Israel’s Foreign Minister: Red Cross must do more for hostage access
Published: Tuesday, Nov 14th 2023, 17:50
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Israel's Foreign Minister Eli Cohen is calling on the Red Cross to do more to make contact with the hostages abducted by terrorists in the Gaza Strip. He made his remarks on Tuesday in Geneva, where he held talks with several relatives at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and UN organizations. "To date, no one has seen the hostages," said Cohen. "We have no signs of life." The ICRC must at least ensure that relatives receive a sign of life from those who have been abducted and that they are provided with medication.
Terrorists from the Islamist Hamas and other extremist Palestinian organizations killed around 1,200 people and abducted around 240 people in an attack on Israel on 7 October.
Prisoner visits are a core task of the ICRC. It is supposed to look after the welfare of prisoners in conflicts, but is dependent on the consent of the parties to the conflict. According to its own statements, the ICRC has so far demanded access to the hostages in the Gaza Strip in dialog with Hamas without success.
The relatives described the harrowing details of how their family members were abducted during the terrorist attack. They included the daughter of a 79-year-old woman and the sister of a man who was abducted with his wife and two small children. The relatives showed audio and video recordings of the terrorist attack in which their family members could be seen or heard.
The plight of the civilian population in the Gaza Strip is caused by Hamas, said Israeli Health Minister Uriel Menachem Buso. He accused Hamas of withholding fuel for generators from hospitals in order to use it itself for attacks on Israel.
According to the latest figures from a Hamas-controlled administration, 11,500 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war. 29,000 people have been injured since then, an information office of the administration announced on Tuesday. Israel is avoiding civilian casualties wherever possible, said Foreign Minister Cohen. But also: "We will continue this war until Hamas is eliminated and until we have all our hostages back."
©Keystone/SDA
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