The escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has prompted Southeast Asian countries to unite to unravel the issue. The conflict between Israel and Hamas within the Gaza Strip has escalated dramatically since October 7. Hamas’s surprise attack on Israel resulted within the death of over 1,400 people, most of them civilians, and the taking of over 100 hostages.
Israel responded with massive airstrikes and started a siege of Gaza, cutting off access to electricity, water, food and fuel. Gaza’s Health Ministry said the death toll within the Israeli offensive had reached 4,137, with greater than 13,300 injured and 1,000 still missing.
At the identical time, Israeli airstrikes also hit a Greek Orthodox church in Gaza (St. Pophyriu Church), which houses tons of of Palestinian refugees, killing 16 people, in response to Palestinian health officials.
In response, leaders of Southeast Asian and Gulf countries called on Israel and Hamas to stop attacks on civilians and permit humanitarian aid to Gaza. The call got here on Friday (October 21) through the second summit in Riyad, Saudi Arabia. The agreement was also documented in a joint statement by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
They also called for humanitarian access and the speedy resumption of electricity, water, fuel, food and medical supplies throughout Gaza. ASEAN and the GCC also stressed the necessity for all parties to the conflict to guard civilians and respect international humanitarian law.
Several journalist organizations in Southeast Asia also condemned the unexplained killings of journalists and civilians, calling them serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law, including the Geneva Conventions.
Alliances Jurnalis Independent (AJI) Indonesia, Association of Timor-Leste Journalists (ATJL), Cambodian Journalists Association (CamboJA), Center for Independent Journalism (CIJ) Malaysia, Gerakan Media Merdeka Malaysia (GERAMM), National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) and Prachatai Thailand also called on the UN to launch a direct investigation into these killings and attacks and urged the international community to unite and press for a direct cessation of all use of force.
Distribution of aid from Southeast Asian countries
Before the intensity of the conflict increased again, countries within the Southeast Asian region actively provided material assistance to Palestine. Recently, nonetheless, Southeast Asian countries have resumed aid to Palestine.
For example, Singapore will provide humanitarian aid price A$300,000, or roughly R3.4 billion, through the Singapore Red Crescent. On October 16, the Singapore Red Cross also announced a donation of $150,000 to each Israel through Magen David Adom and Palestine through the Palestinian Red Crescent.
On the opposite hand, Malaysia has also pledged to contribute 1 million ringgit (roughly 3.3 billion rupees) as an emergency fund to Palestine, while condemning this crisis consequently of oppression and injustice against the Palestinian people.
Brunei also officially established the Brunei Humanitarian Fund for Gaza 2023 and the Brunei National Committee for the Humanitarian Fund for Gaza 2023. The launch ceremony of the Brunei Humanitarian Fund for Gaza 2023 was held on Wednesday (October 18), with the aim of ensuring that the general public can donate to the fund. The collection will last three months, until January 18, 2024.
Indonesia, through the Zakat National Board (Badan Amil Zakat Nasional/BAZNAS), can also be making efforts to gather humanitarian funds to assist victims of the conflict sparked by Israeli attacks in Palestine. Currently, aid is provided through the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
BTS fans from Indonesia, generally known as ARMY Indonesia, also joined in helping Palestine. ARMY Indonesia has raised over IDR 1 billion for Palestine. The “BTS Army Indonesia cares for Palestine” campaign was conducted through the Solusi Peduli platform, and the help was aimed toward meeting the essential needs of Palestinians, including food, medicine and health care.
The donation collection, which was initiated by the army_indonesia Instagram account, reached its goal inside 4 days. As of Monday (October 23), the overall amount of donations from 20,313 donors amounted to Rp 1,023,356,414. The donations were then made through the humanitarian agency Human Initiative and the primary phase of aid was successfully delivered to the Palestinian people.
To at the present time, the conflict in Palestine continues, the death toll continues to rise, and the variety of refugees continues to grow. Many private organizations in various countries have also opened their doors to assist Palestine.
We hope that the international community will intervene immediately to search out an answer to this conflict to revive peace and humanity to the region.
