospital in Gaza

According to Dr Marwan Sultan, who serves as the Indonesian Hospital’s
Medical Director, the majority of the casualties comprise women and
children. “Believe me, two-thirds of the patients we are receiving are
women and children.”

“They arrive with severe burns, missing limbs, life-risking injuries, and
we are not able to treat them efficiently because of low fuel supply.”

The Indonesian Hospital, located in Beit Lahia, serving over 150,000
residents in northern Gaza, is on the brink of ceasing its operations,
raising alarm among health officials.

Marwan explained that the hospital faces a critical situation with only 16
intensive-care beds and  dangerously low fuel supply, which puts the lives
of his patients at risk. He expressed deep concern, stating that if the
electricity supply is disrupted, it could lead to fatal consequences.

The scarcity of fuel, he added, may also disrupt the operation of dialysis
machines, posing a potential threat to the lives of numerous patients
diagnosed with kidney failure. “We are in the red zone,” warned Sultan.

In addition to being overwhelmed with patients suffering severe injuries
from bombings, the hospitals are serving as shelters for thousands of
people displaced from their homes – an evacuation procedure they had
learned during previous attacks.

Despite largely avoiding Israeli bombardments for over a decade, the
hospital grounds have become a crucial haven for those seeking refuge.

According to the UN, approximately 1.4 million of Gaza’s 2.3 million
residents are now internally displaced. Nearly half of them have sought
refuge in UN shelters, while the remaining half have sought makeshift
accommodation in other people’s homes, hospitals or public facilities.
However, this phase of the war has proven that nowhere can guarantee safety.

Attacks on or in close proximity to medical facilities and personnel have
contributed to the significant setback to the Gaza healthcare system since
the war began.

“It’s nothing like we’ve ever seen and experienced. It’s unbearable,” said
Dr Marwan. “People are squashed with patients all over the hospital
grounds. It smells and looks very bad, it’s a dangerous state. But
everywhere is dangerous now, no place is better or safer than the other
right now.”

An estimated 25 ambulances have been hit, and 136 healthcare workers killed
since the start of the war. In the last three days alone, Israeli warplanes
have bombed eight hospitals in the Gaza Strip, the government media office
in Gaza said today.

*Doctor to Biden: can you hear the screams of innocent Palestinians?
<https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20231110-doctor-to-biden-can-you-hear-the-screams-of-innocent-palestinians/>*

Israel’s military has admitted to targeting ambulances, claiming that one
of the vehicles in a medical convoy last week was “being used by a Hamas
terrorist cell”. In the resulting explosion, a significant number of health
workers were tragically killed.

Using the same accusation as pretext, claiming that the Indonesian Hospital
is situated above a network of Hamas tunnels and in close proximity to a
launch site for rocket attacks against the Occupying State, Israeli
warplanes launched a series of aggressive raids in the vicinity of the
hospital housing tens of thousands of wounded, sick, and displaced
individuals, a majority of whom are women and children.

The bombing caused substantial damage to some of the hospital facilities.

In response to the accusations, Dr Marwan, said, “None of this is true.
They just want to attack the hospitals and make things up to do so. This is
a hospital that was built by Indonesia in 2016 to help treat the people of
Gaza. Come and see, you won’t find tunnels and bombs, you will only find
our people dying.”

Israel has launched relentless air and ground attacks on Gaza since a cross
border attack by Hamas on 7 October. At least 10,569 Palestinians have been
killed, including 4,324 children and 2,823 women, and 26,475 have been
wounded.

The toll rises every day, with some of the casualties believed to still be
buried under rubble.

[image: Besieged Gaza is the open-air prison resisting Israel’s
colonisation of Palestine - Cartoon [Sabaaneh/Middle East Monitor]]
<https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/IMG_7635-scaled.jpg?ssl=1>

Besieged Gaza is the open-air prison resisting Israel’s colonisation of
Palestine – Cartoon [Sabaaneh/Middle East Monitor]

“I am seeing horrors I haven’t seen in previous wars; this also means the
wounds and injuries the patients are coming with,” said Dr. Marwan.

“The severe burns and the tears in bodies our physicians are treating in
the emergency rooms are becoming more and more intense. And this could only
mean the Israelis are using new weapons.” The hospital, he explained, is
prioritising cases based on survival rates, allocating opportunities for
surgery or space in intensive care wards to those with a higher likelihood
of survival.

“We cannot risk doing just any operations except for the most serious and
highly likely life-saving surgeries, because there isn’t enough supplies.
The situation is critical, it is desperate,” insisted Dr. Marwan. “Many
colleagues have died and many of us haven’t seen our families since the
beginning of the war. We haven’t seen our families for over a month now.”

Dr Marwan echoes the growing international calls for Israel to agree to a
ceasefire to allow humanitarian aid to flow into Gaza. “Israel must stop
the attacks. The Rafah crossing must open to allow the entry of fuel and
medical supplies. Also, there are many patients here that need to be
treated outside Gaza like Egypt and Turkiye.

He took a long silent pause.

“This massacre has reached the red zone. We need a ceasefire.”

*READ: UN official slams Israel’s four-hour ‘humanitarian pause’ in Gaza as
‘highly cynical’
<https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20231110-un-official-slams-israels-four-hour-humanitarian-pause-in-gaza-as-highly-cynical/>*
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