“We are ready to evacuate those who are injured or traumatized, and orphans, if they want to be evacuated to Indonesia, and we are ready to send planes to transport them.” Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto said that on Wednesday, and he put a number on it: around 1,000 people from Gaza.
The group would be Palestinians hurt or orphaned in the Israel-Hamas war. Subianto said he had told his foreign minister to start working out evacuation plans with Palestinian authorities right away.
Those who come would stay until they have fully recovered and it is safe enough to go back to Gaza. The president was blunt about what the offer is not. It is a temporary measure, he said, and not permanent resettlement.
Talks on the road
Before leaving for Abu Dhabi, the first stop on a weeklong Middle East tour, Subianto said he would raise the plan with leaders of Turkiye, Egypt, Qatar and Jordan. Some of those countries have already taken in Palestinian evacuees on humanitarian grounds.
He did not pretend it would be simple. “This is something complicated; it’s not easy, but I think it encourages the Indonesian government to play a more active role,” he said.
Contrast with Trump’s idea
The announcement came after Donald Trump again floated putting Gaza under US control and moving its population to other countries. Indonesia’s version differs. It is built around recovery and a safe return, according to NBC News, whose reporting RBC-Ukraine relayed.
Indonesia is the most populous Muslim-majority nation in the world, and it has long backed the Palestinian people.
