VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

VOINews, Jakarta - King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on Monday opened the International Conference on Women in Islam in the city of Jeddah.

According to a press statement posted on the Union of the OIC News Agencies website on Monday, the three-day international conference has been organized by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

The conference aims to highlight the successes of Muslim women and their role and contribution to the development of OIC member states.

The conference also aims to counter the negative propaganda that portrays Islamic religion as an obstacle to women's rights and to demonstrate that Islamic teachings have always been just toward women.

The conference will seek to create a detailed plan for legal reforms and political initiatives to foster justice and empower women in Islamic societies. The participants of the conference are also expected to adopt a comprehensive document entitled The Jeddah Document for Women in Islam.

The conference comprises five working sessions during which ministers, officials, scholars, and thinkers of both genders will delve into the status of women and their rights in Islam in addition to various issues related to women in contemporary societies.

During his speech at the opening session of the 49th Session of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers held in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania on March 16–17, 2023, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, presented the Kingdom's initiative to host the International Conference on Women in Islam.

In his presentation, he underlined the Kingdom's commitment and active role in promoting the status and empowerment of women across all development sectors.

It is said that Saudi Arabia continuously supports the OIC's objectives and its efforts to preserve the rights of Muslim women and enhance their role in the development of member countries. (Antaranews)

VOINews, Jakarta - Indonesian Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto said he has submitted an offer to send a hospital ship to Palestine to help those in need of medical treatment amid the ongoing war in Gaza.

Speaking to journalists after receiving a courtesy call from the Palestinian Ambassador to Indonesia Zuhair Al-Shun here on Monday, Subianto informed that he had discussed the offer more deeply with the ambassador.

He said he had also reported the Defense Ministry's plan to send the hospital ship to President Joko Widodo and coordinated it with Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi.

He disclosed that he will also coordinate the plan to send the hospital ship to Palestine with the Egyptian Ambassador in Jakarta about the detailed delivery procedure for the hospital ship.

Subianto said he had also told Palestine that all Indonesian military hospitals would welcome Palestinians from the besieged Gaza Strip who need medical treatment.

He informed that he has been coordinating with related parties to determine ways to get those in need of medical treatment to Indonesian military hospitals.

Subianto further said that 22 Palestinian cadets have arrived at Indonesia's Defense University to pursue undergraduate programs, including medicine and engineering, for five years.

"We officially receive them on Tuesday evening," he added.

In response to Indonesia's offer, Ambassador Al-Shun thanked the government and the people of Indonesia for their support and assistance for Palestine.

He said he had discussed the latest situation in Palestine and ways to put an immediate end to Israel's brutal killings of Palestinian civilians.

Ambassador Al-Shun also expressed gratitude for Indonesia's offer to send a hospital ship as well as for the opportunity it has given to 22 Palestinian cadets to study at Indonesia's Defense University.

Fresh armed conflict broke out between Palestine and Israel again following a surprise attack by Hamas on Israel early in the morning of October 7, 2023.

Prior to the assault by Palestinian liberation fighters, Israel had continued its closure of Gaza crossings.

Palestine's news agency WAFA reported on September 25 that the Israeli closure of Gaza crossings had worsened the living conditions of Palestinians in Gaza.

According to WAFA, the Palestinians had already suffered from the severe impacts of "more than 17 years of tight Israeli land, sea, and air blockades."

Al Jazeera quoted Hamas, which governs Gaza, as stating that its assault on Israel was "a response to the desecration of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and increased settler violence."

In response to the unprecedented surprise attack, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared war on Hamas and, according to Al Jazeera, pledged that the Israeli forces would "turn all Hamas hideouts into rubble."

The ongoing Israeli campaign in the Gaza Strip, which is home to more than two million people, has resulted in the deaths of several thousand Palestinian civilians and prompted a humanitarian crisis. (Antaranews)

VOINews, Jakarta - Medical volunteer organization Medical Emergency Rescue Committee (MER-C) has reported that the Indonesian-Palestinian Hospital is using vehicle parking lots and yards to treat victims of Israeli military attacks in Gaza.

The continued influx of a large number of victims has prompted the Indonesian Hospital management to use those outdoor spaces, president of the MER-C Indonesia presidium, Farid Thalib, said in Jakarta on Monday.

During an emergency, the Indonesian Hospital has the capacity to admit up to 800 people and accommodate 235 beds.

"Meanwhile, the latest information is that the number of people being treated continues to increase, to the point where almost 5 thousand people are currently being treated in the Indonesian Hospital parking lot, including refugees," Thalib informed.

MER-C Indonesia confirmed that 60–80 percent of the victims treated at the Indonesian Hospital have consisted of children and women with moderate to serious injuries.

He said that the increase in the number of patients is expected since the Indonesian Hospital is the only mainstay health service, especially in North Gaza.

The Indonesian government has been providing consistent humanitarian support for the victims. On Sunday (November 5, 2023), it distributed 7 tons of medical equipment to Palestinians who were victims of the conflict in Gaza.

The medical equipment assistance included equipment such as emergency kits for minor surgical needs as well as food for pregnant women and children aged under five.

"This includes clothes for health workers and two washing machines, which are also needed by Indonesian Hospital," Thalib said.

Besides the reliability of medical services provided by the Indonesian and Palestinian governments, which has continued to be improved, hospital security must also be ensured for humanitarian reasons, he added.

This is because the management of the Indonesian Hospital in Gaza informed that it had been attacked and bombed by the Israeli military since early October 2023, which resulted in the death of 2 workers. (Antaranews)

VOINews, Jakarta - The Foreign Affairs Ministry informed that humanitarian aid from Indonesia for victims of the conflict in the Gaza Strip arrived in Egypt on Monday.

Indonesian Air Force Hercules aircraft arrived at El Arish Airport, Egypt, with the aid around 8 a.m. local time on Monday.

"Thank you to the Indonesian people who have shown their solidarity with the Palestinian people. The aid has arrived at El Arish Airport and will be handed over to the Egyptian Red Crescent to be taken to the Gaza border," Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Pahala Mansury, who directly supervised the aid delivery, informed in a written statement released on Monday.

After handing over the aid to representatives of the Egyptian Red Crescent, the Indonesian Air Force aircraft will prepare to return to Indonesia.

The aid will be taken to Gaza via the Rafah border and will be distributed to the victims by the United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) — two international humanitarian agencies operating at the center of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

On November 4, 2023, Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) officially sent the aid from the Halim Perdanakusuma Airport in Jakarta.

The humanitarian aid consists of food, medical equipment, blankets, tents, and other logistical items, weighing a total of 51.5 tons. The delivery marks the provision of the first batch of aid from Indonesia for Gaza.

The aid was transported using three aircraft, including two C-130 Hercules aircraft with tail numbers A-1327 and A-1328 from Air Squadron 31 and Air Squadron 32 of the Indonesian Air Force, as well as one chartered Boeing 737 Garuda Indonesia aircraft. (Antaranews)