Deputy Minister Of Foreign Affairs: Indonesian Government Assistance For Gaza Divided By 2 Waves

Indonesian Deputy Foreign Minister Pahala Mansury/ANTARA/Andi Firdaus).

JAKARTA - Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs (Menlu) of the Republic of Indonesia Pahala Mansury said the delivery of humanitarian assistance from the Government of Indonesia to Palestinians in Gaza was divided into two waves.

"Today is the first batch (wave) mainly from the community, the Ministry of Health and the TNI," he said ahead of the agenda for releasing humanitarian aid at the Air Base (Lanud) of the Halim Perdanakusuma Air Force, East Jakarta, as reported by ANTARA, Saturday, November 4.

The delivery of the first batch of aid to be flown to Gaza, he said, was in the form of medical equipment, sanitation, food, bags, and overall 51 tons of winter equipment.

The humanitarian aid was transported using two C-130 Hercules aircraft numbered A-1327 and A-1328 from the 31st Air Squadron and 32rd Air Squadron of the Indonesian Air Force.

The plane also carried a total of 42 crew members and two middle-ranking TNI officers from the Ministry of Defense who served as liaisons.

Apart from the TNI, the National Police Headquarters also dispatched humanitarian aid to Gaza using a Boing 737 Garuda Indonesia charter plane.

The three planes departed from Halim Perdanakusuma Jakarta, Saturday morning, accompanied by two backup Hercules planes.

The flight route on a humanitarian mission to Gaza crossed the Halim Perdanakusuma (Jakarta)-Aceh-Yangon (Myanmar)-New Delhi (India)-Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates)-Jeddah (Saudi Arabia)-El Arish (Egypt).

The second wave of assistance was obtained through the funding source of the International Development Cooperation Fund Institute (LDKPI) of the Ministry of Finance (Kemenkeu) RI.

Pahala said the second wave of assistance was in the form of medicines and medical devices.

"We hope this assistance will be able to ease the burden of daily needs, ease the burden on the people in Gaza," he said.

He said the aid would be handed over to Egypt's Red Crescent, then distributed to Gaza by UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East).

"We plan to hand over aid to Egypt's Red Crescent. We have coordinated intensely with those who have the authority of the Egyptian government," he said.

He said Egypt is the country directly adjacent to Gaza, as the only space or route for the distribution of aid and human crossings via Rafah.