Jakarta. Indonesia is currently arranging to deliver aid to the Gaza Strip as fierce battles rage between Israel and the militant group Hamas. 

According to the Foreign Affairs Ministry, Indonesia will send humanitarian assistance consisting of necessities later this week.

“We have made sure that the things that we are about to send meet what they [the people in Gaza] need,” top diplomat Retno Marsudi told a press briefing in Jakarta on Wednesday evening.

The government did not reveal the total amount of the humanitarian assistance coming from Indonesia, with Retno saying that more details will follow when the delivery takes place this week.

However, the delivery is set to include what some humanitarian organizations have collected.

The Indonesian Red Cross Society (PMI) plans to deliver aid worth Rp 2.9 billion (approximately $182,838) comprising hygiene kits, body bags, generators, and oxygen tanks. However, PMI said it was still waiting for the United Nations’ approval for the types of goods that could enter the Gaza Strip. 

The National Alms Agency (Baznas) reported it had collected at least Rp 10 billion in public donations. Baznas has spent Rp 1.7 billion on hygiene kits, warm clothes, blankets, food supplies, and medicines, among other necessary items. All these newly purchased goods will be part of this week’s delivery. 

Lalu Muhammad Iqbal, the spokesperson at the Foreign Affairs Ministry, said the aid would first make its way to Egypt. Indonesia will then hand over the humanitarian assistance to the humanitarian organization Egyptian Red Crescent. 

“The Egyptian Red Crescent will then coordinate with the UNRWA [United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees] on getting all these supplies to Gaza,” Lalu said.

Read More: Indonesia to Evacuate 7 Citizens from Gaza

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