ANKARA

Indonesia is planning to set up a medical facility on its currently uninhabited island of Galang to treat thousands of wounded people from Gaza.

The estimated 2,000 Gazans to be brought to the facility will include family members of the injured, daily Jakarta Globe reported, citing Hasan Nasbi, presidential office spokesman.

Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto instructed the defense and foreign ministers to work on the details for establishing the facility during a recent cabinet meeting.

Prabowo has "given instructions for Indonesia to provide medical assistance for around 2,000 Gazans who are victims of war, including those wounded by bombs or the rubble … as well as their family members,” Hasan said.

"We intend to set up the medical treatment center in Galang Island because it already has a hospital, as well as the supporting facilities," he added.

In the past, Galang, part of the western Riau Islands province, has housed COVID-19 patients and refugees.

Between 1979 and 1996, Vietnamese refugees took shelter on the island to flee the conflict in their country.

"This is not an evacuation, but only for medical treatment. They will return to Gaza once they have recovered. We are not moving them [out from Gaza], but this is a humanitarian operation to help as many people as we can," Hasan further said.

The world's largest Muslim populated nation, Indonesia also intends to deploy peacekeepers to Gaza once a ceasefire is agreed.

Israel has been facing mounting outrage over its destructive war on Gaza, where more than 61,000 people have been killed since October 2023. The military campaign has devastated the enclave and brought it to the verge of famine.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.

*Writing by Aamir Latif