Two volunteers with the Indonesian charity Medical Emergency Rescue Committee (MER-C), who chose to stay in Gaza rather than evacuate, are now sick and suffering from a lack of medicine in the southern city of Khan Younis.
Indonesian volunteer Fikri Rofiul Haq, 24, told Al Jazeera that conditions in Khan Younis are dire and that both he and another Indonesian volunteer, Reza Aldilla Kurniawan, 30, had fallen ill.
“Reza has been seriously ill for the past four days,” Haq said, adding that he is desperate to get Kurniawan to a hospital.
“We can’t even get to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis because the road is closed due to Israeli ground attacks,” he said.
“Conditions are atrocious and clean water is very difficult to get. Things feel really bad when you get sick and we are all very down, but other [Palestinian] residents are probably suffering much worse.”
Before Israel’s war on Gaza began in October, Haq and Kurniawan studied at the Islamic University of Gaza and then volunteered at the Indonesia Hospital in northern Gaza when the Israeli assault began.
Amid Israeli attacks on the Indonesia Hospital, which left it destroyed, Haq, Kurniawan and another Indonesian volunteer left for Khan Younis.
They have been sheltering at a school in Khan Younis ever since, with some 2,800 other displaced people.
All three Indonesian volunteers had an opportunity to leave Gaza in December, but Haq and Kurniawan decided to stay and do what they could to help in the war zone.
David Turner is a globe-trotting journalist who brings a global perspective to our readers. With a commitment to shedding light on international events, he explores complex geopolitical issues, offering a nuanced view of the world’s most pressing challenges.
