VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

VOINews, Jakarta - More foreigners prepared to leave the besieged Gaza Strip on Thursday as its Hamas-run government said at least 195 Palestinians died in Israel's attacks on the Jabalia refugee camp, strikes that U.N. human rights officials said could be war crimes.

At least 320 foreign citizens on an initial list of 500, as well as dozens of severely injured Gazans, crossed into Egypt on Wednesday under a deal among Israel, Egypt and Hamas.

Passport holders from Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Finland, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Jordan, the United Kingdom and the United States were in the evacuation.

Gaza border officials said the border crossing would reopen on Thursday so more foreigners could exit. A diplomatic source said some 7,500 foreign passport holders would leave Gaza over about two weeks.

Pressing an offensive against Hamas militants, Israel has bombed Gaza by land, sea and air in its campaign to wipe out Hamas after the Islamist group's cross-border rampage into southern Israel on Oct. 7. Israel said Hamas killed 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and took more than 200 hostages.

The Gaza health ministry says at least 8,796 Palestinians in the narrow coastal enclave, including 3,648 children, have been killed by Israeli strikes since Oct. 7.

Explosions were heard in the early hours of Thursday around the al-Quds hospital in densely populated Gaza City, the Palestinian Red Crescent said. Israeli authorities had previously warned the hospital to evacuate immediately, which U.N. officials said was impossible without endangering patients.

TWO HAMAS COMMANDERS KILLED, SAYS ISRAEL

Israel said its strikes on Tuesday and Wednesday killed two Hamas military leaders in Jabalia, Gaza's biggest refugee camp. Israel said the group had command centres and other "terror infrastructure under, around and within civilian buildings, intentionally endangering Gazan civilians".

Gaza's Hamas-run media office said on Thursday that at least 195 Palestinians were killed in the two Israeli attacks on Jabalia, with 120 missing under the rubble. At least 777 people were wounded, it said in a statement.

Palestinians on Wednesday sifted through rubble in a desperate hunt for trapped victims. "It is a massacre," said one witness.

U.N. human rights officials said strikes on the camp could be a war crime.

"Given the high number of civilian casualties and the scale of destruction following Israeli air strikes on Jabalia refugee camp, we have serious concerns that these are disproportionate attacks that could amount to war crimes," the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights wrote on social media site X.

The Israeli military said one soldier was killed in Gaza on Wednesday. Fifteen were killed on Tuesday.

Amid growing international calls for a humanitarian pause in hostilities, conditions in the seaside enclave are increasingly desperate under Israel's assault and tightened blockade. Food, fuel, drinking water and medicine have run short.

Dr Fathi Abu al-Hassan, a U.S. passport holder waiting to cross into Egypt on Wednesday, described hellish conditions in Gaza without water, food or shelter.

"We open our eyes on dead people and we close our eyes on dead people," he said.

Hospitals have struggled as shortages of fuel forced shutdowns including Gaza's only cancer hospital. Israel has refused to let humanitarian convoys bring in fuel, citing concern that Hamas fighters would divert it for military purposes.

Ashraf Al-Qudra, a spokesperson for the Gaza health ministry, said the main power generator at the Indonesian Hospital was no longer functioning due to lack of fuel.

The hospital was switching to a back-up generator but would no longer be able to power mortuary refrigerators and oxygen generators. "If we don't get fuel in the next few days, we will inevitably reach a disaster," he said.

U.S. DIPLOMAT DEPARTS FOR ISRAEL, AGAIN

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was due to depart on Thursday for his second visit to Israel in less than a month. He plans to meet Israeli officials including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday to voice solidarity but also to reassert the need to minimize Palestinian civilian casualties, his spokesperson said.

Blinken will also stop in Jordan, one of a handful of Arab states to have normalised relations with Israel. On Wednesday Jordan withdrew its ambassador from Tel Aviv until Israel ends its assault on Gaza. Israel said it regretted Jordan's decision.

In Jordan, Blinken will underscore the importance of protecting civilian lives and reiterate a U.S. commitment to ensure Palestinians are not forcibly displaced from Gaza, a growing concern of the Arab world, the spokesman said.

He will pursue talks led by Egypt and Qatar on securing the release of all of the hostages held by Hamas.

Also on Thursday, the U.S. House of Representatives could pass with Republican support a bill providing $14.3 billion in aid for Israel.

But it is unlikely to become law, as it faces stiff opposition in the Democratic-controlled Senate and the White House has threatened a veto. President Joe Biden wants a $106-billion bill that would fund Ukraine, border security and humanitarian aid as well as money for Israel. (Reuters)

VOINews, Jakarta - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will meet with their Indian counterparts later this month in New Delhi to discuss "concerns and developments in the Indo-Pacific", the State Department said on Wednesday.

The meeting with India's foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and the country's defense minister Rajnath Singh comes amid tensions between the United States and China in the Indo-Pacific region. (Reuters)

VOINews, Jakarta - Twenty Australians were among the first group of foreign citizens who entered Egypt from the Israeli-besieged Gaza Strip via the Rafah border crossing, Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs Tim Watts said on Thursday.

At least 320 foreign nationals left the Palestinian enclave to cross into Egypt on Wednesday, the first to benefit from a deal mediated by Qatar.

Watts said there were still 65 Australians trapped in Gaza and the government had urged them, using all available communication channels, to move toward the Rafah crossing as soon as possible.

"We are providing all possible support we can, communicating through all available channels," Watts told ABC television. "It is not always perfect. This is a conflict zone."

Watts said the government was not planning for more assisted flights at the moment as there were enough commercial options available. Since the conflict began on Oct. 7, the Australian government has conducted several repatriation flights.

Israel sent ground forces into Hamas-ruled Gaza late last week after weeks of air and artillery strikes to retaliate for a surprise Hamas attack in which Israel says 1,400 people, mostly civilians, were killed and 240 were taken hostage.

The Gaza health ministry says at least 8,796 Palestinians in the narrow coastal enclave, including 3,648 children, have been killed by Israeli strikes.

Watts said he also "strongly encouraged" Australians in Lebanon to leave the country after deadly clashes between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group.

"We can't make any guarantees that Beirut airport will remain open if the conflict spreads to the south of Lebanon and departure options become much more complex and more difficult at that point," Watts said.

"We don't know what the situation is going to look like in the coming days and coming weeks." (Reuters)

VOINews, Jakarta - The Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR) is committed to reducing carbon emissions by adopting environment-friendly infrastructure development, starting from the use of sustainable materials in construction, an official said on Wednesday.

"Whoever wants to build infrastructure, we encourage them to build using environment-friendly materials with the lowest possible carbon footprint," said Firdaus Ali, special adviser to PUPR Minister on water resources, in a talk with the media in Jakarta.

Indonesia is seeking to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 31.89 percent through its own efforts and 43.20 percent with international support by 2030, based on the Enhanced Nationally Determined Contributions (ENDCs) document. Indonesia is also targeting to achieve net zero emissions by 2060.

Ali emphasized that the construction sector is playing an important role in achieving this goal. The sector has been a major contributor of carbon emissions to date.

"In order to achieve ENDC 2030 or zero emissions by 2060, we don't have any more time. If we are negligent, we will face an increasingly complex ecological disaster in the future," he said.

According to PUPR Ministerial Regulation Number 9 of 2021, which provides guidelines for implementing sustainable construction, consultants and contractors are required to implement sustainable practices.

The use of environment-friendly materials, including non-ordinary Portland cement (non-OPC), is also being encouraged by the PUPR Ministry, a step that has been strengthened by the issuance of the PUPR Ministerial Instruction Number 4 of 2020 to promote sustainable construction.

Ali gave the example of the national capital (IKN) Nusantara infrastructure development project, which is applying sustainable principles. He assured that in the long term, IKN development will prioritize the use of environment-friendly materials in a high proportion.

He added that his ministry asks contractors to use low-carbon materials, such as non-OPC cement.

"Unless non-OPC cement is unavailable or takes a long time to arrive at the location, potentially causing delays (in the construction of the IKN project), we may still consider using OPC cement," he said.

Ali said that the unavailability of technical instructions is one of the obstacles to ensuring the use of sustainable materials in construction projects.

He expressed hope that the technical instructions will be published soon, making it easier for all parties to apply environment-friendly construction principles. (Antaranews)