REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The headquarters of the Indonesian National Army (Mabes TNI) preparing plans to immediately deliver humanitarian aid to the Palestinian. The move was taken as a form of follow-up to the instructions of President Joko Widodo (Jokowi).
Indonesian military spokesperson Second Admiral Julius Widjojono, said the aid would be sent using Hercules aircraft belonging to the military's Air Force (AU). In total, Mabes TNI will send four fleets of transport aircraft.
“The military is preparing two Hercules C-130 aircraft A-1327 and A-1328 belonging to the AU military from the 31st and 32nd Air Squadrons. In addition, we are also preparing two spare Hercules aircraft to support the mission,” Julius said in a written statement in Jakarta, Thursday (2/11/2023).
In addition to two units of the AU military's Hercules aircraft, Julius said, the mission also involved a unit of Boeing 737 Garuda charter aircraft carried out by Mabes Polri. So the total aircraft support for transporting humanitarian aid logistics to Palestine amounted to three units.
In addition, Julius explained, the process of submitting a diplomatic visa memorandum is currently being implemented by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) of the Republic of Indonesia regarding flight permits, over flight clearances, landing permits, ground handling, and others. The Ministry of Defence (Ministry of Defence) also assisted in some financing of the aid delivery process.
“Humanitarian aid is planned to be flown to Egypt which will then be passed on to the Palestinian people,” Julius said.
He explained that President Jokowi plans to officially release the aid shipment at Base Ops Lanud Halim Perdanakusuma, East Jakarta on Saturday (4/11/2023) at around 8:30pm. It is estimated that the aid arrived in Egypt on Monday (6/11/2023).
As for the flight routes in this humanitarian mission, it is Halim (Jakarta) - Aceh-Yangon (Myanmar) -New Delhi (India) -Abu Dhabi (UAE) -Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) -El Arish (Egypt). “Solid interagency collaboration has made the aid delivery process so far a smooth one,” Julius said.
Earlier, the Indonesian government strongly condemned Israel's brutal attack on the Palestinian people. President Joko Widodo said Indonesia was keeping abreast of the situation in the Gaza Strip, after Israel was massively bombarded by Israel in early October.
“Indonesia's position is very clear and unequivocal, strongly condemning random attacks on civil society and civilian facilities in Gaza,” Jokowi said in a press statement in Jakarta on Monday (30/10/2023).
Jokowi also presented the results of the limited meeting related to the development of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The government urged Israel to stop violence against civil society and strive for the entire country to push for a ceasefire in Israel.
“The violence must stop, a ceasefire must continue to be pursued, aid must continue to be encouraged and accelerated, accelerated and Indonesia continues to communicate with many parties to try to resolve this issue,” he said.