The Palestinian militant group Hamas on Sunday said it was prepared to allow the Red Cross to supply food and medicine to the Israeli hostages it is holding, under certain conditions, after a video of an emaciated captive prompted international condemnation.
A spokesman for the Al-Qassam Brigades, the organisation’s military wing, announced on Telegram Hamas would respond positively to a request from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
However, he added that Israel must, in return, enable the comprehensive and permanent supply of aid for the Palestinian civilian population in the Gaza Strip.
In addition, Israel must cease all aerial reconnaissance during the period in which help reaches the hostages, Hamas said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said he has spoken to the ICRC’s regional head of delegation, Julien Lerisson, and asked him to ensure that the Red Cross immediately supplies the Israeli hostages with food and medicine.
Hamas is holding the 20 remaining living hostages – who were seized in the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel – in tunnels in Gaza under inhumane conditions.
In recent days, the organisation has released videos showing two of the hostages in a state of acute malnutrition, dwindling physical strength, and emotional suffering.
The images have shocked the Israeli public and many people around the world over the weekend, with leaders including German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and France’s Emmanuel Macron expressing their horror.
In Israel, it is suspected that Hamas deliberately brought the hostages to the brink of starvation in order to exert pressure on the Netanyahu government.