Prabowo Says Indonesia Willing to Send Peacekeeping Troops to Gaza

Internally displaced Palestinians walk next to destroyed buildings in Khan Younis town, southern Gaza Strip, 31 May 2024 (issued 01 June 2024). (EPA)
Internally displaced Palestinians walk next to destroyed buildings in Khan Younis town, southern Gaza Strip, 31 May 2024 (issued 01 June 2024). (EPA)
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Prabowo Says Indonesia Willing to Send Peacekeeping Troops to Gaza

Internally displaced Palestinians walk next to destroyed buildings in Khan Younis town, southern Gaza Strip, 31 May 2024 (issued 01 June 2024). (EPA)
Internally displaced Palestinians walk next to destroyed buildings in Khan Younis town, southern Gaza Strip, 31 May 2024 (issued 01 June 2024). (EPA)

Indonesia's president-elect, Prabowo Subianto, said on Saturday that his country was willing to send peacekeeping troops to enforce a ceasefire in Gaza if required.

Speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia's premier security conference, Prabowo said US President Joe Biden's three-phase proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza was a step in the right direction.

"When needed and when requested by the UN, we are prepared to contribute significant peacekeeping forces to maintain and monitor this prospective ceasefire as well as providing protection and security to all parties and to all sides," Prabowo said.

The 72-year-old former special forces general and current Indonesian defense minister takes on the presidency of the world's most populous Muslim nation in October.

He said President Joko Widodo had instructed him to announce that Indonesia was also ready "to evacuate, to receive and to treat with medical care up to 1,000 patients" from Gaza.

The Indonesia Hospital in Gaza, which was run by an Indonesia NGO, closed in November amid the fighting.

Prabowo said a comprehensive investigation into the humanitarian disaster in the Rafah area of Gaza was needed as well as a "just solution" to the situation in Palestine.

"And that means the rights of not only Israel to exist, but also the rights of the Palestinian people to have their own homeland, their own state, living in peace."



UN Food Agency Says Israeli Tanks, Snipers Opened Fire on a Crowd Seeking Aid in Gaza

Mourners attend the funeral of their relatives killed in an Israeli bombardment, in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Monday, July 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Mourners attend the funeral of their relatives killed in an Israeli bombardment, in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Monday, July 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
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UN Food Agency Says Israeli Tanks, Snipers Opened Fire on a Crowd Seeking Aid in Gaza

Mourners attend the funeral of their relatives killed in an Israeli bombardment, in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Monday, July 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Mourners attend the funeral of their relatives killed in an Israeli bombardment, in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Monday, July 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

The UN food agency accused Israel of using tanks, snipers and other weapons to fire on a crowd of Palestinians seeking food aid, in what the territory's Health Ministry said was one of the deadliest days for aid-seekers in over 21 months of war.

The World Food Program in a statement Sunday condemned the violence that erupted in northern Gaza as Palestinians tried to reach a convoy of trucks carrying food. The Health Ministry in Gaza said at least 80 people were killed in the incident. The Israeli military has said it fired warning shots “to remove an immediate threat,” but has questioned the death toll reported by the Palestinians.

The accusation by a major aid agency that has had generally good working relations with Israel builds on descriptions by witnesses and others, who also said Israel opened fire on the crowd, The AP news reported.

The bloodshed surrounding aid access highlights the increasingly precarious situation for people in Gaza who have been desperately seeking out food and other assistance, as the war that has roiled the region shows no signs of ending. Israel and Hamas are still engaged in ceasefire talks, but there appears to be no breakthrough and it's not clear whether any truce would bring the war to a lasting halt.

As the talks proceed, the death toll in the war-ravaged territory has climbed to more than 59,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Its count doesn't distinguish between militants and civilians but the ministry says more than half of the dead are women and children. The ministry is part of the Hamas government, but the UN and other international organizations see it as the most reliable source of data on casualties.

WFP condemns violence at food distribution points In northern Gaza on Sunday, the Health Ministry, witnesses and a UN official said Israeli forces opened fire toward crowds who tried to get food from a 25-truck convoy that had entered the hard-hit area.

The WFP statement, which said the crowd surrounding its convoy “came under fire from Israeli tanks, snipers and other gunfire,” backs up those claims. The statement did not specify a death toll, saying only the incident resulted in the loss of “countless lives.”

“These people were simply trying to access food to feed themselves and their families on the brink of starvation,” it said, adding that the incident occurred despite assurances from Israeli authorities that aid delivery would improve. Part of those assurances, it said, was that armed forces would not be present nor engage along aid routes.

“Shootings near humanitarian missions, convoys and food distributions must stop immediately.”

Israel has not allowed international media to enter Gaza throughout the war, and the competing claims could not be independently verified.