Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi announced that the Indonesian government was able to evacuate another Indonesian family from Gaza, as the center of conflict between Israel and the Palestinian freedom fighter group, Hamas.
The family of Indonesian citizens, comprising Muhammad Husein, his two Indonesian children, and his Palestinian wife, had been evacuated successfully from southern Gaza on Sunday local time via the Rafah gate near Egypt.
“At around 18:00 Indonesian time, I received a report that they had been successfully evacuated. They are already in Egypt accompanied by the Indonesian Embassy in Egypt’s evacuation team,” Marsudi informed via a video statement she sent from the presidential plane while accompanying President Joko Widodo on a working visit to Washington D.C., the US.
After being successfully rescued from Gaza, Husein and his family will be taken to Cairo before flying to Indonesia.
The minister remarked that the evacuation process took quite a long time due to administrative issues.
At the start, Husein’s family was not listed on the foreigners’ list allowed to leave Gaza. Hence, it required more time to register their names on the list.
Once they had been listed, evacuation could still not be conducted, as the Rafah border gate was not opened for various reasons due to the situation on the field.
“This long process shows once again that the evacuation process is not easy at all. However, we continue to make maximum efforts,” she remarked.
Marsudi, who is in the Middle East for almost a week to partake in a series of events for the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), said she had continued to communicate with several parties to ensure that Indonesian citizens were in good condition and that their names could soon be included on the evacuation list.
In fact, she had, on several occasions, pressed for opening the Rafah border.
At the same time, the ministry’s team under the command of the Director of Protection for Indonesian Citizens and Legal Entities, Judha Nugraha, also continued to communicate with the evacuation team from the Indonesian Embassy in Cairo on duty in the field.
“The Indonesian Embassy in Cairo’s evacuation team also continues to go back and forth in the hope that at any time the gate will be opened, and evacuation can be carried out,” the minister remarked.
Earlier, on November 3, the government had succeeded in evacuating four Indonesian citizens from Gaza.
The Indonesian citizens’ family, consisting of Abdillah Onim, his three Indonesian children, and his Palestinian wife, were repatriated and arrived in Indonesia on November 6.
According to the Egyptian government regulations, foreigners evacuated from Gaza are only given 3×24 hours to stay in Egypt before being sent home or flying to another country.
Source: Antara News
