The President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Mirjana Spoljaric, will visit the Gaza Strip on Monday to promote a visit by the organization's representatives of the hostages who are being held by Hamas, Galei Tzahal (IDF Radio) reported.
She also recently visited Qatar where she met with the head of Hamas’ political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh.
To date, the Red Cross has not been permitted to visit the hostages who have been held by Hamas in Gaza since its deadly terrorist attack against Israel on October 7.
The ceasefire agreement which saw Hamas release some of the hostages it was holding included a clause which was supposed to allow the International Committee of the Red Cross to visit the hostages who remain in captivity. This, however, did not to happen.
Two weeks ago, Foreign Minister Eli Cohen, Health Minister Uriel Busso and representatives of the families of the hostages met with Mirjana Spoljaric, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, in Geneva and demanded that she ensure that the Red Cross visit the Israeli hostages held in Gaza and provide medical treatment to the hostages who need it.
Prior to that, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to Spoljaric and demanded that the Red Cross seek the immediate release of the Israeli hostages, as required by international law.
The Prime Minister also demanded that the Red Cross uphold its right to immediately visit all the hostages to verify their safety and health.
Busso on Wednesday blasted the Red Cross and said that it is “ignoring with complete insensitivity requests to transfer and make available information to Magen David Adom regarding the safety of the hostages.”
“It is time to speak with a clear voice, Hamas is a terrorist organization that slaughtered and kidnapped women, children and the elderly. We need an organization that will protect and give hope to the families of the captives, and provide medical information. Any other conduct is consent and support for terrorism,” he added.