Indonesian lawmaker condemns Israel, urges UN over Gaza Hospital death

 

Deputy chairperson of Commission I of the House of Representatives, Sukamta, in Jakarta on June 26, 2025.

 

JAKARTA KONTAK BANTEN  Deputy chairperson of the House of Representatives’ Commission I, Sukamta, has condemned Israel over the death of Gaza’s Indonesian Hospital director, Dr. Marwan Al-Sultan, in an Israeli air strike on his home in southwest Gaza on Wednesday.

“I condemn this brutality and call on all parties to stop the genocide carried out by Israel,” he added in a statement released on Thursday.

He said that Israel is continuing to perpetrate extraordinary crimes, without concern for the law or humanitarian commitments.

“This can be seen from the brutal attacks by the Israeli military on civilians, civilian facilities, hospitals, and medical personnel,” he added.

According to Sukamta, the Israeli attacks, including the one that killed the Indonesian Hospital director, have violated several international laws.

The laws include Article 18 of the 1907 Hague Convention on the Laws and Customs of War on Land, which prohibits attacks on hospitals, medical facilities, and medical personnel who collect, treat, and evacuate the wounded and sick in an armed conflict, he said.

Israel has also flouted the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 and Additional Protocol I of 1977, which explicitly emphasize the protection of hospitals and other health facilities from attacks.

Besides attacking health facilities and medical personnel, Israel has also committed a series of crimes in Gaza, such as limiting aid distribution through the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

According to Sukamta, the Israel-backed aid distribution system in the enclave has been described as a death trap, with hundreds of people shot by Israeli forces while queuing for food.

He then urged the Indonesian government to be more proactive in pushing the United Nations (UN) and countries globally to stop the genocide in Gaza, and called for humanitarian access to the area.

He expressed the hope that President Prabowo Subianto’s visit to Saudi Arabia and participation in the upcoming BRICS meeting in Brazil would help put an end to the genocide.

“Including by immediately appointing the Indonesian Ambassador to the UN in New York and Geneva because proactive diplomatic efforts need the role of the ambassador as the spearhead,” Sukamta added.

According to the Palestinian news agency WAFA, Dr. Marwan Al Sultan, his wife, and his children died in an Israeli attack on their apartment building in Gaza on Wednesday. Their bodies have been taken to Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza.

The Indonesian Hospital in the Gaza Strip has been repeatedly targeted by Israeli forces since the start of Israel’s aggression against the enclave on October 7, 2023.

The most recent attack on the health facility was at the end of May 2025, which resulted in severe structural damage and hampered health services for local residents.

More than 56,500 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed and 133,419 others injured in the brutal Israeli attacks on Gaza.