President Jokowi Calls OKI's Pressure Successfully Increases Aid To Gaza

Gaza/WHO via UN

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) said the pressure from the Organization for Islamic Cooperation (OKI) succeeded in increasing the quantity of humanitarian assistance for Palestinians affected by the war in Gaza.

"November 11, I flew to Saudi Arabia, to Riyadh. At that time to fulfill the invitation to the High Level Conference - Extraordinary Summit from the OIC in the context of Gaza Summit," said President Jokowi when opening the XXXII Islamic Student Association (HMI) Congress in West Kalimantan, reported by ANTARA, Friday, November 24.

President Jokowi said the Extraordinary OIC Summit, which was attended by 57 representatives of Islamic countries, expressed the same attitude, namely condemning Israeli military aggression in Gaza, stopping wars, moving gungebbles, and wide-open humanitarian aid to Gaza.

"Because humanitarian aids have not been widely opened," he said.

Through the pressure given by OIC, said Jokowi, currently the quantity of humanitarian aid goods entering from various countries to Gaza is increasing.

"In the beginning, only five, 10, 15, containers were allowed to enter there through the gate in Rafah and our assistance in El Arish Egypt was present first. But with the pressure we gave, now we can reach approximately 100 containers per day that can enter Gaza," he said.

"This number still needs to be increased because the humanitarian assistance needed is estimated to reach nearly 500 containers per day," Jokowi added.

From Gaza Summit in Riyadh, Jokowi continued his journey to the White House, United States, November 14, 2023, in Indonesia's capacity mandated by the OIC to start action on behalf of the OKI and the Arab League to stop the war in Gaza.

Apart from Indonesia, the OIC leaders through a resolution agreed upon after the extraordinary summit in Riyadh also mandated Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, Qatar, Turkey, and Nigeria to help begin the political process to realize peace between Israel and Palestine.

"And I also conveyed specifically, directly, to President Joe Biden about the results at the summit in Riyadh. I tell you what it is, this, and this, because the key is there," he said.

The same thing was conveyed by Jokowi at the APEC Summit on November 16, 2023 in San Francisco, United States.

"So that everyone hears how suffering in Gaza is an extraordinary suffering if we read almost every day of the news," he said.

President Jokowi said that more than 15 thousand people had died as a result of the war in Gaza, 60 percent of whom were women and children.

"This is a war, which sometimes we think in a very modern world like this there is still a war," he said.