Two volunteers from the Indonesian charity Medical Emergency Rescue Committee (MER-C) have chosen to remain in Gaza instead of evacuating, and are now unwell with a shortage of medicine in the southern city of Khan Younis.
Fikri Rofiul Haq, 24, one of the volunteers, stated that conditions in Khan Younis are very serious and that both he and another volunteer, Reza Aldilla Kurniawan, 30, have fallen ill.
“Reza has been seriously ill for the past four days,” Haq said, expressing his desperation 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 terrible, and accessing clean water is very difficult. It’s especially challenging when you get sick, and we all feel very down, but other Palestinian residents are probably suffering much worse.”
Before the start of Israel’s war on Gaza in October, Haq and Kurniawan were studying at the Islamic University of Gaza and volunteering at the Indonesia Hospital in northern Gaza. When the Israeli assault started and Indonesia Hospital was attacked, the three volunteers moved to Khan Younis.
They have been staying at a school in Khan Younis with around 2,800 other displaced individuals.
All three volunteers had the option to leave Gaza in December, but Haq and Kurniawan chose to stay and provide assistance in the war zone.
Indonesian volunteer Fikri Rofiul Haq, left, and Reza Aldilla Kurniawan, right, in front of the Indonesia Hospital in northern Gaza in more peaceful times [Photo courtesy of MER-C]
