Old photo republished as fire at Indonesian Hospital

A picture of a burning building has been circulated on social media, with the claim that it was a fire that broke out in the Indonesian Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip after it was targeted by the Israeli occupation forces, “The occupation army burns the third and fourth floors of the Indonesian Hospital after burning the schools surrounding the hospital after emptying them of the displaced people in the northern Gaza Strip. A number of displaced people were arrested.”

Kashif verified photo and found that it is old. Kashif contacted the Director General of the Ministry of Health in Gaza, Dr. Munir Al-Bursh, who denied that the photo is of the hospital, confirming that the photo is old and that the hospital has not been exposed to fire so far.

Kashif also contacted Iyad Muhammad from the Media Department of the Ministry of Health in Gaza, who confirmed that the photo was old, and pointed out that there was great difficulty in communicating with medical teams in northern Gaza and that the Israeli occupation tanks were besieging the hospital and the area there.

Through reverse search on Google search engine, Kashif found that the image is old and was taken from an old video clip published by journalist Moamen Abu Odeh on his Instagram account m_abuowda11 on 14/6/2024, with the following text: “The moment the Israeli occupation forces burned the third and fourth floors of the Indonesian Hospital during the recent incursion into the Gaza Strip.”

The same video was also published by Eye on Palestine account on Instagram on 14/6/2024, with the following caption: “Newly released footage documenting the burning of the Indonesian Hospital by the Israeli occupation forces in the northern Gaza Strip.”

The Israeli occupation army surrounded the Indonesian Hospital in the town of Beit Lahia, north of the Gaza Strip, on 19/10/2024, and targeted anyone moving in its vicinity. Tanks fired shells at its facilities, causing the electric generator to stop working. The second and third floors were also bombed, and part of the hospital wall was demolished.

The hospital was subjected to a similar siege in October 2023, and the Israeli occupation army destroyed large parts of the hospital and forced the displaced and wounded to evacuate and head to the southern Gaza Strip.