President Jokowi: RI Takes Advantage Of Opportunities For Distribution Of Aid Via Air In Gaza

President Joko Widodo (left) accompanied by Air Force Chief of Staff Marshal Fadjar Prasetyo (right) inspected the TNI's defense equipment at Iswahjudi Air Force Base, Magetan Regency (Via ANTARA)

JAKARTA - The Indonesian government immediately takes advantage of opportunities to distribute humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza by air. This statement was made by President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) after reviewing the simulation process for distributing humanitarian aid via air which was held at the Iswahjudi Air Force Base, Magetan Regency, East Java, Friday, March 9. "We saw the demonstration of dropping aid that we will immediately carry out in Gaza because Indonesia is one of the countries that was given the opportunity to be able to provide assistance to Gaza, to the Palestinian people by air because by land it is difficult," Jokowi said in a release. The Presidential Secretariat in Jakarta quoted from Antara. President Jokowi said the assistance would be distributed using Hercules aircraft by air. In the simulation, a number of Hercules planes and helicopters carried out action to release the box helicopter from a certain height. "Earlier, we tried what it would be like using a Hercules plane and we will immediately bring aid to Gaza and drop it from the air on our Hercules plane. It has been simulated and I see the results are good," he said. The Head of State expressed Indonesia's commitment to continue to provide support to the Palestinian people. With this assistance, Indonesia hopes to ease the burden faced by the people in Gaza. Previously in December 2023, the Government of Indonesia promised to increase the amount of contribution to the United Nations for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) to three times more this year. The Indonesian government has sent the first phase of humanitarian assistance to Gaza on Saturday, November 4, 2023. The total assistance sent was 51.8 tons and was a combination of various parties. Of these, 7 tons of them are humanitarian assistance managed by the Ministry of Health. The assistance sent in the first stage was in the form of medicines, hygiene kits and nutritious food as well as other logistical assistance needed by the people of Gaza, Palestine.

The Indonesian government has again sent humanitarian assistance to Gaza, Palestine in the form of hospital equipment and medicines worth Rp31.9 billion. The release of aid was carried out by President Joko Widodo at Halim Perdana Kusuma Air Force Base, Jakarta, Monday, November 20 last year.