"It is time for the global communities to unite and initiate a ceasefire, which is the only possible way to end the human tragedy," President Yudhoyono said when chairing a limited cabinet meeting.
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has urged the global communities to unite and help end the human tragedy in Gaza, Palestine, that had been bombed by Israel over the last four weeks.

"It is time for the global communities to unite and initiate a ceasefire, which is the only possible way to end the human tragedy," President Yudhoyono said when chairing a limited cabinet meeting here on Monday.

The world communities have a moral and historical responsibility to end the violence concerning the Israeli military aggression in Gaza.

He said the Indonesian government has taken some efforts through diplomatic means to stop the killings of Gaza civilians, and he had also written an open letter published in the Straits Times on July 31, 2014.

The brutal military aggression of Israel has been going on since July 7 on the Gaza Strip and has already claimed 1,766 lives and wounded 9.5 thousand others, including many children and women, the Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said Sunday.

In his open letter, Yudhoyono had called on world leaders, particularly those in the UN Security Council and those with veto rights, as well the key countries in the Middle East, to sit together and work out ways to impose a ceasefire.

"All the horrific images of conflict, war, and violence that we have seen these days, and also throughout these years, send a wrong message to our children, as if this is the way the world is. Whereas during the last decade, I have dutifully and tirelessly urged Indonesians of all faiths to always honor peace, brotherhood, tolerance, and harmony," President Yudhoyono stated.

Meanwhile, the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had described a deadly attack by Israeli air strikes on a UN school in Rafah, southern Gaza, which had claimed 10 lives and injured another 30, as a "moral outrage and a criminal act."

Ban has called for those responsible for the "gross violation of international humanitarian law" to be held accountable.

The school had been sheltering three thousand displaced Palestinians, and Ban said the "Israel Defense Forces had repeatedly been informed about the location of these sites." (*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
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