JAKARTA: An Indonesian-run hospital in Gaza has been overwhelmed by the dead and wounded from daily Israeli airstrikes, its staff said on Tuesday, as they struggle to provide shelter and emergency medical care to survivors.
Operated by the Indonesian NGO Medical Emergency Rescue Committee, or MER-C, the hospital in Beit Lahiya was one of the first targets hit during the Israeli assault on Gaza which, according to local authorities, has killed nearly 3,000 people and wounded another 12,000, mostly women and children.
“The residents of Gaza are staying outside the hospital building. The unimaginable number of casualties is overwhelming health workers,” Sarbini Abdul Murad, chairman of MER-C’s executive committee, told Arab News.
Indonesian staff from MER-C remained on the site, helping Palestinian doctors as attacks on residential buildings, clinics and convoys of evacuees continue across the densely populated enclave, which under Israel’s siege has for over a week been cut off food, fuel, water, and medical supplies.
“We ask the international community to pressure Israel to allow humanitarian access so that aid can enter Gaza, otherwise there’ll be a humanitarian catastrophe,” Murad said.
Trucks loaded with foreign aid are reaching Rafah, the crossing between Gaza and Egypt, but mediations to let them in have not been successful since Israeli airstrikes forced the border post to shut down last week.
“Health services in the Gaza Strip are in a medical crisis because the number of casualties is surging, and medical personnel are exhausted. They are on duty 24 hours a day to attend to patients who continue to arrive. Until now there has been no aid,” Fikri Rofiul Haq, a 23-year-old MER-C volunteer, told Arab News over the phone from Gaza.
“The Israeli side is also targeting ambulances that are evacuating victims.”
There was no more space for bodies at MER-C’s mortuary. At least 300 people have been pronounced dead at the hospital since the attacks started on Oct. 7. Another 1,500 have been treated for injuries.
“There are so many dead bodies piling up on the sidewalk around the hospital. Until now I’m seeing families of the victims trying to find their loved ones,” Haq said.
“We’re getting similar news from Al-Shifa Hospital, the biggest hospital in the Gaza Strip. They are facing the same conditions and were going to dig a mass grave for those killed by the Israeli attacks.”
While multiple attacks on Gaza have occurred in the past years, the latest assault is the deadliest the impoverished enclave has ever seen.
Facing Israeli blockade since 2007, the 362 sq. km strip of land — home to 2.3 million people — was devastated by airstrikes in 2008, 2012, 2014 and 2021.
Until now, the worst was the escalation in July-August 2014, which killed more than 2,250 Palestinians, mostly civilians, and 74 Israelis, mostly soldiers.
Israel that year flattened parts of the enclave, saying it aimed at stopping rocket strikes fired from Gaza toward its territory.
Indonesian hospital in Gaza overwhelmed by dead, wounded from Israeli attacks
https://arab.news/mxs28
Indonesian hospital in Gaza overwhelmed by dead, wounded from Israeli attacks
- Hospital was one of the first hit by Israeli warplanes during Gaza assault
- Attacks killed nearly 3,000 Palestinians, wounded 12,000, mostly women and children
Blacklisted naphtha tanker from Russia enters Venezuelan waters while another diverts, ship data shows
- Under U.S. sanctions related to Russia, the ship has a different sanctions profile than Skipper, the tanker that was seized by the U.S. on December 10
HOUSTON: A tanker subject to U.S. sanctions carrying some 300,000 barrels of naphtha from Russia entered Venezuelan waters late on Thursday, while another began redirecting course in the Atlantic Ocean, ship tracking data showed, a reflection of diverging last-minute decisions by ship owners after President Donald Trump ordered a "blockade" of oil tankers under sanctions bound for the OPEC country earlier this week.
The move ramped up pressure on Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro by targeting the country's main source of income and followed the seizure by the U.S. of an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela earlier in December.
Vessels that were not subject to sanctions began setting sail on Wednesday from Venezuelan waters after a week's pause, helping drain the country's mounting crude stocks.
HIGHLIGHTS
• Trump's 'blockade' aims to halt sanctioned oil tankers to Venezuela
• Hyperion's sanctions profile differs from seized Skipper tanker
• Venezuela condemns US actions as violating international law
Gambia-flagged medium tanker Hyperion docked on Friday at Amuay Bay on Venezuela's western coast, according to LSEG ship tracking data. It loaded near Murmansk in Russia in late November.
Under U.S. sanctions related to Russia, the ship has a different sanctions profile than Skipper, the tanker that was seized by the U.S. on December 10.
The U.S. can only seize vessels outside of its jurisdiction, or vessels that aren't heading to or from the country, if Washington has placed them under sanctions for links to groups it designates as terrorist, said David Tannenbaum, a director at consulting firm Blackstone Compliance Services that specializes in sanctions and anti-money laundering compliance.
Skipper, formerly called the Adisa, was under sanctions for what the U.S. says was involvement in Iranian oil trading that generated revenue for Iranian groups it has designated as foreign terrorist organizations.
With the Hyperion, though, sanctions were imposed to reduce Russian revenues from energy because of its war with Ukraine.
"The Hyperion doesn't have known ties to terrorism, and therefore unless they can prove it's subject to the jurisdiction of the U.S., Washington can't grab it extraterritorially," said Tannenbaum, who previously worked with the U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control that administers and enforces economic and trade sanctions.
REDIRECTS AND U-TURNS
The Angola-flagged Agate, another medium tanker under sanctions that loaded in Russia and had been sailing toward the Caribbean, was seen redirecting on Friday, according to LSEG ship tracking. The vessel was pointing towards Africa, but had not yet signaled a new destination.
Oman-flagged Garnet, also under sanctions and loaded in Russia, continued on its track, signaling the Caribbean as its destination on Friday.
Benin-flagged tanker Boltaris, under sanctions and carrying some 300,000 barrels of Russian naphtha bound for Venezuela, made a U-turn earlier this month and was heading for Europe without having discharged, according to LSEG vessel monitoring data.
Two very large crude carriers not subject to sanctions set sail for China on Thursday from Venezuela, according to sources familiar with Venezuela's oil export operations, marking only the second and third tankers unrelated to Chevron to depart the country since the U.S. seized Skipper.
The American oil major, which has continued to ship Venezuelan crude under a U.S. authorization, exported a crude cargo on Thursday bound for the U.S., LSEG data showed.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday said the U.S. was not concerned about the four vessels that sailed from Venezuela on Thursday, as those were not ships under sanctions.
"Sanctioned boats, we have the capabilities necessary to enforce our laws. We'll have a judicial order, we'll execute on those orders and there's nothing that will impede us from being able to do that," Rubio said.
Venezuela's government called Trump's blockade a "grotesque threat" in a statement on Tuesday, saying it violates international law, free commerce and the right of free navigation.
