Jakarta (ANTARA) - Indonesia's Medical Emergency Rescue Committee (MER-C) condemned the Israeli air strikes on besieged Gaza Strip in Palestine that killed one of its workers, and hit the Indonesian hospital on Saturday.
This medical and humanitarian non-governmental organization has also urged the Indonesian Government to request the UN. Security Council to hold an emergency session to address the brutal Israeli bombardments which had reportedly killed almost 200 Palestinians.
"We condemn the Israeli air strikes in Gaza that targeted hospitals!' MER-C Head Sarbini Abdul Murad said in a statement released on Saturday.
Abu Romzi, who had worked as MER-C's local staff member in Gaza since 2011, was killed in the air strikes, the statement said. The air strikes on Gaza that Israel launched following Hamas' surprise attack earlier in the day had killed at least 198 Palestinians, according to the territory's Health Ministry s quoted by Palestinian news agency WAFA and Turkish news agency Anadolu.
Over 1,600 were also wounded, the ministry said on its Facebook account. Murad called on the Indonesian Government to call for a UN Security Council's special meeting on the deadly Israeli bombardments in Gaza.
He also urged the authorities to provide access for aid distribution to the impacted areas. "We ask for the opening of access to Gaza borders to allow the international assistance to reach the Gaza Strip immediately," he said.
The Indonesian Hospital in Gaza Strip was among the targets of the Israeli air strikes on Saturday. Farid, a witness from MER-C in Gaza, said he had heard loud explosions that he later learned came from rockets fired by Israeli fighter jets, according to the MER-C statement.
It said a rocket hit the ground in the vicinity of the dr. Joserizal Jurnalis Residence and destroyed an operational MER-C vehicle being parked in front of the residence. "Abu Romzi who happened to be near an ambulance fell victim to the attack and was then rushed to the Indonesian Hospital," Farid said.
MER-C said the Israeli bombardments also damaged the dr. Joserizal Jurnalis residence, which houses volunteers working in the Indonesian Hospital. Media reports said that Israel carried out the strikes in Gaza in retaliation to the Operation Al Aqsa Flood that Hamas forces launched into Israel earlier in the day.
According to Anadolu, many Israelis fell victim to the Palestinian operation, and many others had been held captive, but it said it could not verify the numbers. Meanwhile, Reuters quoted Israel's N12 News as reporting on Saturday that at least 100 Israelis were killed.
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Apart from attacking residential areas, Israeli warplanes also carried out air strikes on medical personnel in Gaza, according to WAFA. One of the strikes targeted an ambulance at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, while the other struck the Indonesian Hospital in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza, it said.
Indonesia's MER-C condemns Israeli strikes killing its staff in Gaza
Archive - Indonesian MER-C (Medical Emergency Rescue Committee) volunteers posed for a picture at the border of Gaza in Palestine and Egypt before departing for Jakarta after they helped build the Indonesian Hospital di Gaza for 1.5 years. ANTARA/HO-Andi Jauhari/Humas MER-C)
