"President Jokowi will convey Indonesia's position on the situation in Gaza to President Joe Biden," said spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Lalu Muhamad Iqbal on Thursday (9/11/2023) as reported by Antara.
The bilateral meeting between Jokowi and Biden will take place after Jokowi attends an extraordinary summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on November 11-12, 2023. The summit is held to respond to the conflict between the Israeli military and the Hamas military wing in Gaza, as well as the humanitarian impacts that it causes. According to Iqbal, the summit will focus on discussing the latest developments in the situation in Gaza and consolidating joint efforts of OIC member states to end Israel's atrocities in Gaza.
"Because the bilateral meeting will take place right after the OIC summit, it is certain that President Jokowi will also convey the results of the summit to President Joe Biden," he remarked.
The U.S. is an ally and supporter of Israel. Thus, Washington's position is deemed influential in the conflict in Gaza, where, over the past month, more than 10,000 people, including children and women, have been killed.
On several occasions, President Jokowi expressed his condemnation of the violence and attacks that resulted in civilian casualties in Gaza. Indonesia has also continued to call for a humanitarian ceasefire to allow the entry of aid for victims in the besieged Palestinian enclave.
Currently, six Indonesians are still in Gaza, three of whom are from the Muhammad Husein family that awaits evacuation. Meanwhile, three other Indonesians are volunteers at the Indonesian Hospital in Gaza. The three decided to stay and refused to be evacuated, as they wanted to continue their humanitarian duty in Gaza. (Antara)
