Indonesia will repurpose a medical facility on its uninhabited Galang Island to treat about 2,000 wounded residents of Gaza, who will return home once they recover, a presidential spokesperson announced on Thursday.
Hasan Nasbi, speaking on behalf of the presidency, said the initiative was part of Indonesia’s humanitarian support for Palestinians affected by the ongoing conflict in Gaza, where health officials report that more than 60,000 people have been killed since Israel launched its offensive in October 2023.
“Indonesia will give medical help for about 2,000 Gaza residents who became victims of war, those who are wounded, buried under debris,” Nasbi told reporters. He stressed that the operation was not an evacuation, adding that the facility would also temporarily accommodate the patients’ families.
Galang Island, located off Sumatra and south of Singapore, has no permanent inhabitants. The facility there was first opened in 2020 as a hospital for COVID-19 patients and sits on a site that, until 1996, hosted a major UN-run refugee camp for Vietnamese fleeing the war.
While Nasbi did not provide a timeline for the project, he said Indonesia’s foreign and defence ministries would handle operational details.
The plan follows an earlier proposal by President Prabowo Subianto to host wounded Palestinians in Indonesia, which drew criticism from senior clerics over concerns it resembled U.S. President Donald Trump’s suggestion to permanently relocate Palestinians out of Gaza.
At the time, Indonesia’s foreign ministry reaffirmed its strong rejection of any forced displacement and reiterated its support for a two-state solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.
Written By Rodney Mbua
