Foreign Minister Announces Another Indonesian Family Can Be Evacuated From Gaza

Muhammad Husein (left two), his two children who are also Indonesian citizens, and his wife who are Palestinian (first left) have been evacuated from Gaza on Sunday (12/11/2023). (Between/HO-Kemlu RI)

JAKARTA - Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi has again announced the successful evacuation of an Indonesian citizen family from Gaza, which is the center of conflict between the Israeli army and the Palestinian Hamas group.

The Indonesian family consisting of Muhammad Husein, his two children who are also Indonesian citizens, and his Palestinian wife were successfully evacuated from southern Gaza on Sunday local time through the door of Rafah which borders Egypt.

At around 18.00 WIB, I received a report that they had been successfully evacuated. Currently, he is already in the Egyptian region and is already with the Egyptian Embassy evacuation team," said Retno via video statement he sent from on the presidential plane, while accompanying President Joko Widodo for a working visit to Washington DC, USA.

After being successfully removed from Gaza, Muhammad Husein and his family will be taken to Cairo before returning to Indonesia.

Retno explained that the evacuation process for Muhammad Husein and his family took a long time, due to administrative issues.

The obstacle faced in the evacuation process was the absence of the Husein family name on the list of foreigners allowed to be evacuated from Gaza, thus requiring additional time to process the inclusion of his name and all his family members on the list.

As soon as Husein's name and all his family members were included in the list, said the Foreign Minister, the evacuation could not be carried out because the Rafah border gate was not opened for various reasons of the field situation.

This long process once again shows that the evacuation process is not very easy. However, we continue to do our best," said Retno as reported by Antara.

Over the past week in the Middle East to participate in a series of events by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Foreign Minister Retno said she continued to communicate with many parties, to ensure that Indonesian citizens were in good condition and their names could soon be included on the evacuation list.

Earlier on November 3, the government had succeeded in evacuating four Indonesian citizens from Gaza.

The family of an Indonesian citizen consisting of Abdillah Onim, his three children who are also Indonesian citizens, and his wife who is a Palestinian citizen, have been sent home and arrived in Indonesia on November 6.

According to Egyptian government regulations, foreigners who were evacuated from Gaza were only given 3x24 hours to be in Egyptian territory, before being sent home or transferred to other countries.