VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Hamas, a faction of Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), launched a strike on Israel on Saturday morning (7/10). This was one of the biggest in several years.  More than 2,500 rockets were launched to Israel from Gaza. The Hamas combatants then entered the Israeli settlement from Gaza. This triggered battles in at least 22 locations across the southwest of Israel. The battle continued in the area until Sunday morning.

The violent battle claimed hundreds of lives from two sides. As far as known, at least 600 Israelis died and 1,800 others wounded. Israel's counter strike killed 313 Palestinians and wounded almost two thousand others. The Israeli soldiers also stated that they arrested dozens of Hamas fighters. While Hamas also took some Israelis after the Saturday attack. The number of hostages was unknown.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that Israel is at war.

Violent acts of the two sides continued until after nightfall. Israel launched an air strike to 426 targets across Gaza. Hamas replied with rockets towards Israel, such as the Sderot settlement, the previous battleground of Israel and Hamas.

Another enemy of Israel attacked the nation, the Hezbollah militant group, also shot mortar to Israel on Saturday evening. Israel countered with launching shots.

Palestinian Authority had requested an emergency meeting with the Arab League. Palestinian news agency WAFA reported this on Sunday. On the same day, the leader of Arab League Ahmed Aboul Gheit was on the way to Moscow to discuss the situation in Gaza with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Palestine wanted to discuss the latest development of last weekend with foreign ministers of Arab countries. Through the emergency meeting, the Palestinian Authority intended to talk about Israeli aggression to the people of Palestine.

Mohannad Aklouk, permanent representative mission of Palestine in the Arab League stated this to WAFA. He hoped to politically mobilize the Arab countries and the world to protect Palestinians based on international law.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian Foreign Affairs Ministry expressed their concern on conflict escalation between Israel and Palestine. Indonesia demanded the violent attacks to be stopped, to avoid more casualties and material loss.

Indonesia also urged the root of the conflict, namely Israel occupation on Palestinian land, must be solved according to the agreement by the United Nations.

Hopefully, the solution can be achieved soon so the violence between the two will not be prolonged and take more lives.