Indonesia says it will treat 2,000 of Gaza's wounded on uninhabited Galang island
'Indonesia will give medical help for about 2,000 Gaza residents who became victims of war, those who are wounded, buried under debris,' the spokesperson, Hasan Nasbi, told reporters in Jakarta on Thursday.
Indonesia plans to allocate the facility on Galang island, home to a former refugee camp for Vietnamese asylum seekers which lies off its island of Sumatra, to treat the wounded Gaza residents and temporarily shelter their families, he said.
The patients would be taken back to Gaza after they had healed, he added, without providing further details on the timing of the plan, or how their return would be guaranteed.
Muslim-majority Indonesia has sent humanitarian aid to Gaza after Israel started an offensive in October 2023 that Gaza health officials say has killed more than 60,000 Palestinians.
The announcement follows a report by Axios in July that the director of Israel's Mossad spy agency had visited Washington to seek US help in convincing several countries, including Indonesia, Libya and Ethiopia, to take in hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from Gaza.
The three countries mentioned reportedly expressed an 'openness to receiving large numbers of Palestinians from Gaza'.
A spokesperson for the Indonesian foreign ministry unequivocally denied the report to the Guardian at the time, saying the government 'had never discussed such a plan with anybody'.
This week's announcement also comes months after an offer from Indonesia's president Prabowo Subianto to shelter wounded Palestinians drew criticism from Indonesia's top clerics for seeming too close to US president Donald Trump's suggestion of permanently moving Palestinians out of Gaza.
Trump vowed in February that the US would 'take over' war-ravaged Gaza, after which it would be transformed in to the 'Riviera of the Middle East'.
Buya Anwar Abbas, the deputy chair of Indonesia's Ulema Council warned Indonesians in April to be wary of Prabowo's offer.
'Learning from history, Indonesia must be smart in dealing with Israel's manoeuvres. We must not allow our country to be deceived,' he said.
If medical aid is needed for Gaza residents affected by Israel's recent attacks, he argued that treatment should take place in Gaza, not elsewhere.
'As a nation that endured 350 years of colonisation, we must recognise that occupiers have countless tricks and deceptions. We must not fall for their sweet words,' he said.
Another senior leader from Indonesia's largest Muslim organisations, Nahdlatul Ulama, Rais Syuriah, also questioned the motive of the plan.
'Is there a guarantee they can return to Gaza? Aren't there many Palestinians out there who still can't return home?' he asked, 'This could actually make it easier for Israel to occupy more Palestinian land.'
Indonesia's foreign ministry, which backs a two-state solution to resolve the Middle East crisis, said at the time it 'strongly rejects any attempt to forcibly displace Palestinians'.
A hospital to treat victims of the Covid-19 pandemic opened in 2020 on Galang, which had been until 1996 a sprawling refugee camp run by the United Nations, housing 250,000 of those who fled the Vietnam war.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Reuters
27 minutes ago
- Reuters
Indonesia will not introduce new taxes in 2026, finance minister says
JAKARTA, Aug 15 (Reuters) - Indonesia will not introduce any new tax in 2026 to support its tax revenue target and the government will instead rely on internal reforms to increase revenue, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said on Friday. Indonesia's President Prabowo Subianto on Friday proposed to parliament a $234 billion budget, targeting a 9.8% increase in revenue.
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
UK rights watchdog warns against ‘heavy-handed' policing of Gaza protests
The UK's official human rights watchdog has written to the government and police expressing concern at a potentially 'heavy-handed' approach to protests about Gaza and urging clearer guidance for officers in enforcing the law. In the letter to Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, and Mark Rowley, the head of the Metropolitan police, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) said the perception that peaceful protest could attract disproportionate police attention 'undermines confidence in our human rights protections'. While much of the recent focus has been about arrests of people accused of expressing support for Palestine Action, recently proscribed as a terrorist group, the focus of the EHRC letter is on people who have faced police challenge for demonstrating more generally about the situation in Gaza. It cited as an example the case of Laura Murton, who was threatened with arrest under the Terrorism Act by Kent police for holding a Palestinian flag and having signs saying 'Free Gaza' and 'Israel is committing genocide'. In the encounter, first reported by the Guardian, Murton filmed police telling her that even such general statements 'all come under proscribed groups, which are terror groups that have been dictated by the government'. 'Whilst we acknowledge police expertise in assessing security risks, we want to emphasise that any interference with protest rights must be lawful and assessed case-by-case,' said the letter, from Kishwer Falkner, the EHRC chair. 'Heavy-handed policing or blanket approaches risk creating a chilling effect, deterring citizens from exercising their fundamental rights to freedom of expression and assembly through fear of possible consequences.' The letter added: 'This concern extends beyond those directly affected by police engagement to the broader health of our democracy, because the perception that peaceful protest may attract disproportionate police attention undermines confidence in our human rights protections.' Falkner said she urged ministers and police to make sure all officers were given 'clear and consistent guidance on their human rights obligations in relation to protest', which should 'ensure that the appropriate balance is maintained between public safety and the protection of essential human rights'. Last week Murton told the Guardian that her solicitors had issued a letter of claim on her behalf to the chief constable of Kent police, in what was also said to be a move to remind other police forces of their responsibilities towards peaceful protests. Falkner said in a statement: 'The right to peaceful protest is fundamental to our democracy and must be protected even when dealing with complex and sensitive issues. 'We recognise the genuine challenges the police face in maintaining public safety, but we are concerned that some recent responses may not strike the right balance between security and fundamental rights. 'Our role as the national human rights institution is to uphold the laws that safeguard everyone's right to fairness, dignity and respect. When we see reports of people being questioned or prevented from peaceful protests that don't support proscribed organisations, we have a duty to speak out.' The warning comes in the context of wider police operations targeting protesters who, unlike Murton, directly express support for Palestine Action, which is illegal given the group's banned status. More than 500 people were arrested in London last Saturday, almost all for displaying placards or signs allegedly supportive of Palestine Action. Half of those arrested were aged 60 or above, according to police figures. Downing Street has justified the ban on Palestine Action by saying it is 'a violent organisation that has committed violence, significant injury, extensive criminal damage', a description one of its co-founders has said is false and defamatory.
Reuters
3 hours ago
- Reuters
Indonesia proposes budget with shrinking deficit, pledges balanced budget by 2028
JAKARTA, Aug 15 (Reuters) - Indonesia's President Prabowo Subianto on Friday proposed to parliament a $234 billion budget with a deficit forecast at 2.48% of GDP, while promising to try to gradually reduce the gap and balance the annual budget within three years. The 2026 budget is designed to ensure the Southeast Asian country is strong, independent and prosperous, Prabowo said in his first speech on fiscal policy to parliament. The budget proposal is the first developed by Prabowo's administration after he took office last October. The 2025 budget was prepared by his predecessor, Joko Widodo. Prabowo proposed to spend 3,786.5 trillion rupiah ($234.39 billion) next year, or 7.3% higher than the latest estimate for 2025 spending. He targets revenues at 3,147.7 trillion rupiah, about 9.8% higher than this year's projection. He said efficiency measures would need to be taken to reduce the fiscal gap and vowed to have no deficit by 2027 or 2028. The government forecasts this year's budget deficit at 2.78% of GDP. The budget proposal is based on an economic growth target of 5.4%, an inflation rate at 2.5% and the rupiah trading at 16,500 per dollar on average next year, along with several other indicators. Prabowo has pledged to lift spending as he seeks to raise economic growth to 8% during his five-year term and deliver on his campaign platform of improving welfare and achieving food and energy self-sufficiency. Prabowo proposed to spend 335 trillion rupiah ($20.74 billion) on his flagship programme to deliver free meals to 82.9 million students, children and pregnant women. He allotted 171 trillion rupiah for the free meals programme this year, which he said has reached about 20 million recipients. He also promised budgetary support to decarbonise Indonesia's electricity, saying he wanted the country to use 100% renewable power sources in the next 10 years or earlier. Indonesia currently relies on coal for more than half of its power generation. In his address, Prabowo, a former defence minister and special forces commander, also said Indonesia must modernise its military hardware, adding his country had rare earths deposits that were vital to modern defence. ($1 = 16,155.0000 rupiah)
