SWEIMEH: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken thanked Indonesia’s incoming president, Prabowo Subianto, for offering assistance in crisis-hit Gaza during their meeting on Tuesday at an aid conference in Jordan.

The president-elect of the world’s largest Muslim-majority country has pledged to send peacekeeping forces if a UN-backed ceasefire is in place and to increase medical aid immediately.

Blinken congratulated Prabowo, now Indonesia’s defence minister, on his election and discussed how the US-led ceasefire initiative “would benefit both Israelis and Palestinians”, said State Depart­ment spokesman Matthew Miller.

Blinken “thanked the defence minister for Indonesia’s support for the proposal to achieve an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and secure the release of all hostages”, Miller added.

Addressing the conference on the Dead Sea, Prabowo said Indonesia was ready to send medical teams, a field hospital and a hospital ship to war-battered Gaza.

Published in Dawn, June 12th, 2024