The International Committee of the Red Cross contacted the family of one of the Israeli hostages being held by the Hamas terrorist organization last week, not to offer any support or hope, but to criticize them for focusing on the well-being of their daughter rather than the suffering of the people holding her hostage, Kan News reported.
According to the report, when Roni and Simona, the parents of Doron Steinbrecher, were contacted by the Red Cross and invited to a meeting with the organization's representatives, they thought the Red Cross would finally be bringing Doron her much-needed medication. Instead, the Red Cross told the concerned parents to "think about the Palestinian side" due to the bombings of the IAF.
Doron, 30, was kidnapped from Kfar Aza on October 7. According to her parents, she needs her daily medication, which she has been without for the last 64 days in captivity.
The Red Cross has been criticized for refusing to try to fulfill its obligations to visit the hostages being held by Hamas and reducing its role to driving the hostages Hamas has released so far from the Gaza-Egypt border to Israel rather than visiting any of the hostages, confirming their condition, or providing any medical care whatsoever as it does in conflicts which do not involve Jews.
Last month, the family of Elma Avraham, an 84-year-old woman who was in critical condition when she was released by Hamas, accused the Red Cross of refusing to accept her medication to give to her while she was in captivity.
"My mother did not deserve to come back this way," said Tal Amano, Avraham's daughter. "She came with a heartbeat of 40 and a body temperature of 28 degrees (82.4F), semiconscious and injured all over. She was kept in unfair conditions."
Amano stressed that her mother "was abandoned twice: Once, on October 7, and a second time by all of the organizations which were supposed to rescue her. We met, the entire family, we recovered in no time at all, in an attempt to organize her list of medications. Clalit (their HMO - ed.) helped us and printed us prescriptions, they made the medications accessible and they gave them to my brother in his hand."
"My brother came to the meeting with the representative of the Red Cross and tried to give her the medications. They told him no: 'We cannot take them.' We were at the protest opposite the Red Cross building, and we were rejected again at the entrance: 'Again you came with her package of medications?'"
"My mother did not need to come back this way; I have no idea how she will survive these days. I want to utilize this stage to say thank you to everyone who was responsible for her care - the headquarters, Clalit, everyone who supported us. I hope you will be successful, I hope they did not manage to defeat her. My mother is a strong woman, she simply did not deserve this. The only reason we are standing here and exposing ourselves is in order to save those who remain. Someone needs to move the Red Cross and all the women's organizations, someone needs to shout this out: What are you there for?"
Uri Ravitz, Avraham's son, added, "I was at the Red Cross twice. I fought for my mother together with everyone else. We see how Hamas is trying to make it seem, using psychological warfare, as if they are humanitarian and take care of [people]. They are not."
"My mother is proof of the insane cruelty of this organization. All of the international rescue organizations must do everything, Israel needs to do everything, to make the aid accessible as quickly as possible. Every hour is critical. If she had arrived after one more day, she likely would not be here. She is fighting for her breaths."