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Indonesia puts safety first in Gaza rescue ops
Three Indonesian volunteers working in the Gaza Strip have pledged to stay behind amid the Israeli assault, top diplomat Retno LP Marsudi has said, as an evacuation operation entered its third day with partial success.
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Ambulances queue at the Egyptian side of the border with the Gaza Strip in Rafah, on Nov. 1, 2023, before entering to transport wounded to Egyptian field hospitals. Hundreds of injured residents and foreigners escaped Gaza to Egypt on Nov. 1, the first evacuations from the war-torn Palestinian territory pounded by Israeli warplanes in retaliation for an unprecedented Hamas attack. (AFP/-)
T
hree Indonesian volunteers on a humanitarian mission to deliver critical assistance in the Gaza Strip have pledged to remain in the blockaded Palestinian territory amid the ongoing Israeli assault, Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi revealed on Friday, as a state-led evacuation operation entered its third day with partial success.
The siege on Gaza, which began nearly a month ago as a brutal response to an attack by the local ruling militant group Hamas, has severely complicated the evacuation of foreign nationals, due to indiscriminate bombing on an area that has been dubbed the world’s largest open-air prison. This includes attempts by Indonesia, which has no diplomatic relations with Israel, to rescue 10 citizens and their Palestinian family members.
Speaking to the press on Friday, Retno announced that a family of five headed by Abdillah Onim, 44, had been successfully evacuated to Egypt overland from Gaza with the help of a team from the Indonesian Embassy in Cairo.
A family of four, meanwhile, was turned back at the Rafah border between Egypt and Israel due to “administrative difficulties” and was due to try again on Friday.
“In addition to the two families of Indonesian nationals, [...] there are also three Indonesian volunteers with MER-C [the Medical Emergency Rescue Committee] who are staying in northern Gaza in the vicinity of the Indonesian Hospital,” the minister said during the daily briefing.
“We’ve been in touch with the three of them from the outset, and based on our correspondence, they have decided to remain in Gaza. We will continue to keep our line of communication with them open,” she added.
The volunteers from MER-C, which has led humanitarian operations in the Gaza Strip for over 14 years, delivered their first aid package from the Indonesian public on Oct. 19, consisting of medical supplies for the Indonesian Hospital and sustenance for the front liners treating wave after endless wave of victims of the Israeli strikes.
