Menteri Luar Negeri Indonesia Retno Marsudi berbicara dalam pertemuan Khusus Dewan Eksekutif Organisasi Kesehatan Dunia (WHO) di Jenewa, Swiss, Minggu (10/12/2023). ANTARA/HO-Kemlu RI/am.
Menteri Luar Negeri Retno Marsudi mengatakan Israel telah mengubah Gaza menjadi bagaikan neraka setelah jumlah korban tewas akibat konflik Israel dengan Hamas, terus bertambah.
Dalam pertemuan Khusus Dewan Eksekutif Organisasi Kesehatan Dunia (WHO) di Jenewa, Swiss, pada Minggu (10/12), Retno mengungkapkan rumah sakit-rumah sakit di Gaza digempur hebat, termasuk RS Indonesia yang dipaksa berhenti beroperasi pada 16 November.
"Perintah Israel Defence Force (angkatan bersenjata Israel) agar suplai medis dipindahkan dari Khan Younis ke gudang yang lebih kecil di Rafah merupakan pelanggaran berat hukum internasional dan hak asasi manusia,” kata Retno ketika menyampaikan keterangan pers secara daring.
Retno menyoroti kondisi fasilitas kesehatan di Gaza yang sangat memprihatinkan di mana hanya 13 dari 36 rumah sakit yang masih beroperasi, dan semuanya kelebihan kapasitas hingga 2-3 kali lipat.
Retno menyebutkan 71 persen fasilitas pelayanan kesehatan di Gaza tidak berfungsi, sementara perlengkapan medis, obat-obatan, makanan, air bersih, bensin, dan listrik semakin terbatas.
"Ratusan pekerja medis terbunuh semenjak Israel menyerang Gaza," tutur dia.
WHO sendiri melaporkan penyebaran penyakit menular yang semakin tinggi di Gaza. WHO menemukan hampir 130 ribu kasus infeksi pernafasan akut, lebih dari 94 ribu kasus diare, dan lebih dari 2.700 kasus cacar air.
"Oleh karena itu, penting bagi Indonesia untuk hadir (dalam pertemuan WHO ini) agar dapat langsung berkontribusi, mendesak pentingnya perbaikan fasilitas kesehatan, perlindungan terhadap fasilitas dan tenaga kesehatan, termasuk tentunya fasilitas kesehatan Rumah Sakit Indonesia," kata Retno.
Dewan Eksekutif adalah organ eksekutif WHO di bawah World Health Assembly yang beranggotakan 34 negara.
Indonesia terakhir menjadi anggota Dewan Eksekutif WHO pada 2018-2021.
Israel melanjutkan serangan militer di Jalur Gaza pada 1 Desember setelah jeda kemanusiaan selama seminggu berakhir.
Hampir 18 ribu warga Palestina tewas dan lebih dari 49.229 lainnya luka-luka, sedangkan Israel kehilangan 1.200 orang akibat konflik ini.
Palestinians check a house destroyed in the Israeli bombardment on Rafah, Gaza Strip, Monday, Dec. 11, 2023. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)
The Associated Press
Hamas said it was striking back against Israeli forces across Gaza on Monday and Palestinians and international relief agencies said public order was disintegrating as hunger spread, fuelling fears of a mass exodus to Egypt.
The narrow coastal strip has been under a full Israeli blockade since the start of the conflict more than two months ago and the border with Egypt is the only other way out.
Most of Gaza's 2.3 million people have been driven from their homes and residents say it is impossible to find refuge, or increasingly food, in the densely populated enclave, with around 18,000 people already killed and conflict intensifying.
Gazans said people forced to flee repeatedly were dying of hunger and cold as well as bombardment, describing desperate attacks on aid trucks and sky high prices.
"Had any of us expected that our people may die of hunger, had it crossed anyone's mind before?" said Rola Ghanim, among many expressing bewilderment on social media.
Aid trucks risked being stopped by desperate residents if they even slowed down at an intersection, Carl Skau, said deputy executive director of the U.N. World Food Programme.
"Half of the population are starving, nine out of 10 are not eating every day," he told Reuters on Saturday.
One Palestinian told Reuters he had not eaten for three days and had to beg for bread for his children.
"I pretend to be strong but I am afraid I will collapse in front of them at any moment," he said by telephone, declining to be named for fear of reprisals.
After the collapse of a week-long ceasefire on Dec. 1, Israel began a ground offensive in the south last week and has since pushed from the east into the heart of the city of Khan Younis, with warplanes attacking an area to the west.
On Monday, militants and some residents said fighters were preventing Israeli tanks moving further west through the city and clashing with Israeli forces in northern Gaza, where Israel had said its tasks were largely complete.
Israel said dozens of Hamas fighters had surrendered and urged others to join them. The armed wing of Hamas said it had fired rockets towards Tel Aviv, where Israelis fled to shelters.
U.N. officials say 1.9 million people - 85 percent of Gaza's population - are displaced and describe the conditions in the southern areas where they have concentrated as hellish.
"I expect public order to completely break down soon and an even worse situation could unfold including epidemic diseases and increased pressure for mass displacement into Egypt," U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres said on Sunday.
Palestinians in Lebanon and the Israeli-occupied West Bank observed a general strike on Monday called by activists to demand a cease-fire, after the U.S. vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for one on Friday. A similar, nonbinding vote is planned in the General Assembly on Tuesday.
ISRAEL DENIES SEEKING TO EMPTY GAZA
Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner general of UNRWA, the U.N. body responsible for the welfare of Palestinian refugees, wrote on Saturday that pushing Gazans closer and closer to the border pointed to "attempts to move Palestinians into Egypt".
The border with Egypt is heavily fortified, but Hamas militants blew holes in the wall in 2008 to break a tight blockade. Gazans crossed to buy food and other goods but quickly returned, with none permanently displaced.
Egypt has long warned it would not allow Gazans into its territory this time, fearing they would not be able to return.
Jordan, which absorbed the bulk of Palestinians after the creation of Israel in 1948, accused Israel on Sunday of seeking "to empty Gaza of its people".
Hezbollah and IDF exchange fire across Israel-Lebanon border
Israeli forces and Hamas fighters engaged in heavy fighting Monday in and around Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, while battles were ongoing outside Gaza City in the north.
Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari told reporters late Sunday that Israeli forces are now focused on fighting in Jabaliya and Shajaiye, two neighborhoods in northern Gaza, as well as in Khan Younis, Gaza’s second largest city
The fighting has pushed an estimated 1.9 million people from their homes in Gaza, with many seeking shelter in the south in overcrowded facilities amid warnings of poor sanitary conditions and the threat of an increase in communicable diseases.
The strike today is not only in solidarity with Gaza, but also against the USA which used its veto in the Security Council against a truce," Abu Baker said in Ramallah, referring to the US rejection of a ceasefire resolution on Friday.
Western news media simultaneously wrote "Hamas is believed to have suffered heavy losses." This means that there is no result from Israel's attacks on Hamas other than destroying buildings. That's how the West deceives the public, especially Jews, who have that inherent character.
According to numerous reports, the Ukrainian military is demoralized and bleeding white with no desire to take further part in already-lost battles for the corrupt Kiev authorities.
Russia's Ministry of Defense has published footage that shows Russian VDV (Airborne troops) seizing Ukrainian positions in a quick assault north-east of Artemovsk (formerly known as Bakhmut).
Soldiers used fire support from armored vehicles and a drone squadron that conducted aerial reconnaissance and bombed Ukrainian positions. In a brief yet epic fight, Russian airborne troops decimated Ukrainian militants, while over 20 soldiers surrendered, choosing to save their lives.
Kiev Loses Up to 200 Soldiers in Donetsk Direction in Past Day - MoD
Ukraine has lost up to 200 soldiers both killed and injured in the Donetsk direction over the past 24 hours, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Monday.
Over the given period, the Russian armed forces have repulsed 18 attacks by Ukrainian troops in the Donetsk direction, four attacks in the Kupyansk direction and another four in the Zaporozhye direction.
"The enemy lost up to 200 military personnel killed and wounded, two armored combat vehicles, and two D-30 howitzers [in the Donetsk direction," the ministry said in a statement.
Ukraine has also lost up to 175 soldiers in the Krasny Lyman direction in the past day, the statement read.
Vostok's Fury: Watch How Ukrainian Positions Crumble to Russian Military Might
Recent activities by Russia's Vostok Battlegroup show how it deals devastating blows to Ukrainian strongholds in Kleshcheyevka.
The Russian Defense Ministry has released a new video showing the relentless destruction of Ukrainian positions near the settlement of Kleshcheyevka in the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR).
The footage vividly captures the seamless coordination between Russian units and artillery, leaving no room for Kiev's troops. The cooperation of these forces underscores the overwhelming dominance of the Russian military, rendering futile any attempt by Western-supplied military equipment to surpass Russia's firepower.
On a daily basis, Russian forces skillfully deprive Kiev of numerous Western military assets, demonstrating their superior strategic capabilities.
Jordan’s foreign minister has claimed Israel cannot achieve military victory in Gaza and has already suffered a strategic defeat by alienating the entire region.
Speaking on Sunday at the Doha Forum – an annual gathering of diplomats in the Qatari capital – Ayman Safadi said the goal of Israel’s operation against Hamas is to oust the Palestinian population rather than to defeat the militant group.
The destruction in Gaza over the past two months “is an indication of an Israeli policy that seems determined to expel the residents” of the enclave, he said, adding that top Israeli officials, including Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, have been quite candid about that intention.
Safadi brought up the Friday vote at the UN Security Council, in which the US vetoed a proposal by Arab nations urging for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza. It was the only vote against, with the UK, a key American ally, being the only member of the 15-strong body to abstain.
The top Jordanian diplomat noted that despite the veto, Washington was publicly calling on Israel to change its military tactics.
“Simply put, Israel is defying everyone – its allies, international law, and the United Nations,” he said. “Israel has created an amount of hatred that will haunt this region, and that will define future generations. It harms its people as much as it affects everyone in the region."
This is a war Israel cannot win. Israel has already suffered a strategic defeat.
The minister blamed Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories and systematic obstruction to the creation of a Palestinian state as the root cause of the hostilities.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who attended the event in Qatar via video link, remarked that the US has blocked several proposals for a ceasefire in Gaza at the UN. He called the unresolved status of Palestinian statehood the “single most dangerous factor igniting extremism in the Middle East.”
