JAKARTA: Indonesia and Malaysia joined on Wednesday the global condemnation of an overnight Israeli airstrike on a hospital in the besieged Gaza Strip that killed hundreds of Palestinian civilians.
At least 500 people were killed on Tuesday in the Israeli air raid on Al-Ahli Al-Arabi Hospital in central Gaza, according to the enclave’s health ministry, as images shared on social media showed widespread damage, fire engulfing the building and bodies scattered in the wreckage.
The attack, which took place amid Israel’s ongoing onslaught on civilians in Gaza, was met with swift and widespread international condemnation, including from Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the UAE.
“Indonesia strongly condemns the Israeli attack on Al-Ahly Al-Arabi Hospital in Gaza, which has killed hundreds of civilians. The attack clearly violates international humanitarian law,” the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement, as it urged the UN Security Council to “immediately take concrete steps to stop attacks and acts of violence in Gaza.”
The ministry said that “injustice against the Palestinian people has been going on for a very long time” and it was time for the world to “prioritize the creation of a just peace for Palestine.”
Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim also called for an end to the onslaught.
“If this continues, the victims will be women, children and the sick. This has reached the point of madness and loss of humanity,” Ibrahim told reporters in Putrajaya.
Anwar said that he would discuss the situation in Gaza on the sidelines of his visit to Riyadh for the first joint summit between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the Gulf Cooperation Council on Friday.
Prior to Tuesday’s hospital airstrike, at least 3,000 Palestinians had been killed since Oct. 7, when Tel Aviv began its bombardment of the densely populated enclave following an attack on Israel by the Gaza-based militant group Hamas.
Israel has since cut off power, water, food, fuel and medicine supplies into Gaza, further intensifying an existing blockade of the enclave that is home to 2.3 million people.
