In Response to Disturbing Videos of Frail Israeli Hostages, Netanyahu Seeks Red Cross Assistance

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has requested the help of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to aid hostages in Gaza, as outrage built at videos showing two of them emaciated.

Netanyahu said on Sunday he spoke to the ICRC coordinator for the region and “requested his involvement in providing food to our hostages and … immediate medical treatment”.

The ICRC said in a statement it was “appalled by the harrowing videos” and reiterated its “call to be granted access to the hostages”.

In response, Hamas’ armed wing said it would allow the agency access to the hostages but only if “humanitarian corridors” for food and aid were opened “across all areas of the Gaza Strip”.

The al-Qassam Brigades said it did “not intentionally starve” the hostages, but they would not receive any special food privileges “amid the crime of starvation and siege” in Gaza.

Over recent days, Hamas and its ally Islamic Jihad have released three videos showing two hostages seized during the October 7 attack in 2023 on Israel that led to an escalation of the ongoing war.

The images of Rom Braslavski and Evyatar David, both of whom appeared weak and malnourished, have fuelled renewed calls in Israel for a truce and hostage release deal.

A statement from Netanyahu’s office on Saturday said he had spoken with the families of the two hostages and “expressed profound shock over the materials distributed by the terror organisations”.

Netanyahu “told the families that the efforts to return all our hostages are ongoing”, the statement said.

Thousands rally in Tel Aviv

Earlier in the day, tens of thousands of people had rallied in the coastal hub of Tel Aviv to call on Netanyahu’s government to secure the release of the remaining captives.

There was particular outrage in Israel over images of David, who appeared to be digging what he said in the staged video was his own grave.

The videos make references to the dire humanitarian conditions in Gaza, where United Nations-mandated experts have warned a “famine is unfolding”.

Families of hostages gathered in Tel Aviv on Saturday to call for a ceasefire and hostage release deal, marking day 666 since the October 7 attacks. Source: AAP / Middle East Images

Videos ‘expose the barbarity of Hamas’

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the images “are appalling and expose the barbarity of Hamas”, calling for the release of “all hostages … immediately and unconditionally”.

Kallas said in the same post on X, “Hamas must disarm and end its rule in Gaza” — demands endorsed earlier this week by Arab countries, including key mediators Qatar and Egypt.

“Large-scale humanitarian aid must be allowed to reach those in need,” she said.

Israel has heavily restricted the entry of aid into Gaza, while UN agencies, humanitarian groups and analysts say that much of what Israel does allow in is looted or diverted in chaotic circumstances.

Many desperate Palestinians are left to risk their lives seeking what aid is distributed through controlled channels.

On Sunday, Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli fire killed nine Palestinians who were waiting to collect food rations from a site operated by the United States and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) near the southern city of Rafah.

There was no comment from the military.

Five more people were killed near a different GHF aid site in central Gaza on Sunday, while Israeli attacks elsewhere killed another five people, civil defence spokesperson Mahmud Bassal said.

‘Emaciated and desperate’

Braslavski and David are among the 49 hostages taken during Hamas’ 2023 attack who are still being held in Gaza, including 27, the Israeli military says, are dead.

Most of the 251 hostages seized in the attack were released during two short-lived truces, some in exchange for Palestinians in Israeli custody.

Israel has bombarded Gaza since Hamas’ October 7 attack in 2023, in which more than 1,200 people, including an estimated 30 children, were killed and over 200 hostages taken, according to the Israeli government. More than 60,430 people have been killed in Gaza since October 7, according to the health ministry in Gaza.

The October 7 attack was a significant escalation in the long-standing conflict between Israel and Hamas.