Commission I Of The House Of Representatives Condemns The Arrest Of Humanitarian Activists By Israeli Troops

Israeli Army/ILLUSTRATION PHOTO via Wikimedia Commons/IDF

JAKARTA - Deputy Chairman of Commission I of the House of Representatives Sukamta strongly condemns Israel's intercepting and arresting hundreds of international activists on the Global humanitarian mission of Sumud Flotilla towards Gaza, Palestine.

He emphasized that the mission is a form of global solidarity for the Palestinian people who are experiencing a severe humanitarian crisis.

"The global mission of Sumud Flotila is a humanitarian mission, a form of solidarity of the world community to help Gazans who experience genocide whose current condition is very bad because there is no food, drink, and no place to live for almost 2 years," said Sukamta, Friday, October 3.

As is known, Israeli forces intercepted 14 ships on the Global Sumud Flotilla mission and arrested 223 activists from 37 countries on board. The ships carry humanitarian aid to the Gaza people.

Even so, around 23 other ships were reportedly successfully qualified and continued their journey to Gaza.

According to Sukamta, the actions of Israeli troops have openly violated international law by obstructing humanitarian aid and attacking humanitarian facilities and officers.

"Efforts to blockade humanitarian aid continue to be carried out by Israel, even hospitals and health and humanitarian workers being targeted by attacks. I think in modern history, in all zones of conflict, humanitarian aid is protected. But this is not the case in Palestine. Israel openly violates international humanitarian law, insulting human values. This is clearly a very heinous act," he said.

The leadership of the House of Representatives commission in charge of foreign relations also urged the Indonesian government to immediately take concrete steps with other countries. This was done to pressure Israel to open up humanitarian access to Gaza.

"World leaders should not allow the arrogance of a country to trampled on human values, this is very dangerous and can damage the world's peace order. Diplomatic, economic and military pressure must be carried out," he stressed.

"I hope countries with ties to Israel will immediately cut diplomatic relations, carry out economic embargoes and stop military aid. This is a real step towards putting stronger pressure on Israel," the PKS legislator continued.

Sukamta also encouraged Indonesia's assistance to Gaza to continue to be distributed, including by air, which is considered the most likely at this time.

"I hope that the orders of Indonesia and other OIC countries will continue to try to provide humanitarian assistance in the most possible ways, given the very critical situation currently experienced by Gazans," he concluded.