Inp.polri.go.id - Jakarta. Four Indonesian citizens have been safely evacuated from Gaza, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi announced during a press conference in Jakarta on Friday (3/11/2023). The four Indonesian nationals, comprising Abdillah Onim, his wife - a Palestinian national - and their three children, were on their way from Gaza to Cairo, Egypt. "Thank God, four Indonesian citizens and the wife of an Indonesian citizen were successfully evacuated from Gaza and arrived in Rafah at around 19:00 Egyptian time on 2 November," said Minister Retno Marsudi. The journey took about seven hours, covering a distance of 367 kilometres, as the evacuees and the rescue team arrived in Cairo at 03:00 local time. Onim's family, who live in Gaza, had initially attempted to reach the Rafah border crossing on Wednesday (1/11). However, the situation proved highly volatile due to the ongoing Israeli attacks against the Hamas group in Palestine, forcing them to return home. "Evacuating these four Indonesian citizens and the wife of an Indonesian citizen was not an easy task, I must stress, it was extremely challenging," said Retno. Under Egyptian regulations, all foreign nationals, including evacuated Indonesians from Gaza, are given 72 hours to leave the country. The Indonesian government has pledged to facilitate the relocation of the Onim's family to a safe zone, either back to Indonesia or to another country of their choice. The government remains committed to evacuating another Indonesian family, Muhammad Hussein, his wife and children, from Gaza. (mg/inp/pr/nm)