VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

VOInews, Jakarta: Indonesian public radio network, Radio Republik Indonesia (RRI) and Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) agreed to collaborate on broadcast and information programming. President Director of the RRI, I. Hendrasmo, said the collaboration aimed to provide broadcasts and information for Indonesian citizens in Hong Kong, China. Currently, the number of Indonesian citizens living in the territory has reached 50,000 people.

VOInews, Jakarta: Indonesian president, Joko Widodo (Jokowi) inaugurated the Great Commander Soedirman National Defense Central Hospital (RSPPN) in South Jakarta on Monday (19/02/2024). The hospital, named after Soedirman, the first commander-in-chief of the Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI), is owned and operated by the Indonesian Ministry of Defense. Besides serving as a general hospital, it is also a teaching hospital for students of the Faculty of Medicine of the Indonesian Defense University, also owned by the ministry.

A woman rests with children, as Palestinians arrive in Rafah after they were evacuated from Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis due to the Israeli ground operation, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Feb 15, 2024. (Photo: REUTERS/Mohammed Salem) - 

Voinews, CAIRO/JERUSALEM - Fighting, fuel shortages and Israeli raids put the Gaza Strip's second-largest hospital completely out of service on Sunday (Feb 18), local and United Nations (UN) health officials said, as Israel battled Hamas militants in the devastated Palestinian enclave.

Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis still sheltered scores of patients suffering from war wounds and Gaza's worsening health crisis, but there was no power and not enough staff to treat them all, health officials said.

"It's gone completely out of service," Gaza health ministry spokesperson Ashraf Al Qidra told Reuters.

"There are only four medical staffers currently caring for patients inside the facility," he said.

Gaza's hospitals have been a focal point of the four-month-old war between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas, which controls the besieged territory.

Most have been put out of action by fighting and lack of fuel, leaving a population of 2.3 million without proper healthcare while tens of thousands have been wounded by airstrikes and many others suffer from chronic illness and, increasingly, starvation.

Israel has raided medical facilities alleging that Hamas keeps weapons and hostages in hospitals. Hamas denies this. The international community says hospitals, which are protected under international law, must be protected.

The World Health Organization (WHO) urged Israel to grant its staff access to the hospital, where it said a week-long siege and raids by Israeli forces searching for Hamas militants had stopped them from helping patients.

"Both yesterday and the day before, the @WHO team was not permitted to enter the hospital to assess the conditions of the patients and critical medical needs, despite reaching the hospital compound to deliver fuel," WHO head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on social media platform X.

The Israeli military said its special forces were operating in and around Nasser Hospital and had killed dozens of Palestinian militants and seized a large amount of weapons in fighting across Gaza over the past day.

"Dozens of terrorists were eliminated and large quantities of weapons were seized," it said in a statement.

The military said this week it was hunting for militants in Nasser Hospital and had arrested at least 100 suspects on the premises, killed gunmen near the hospital and found weapons inside it.

Hamas has denied allegations that its fighters use medical facilities for cover.

Israel's air and ground offensive has devastated much of Gaza and forced nearly all of its inhabitants from their homes. Palestinian health authorities say 28,985 people, mostly civilians, have been killed.

The war began when Hamas sent fighters into Israel on Oct 7, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and seizing 253 hostages, according to Israeli tallies//CNA-VOI

The United Nations logo is seen at the 2019 United Nations Climate Action Summit at UN headquarters in New York, US, Sep 23, 2019. (File photo: Reuters/Lucas Jackson) - 

Voinews, United Nations - The United Nations Security Council is likely to vote on Tuesday (Feb 20) on an Algerian push for the 15-member body to demand an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war, said diplomats, a move the United States signalled it would veto.

Algeria put forward an initial draft resolution more than two weeks ago. But US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield quickly said the text could jeopardise "sensitive negotiations" aimed at brokering a pause in the war.

Algeria requested on Saturday that the council vote on Tuesday, diplomats said. To be adopted, a UN Security Council resolution needs at least nine votes in favour and no vetoes by the United States, Britain, France, China or Russia.

"The United States does not support action on this draft resolution. Should it come up for a vote as drafted, it will not be adopted," Thomas-Greenfield said in a statement on Saturday.

Washington traditionally shields its ally Israel from UN action and has already twice vetoed council action since Oct 7. But it has also abstained twice, allowing the council to adopt resolutions that aimed to boost humanitarian aid to Gaza and called for urgent and extended humanitarian pauses in fighting.

Talks between the US, Egypt, Israel and Qatar are on to seek a pause in the war and the release of hostages held by Hamas.

"It is critical that other parties give this process the best odds of succeeding, rather than push measures that put it - and the opportunity for an enduring resolution of hostilities - in jeopardy," Thomas-Greenfield said.

The likely council vote comes as Israel also plans to storm Rafah in southern Gaza, where more than one million Palestinians have sought shelter, prompting international concern that such a move would sharply worsen the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

"The situation in Gaza is an appalling indictment of the deadlock in global relations," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the Munich Security Conference on Friday.

When asked to explain, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Guterres was "pointing the finger" at the lack of unity in the Security Council "and how that lack of unity has hampered our ability ... to improve situations around the world"//CNA-VOI