Medan, Indonesia – At this time of year, it should be strawberry season in the Gaza Strip.
Instead, fields traditionally planted with strawberries in September and harvested from November are now battlefields.
One of the most fertile regions for Palestine’s famous strawberries is Beit Lahia, with its good climate, rich soil and high-quality water reserves.
Located in northern Gaza, Beit Lahia is also home to the Indonesian hospital where Indonesian medical volunteer Fikri Rofiul Haq is based with the Indonesian humanitarian organization Medical Emergency Rescue Committee (MER-C).
“Israeli forces bombarded fields across the Gaza Strip and many crops were destroyed,” Haq told Al Jazeera.
“This year there will not be the usual products like strawberries, even though it is the winter season,” he said.
Amid the horror of Israel’s war on Gaza, the destruction of Palestine’s strawberry crop may seem insignificant.
But for Haq – one of three Indonesian MER-C volunteers based at the Indonesian hospital – the memory of Gaza strawberries helps him cope. Every day is now a question of survival in the territory, where Israel is now focusing its attacks on hospitals.
“At the start of the war, we could still get some products from around the hospital, like vegetables and instant noodles, but today it is impossible to get fresh products like onions, tomatoes and cucumbers,” he said. to Al Jazeera via WhatsApp voice messages.
“Now, at the Indonesian hospital, the staff only receives one meal a day at lunchtime, which is provided by the (neighboring) Al-Shifa Hospital. At breakfast and dinner, the staff eats biscuits or dates,” he said.
Living conditions in Indonesian and Al-Shifa hospitals, as well as other hospitals in Gaza, have seriously deteriorated since Al Jazeera last spoke with Haq on Friday.
Dr Mohammad Abu Salmiya, director of Al-Shifa Hospital, warned on Saturday that hundreds of injured people as well as newborns had to be rushed to a functioning medical center as his hospital collapsed under pressure lack of fuel and medicine – as well as Israeli bombing.
“It’s a tragedy. Dead bodies – we can’t put them in the freezer because they don’t work. So we decided to dig a pit near the hospital. It’s a very inhumane scene. The situation is completely out of control. Hundreds of bodies are decomposing,” Abu Salmiya told Al Jazeera.
Atef al-Kahlot, Indonesia’s hospital director, said his facility was operating at only 30 to 40 percent capacity and appealed for help from around the world.
“We call on the honorable people of the world, if there are any left, to put pressure on the occupying forces to supply the Indonesian hospital and the rest of the hospitals in the Gaza Strip,” he said. declared.
Before the war
Before the war, food for the Indonesian hospital usually came from neighboring areas, Haq said. At the start of Israel’s total blockade and attacks on Gaza, MER-C volunteers would search for supplies in hospital-provided ambulances, considered safer than civilian vehicles.
Today, the fighting is so close to the hospital that it is too dangerous to venture outside.
Haq told Al Jazeera he has been feeling particularly shaken lately, following an excursion about two weeks ago to stock up on medical supplies for the hospital from civilian homes in the surrounding Al district. -Jalaa, during which he thought he might die.
He and other Indonesian volunteers were only about 20 minutes from the hospital when bombs began falling about 200 meters (218 yards) away.
“That’s when I was most afraid and resigned to my fate, because we were in locally owned buildings and, as we know, the Israeli army destroys houses civilians,” he said.
“There was no guarantee for our safety. This made me feel extraordinary afraid but, by the grace of God, we were protected.
Through this trip, Haq was able to find medical equipment for the hospital and distribute food packages to medical staff.
But since this near miss with Israeli shells and missiles, he and the other volunteers have remained on the hospital grounds where they sleep in the doctors’ quarters.
“The trauma we experienced was very serious, but if we stay on the hospital grounds, I feel safe because the Israeli army has not yet directly attacked the hospital,” he said. he declares.
“The area around the hospital is constantly bombed and when that happens I feel a very human fear,” he added.
Over the past week, areas around the Indonesian hospital and other hospitals in the Gaza Strip have been the target of intensified Israeli bombardment.
Israeli tanks moved closer, surrounding medical facilities where tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians sought shelter as Israeli bombardments razed entire neighborhoods of Gaza. More than 11,000 people have now been killed in the territory.
Haq says the Israeli bombardment was so close that it shook the hospital building and part of the roof had already collapsed.
“Usually when there is bombing, the hospital building wobbles, but on November 9, it was as if the hospital was lifted from its foundations,” he said.
“It just terrified us.”
Healing the Wounds and Documenting the Tragedy
Haq told Al Jazeera that when the bombing began, he and other staff took refuge in the hospital basement. Their daily work schedule fluctuates based on the significant needs of staff and patients.
“Some days I work from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m. the next day and just sleep a few hours where I can. The other day I slept from 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. and then started again,” he said.
In 2011, MER-C organized donations to build the Indonesian hospital, which was officially opened in 2016 by Jusuf Kalla, then Indonesian vice president.
MER-C staff are technically humanitarian medical volunteers. Now, one of their main roles is to document the sick and injured who show up at the hospital and monitor attacks around the facility.
Haq and his colleagues are also helping with medical care, especially as the situation continues to deteriorate and doctors at the hospital are overwhelmed with patients arriving from nearby areas.
“On Wednesday last week, when patients rushed to the hospital, we helped treat minor injuries because there were not enough doctors to treat all the patients,” he said.
As Indonesia works to evacuate some of its nationals from Gaza, Haq told Al Jazeera he would not be part of it.
“God willing, me and the two other MER-C volunteers have decided to stay in the Gaza Strip,” he said.
“We really appreciate the help of the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in evacuating Indonesian citizens from Gaza, but it is our decision,” he said of the choice to stay in Gaza.
“We hope to continue helping Gaza citizens find fuel, food and medical supplies, and to treat them at the Indonesian hospital. This is our motivation to continue.
Al Jazeera has been unable to contact Haq since midnight on Friday.