The international aid organization says it ‘cannot force its way through bombs’ to visit the hostages held by Hamas.
Israel’s Foreign Minister Eli Cohen has criticized what he called the “unbalanced focus” of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), amid the IDF’s offensive in Gaza. He also blasted the Geneva-based aid group for failing to rescue Israeli hostages being held by Hamas.
“The Red Cross has no right to exist if it does not succeed in visiting the hostages being held captive by the Hamas,” Cohen said in a telephone conversation on Wednesday with ICRC director Miriana Spolijaric, according to a summary released by Israel’s Foreign Ministry.
Israel has said that about 240 of its citizens were seized by Hamas in its October 7 cross-border raid, most of whom remain unaccounted for in the besieged Palestinian enclave, which has been targeted with massive retaliatory strikes by the IDF for several weeks.
“The Red Cross must act decisively and with a clear voice and utilize all leverage it has to push for a visit to the hostages as soon as possible,” Cohen said, according to the transcript, noting that “children, women and Holocaust survivors” are among the captives.
Cohen accused the aid organization of showing an “unbalanced focus” on Israel throughout the conflict. “The Red Cross’ reputation is at stake if it cannot secure a visit to those being held captive by Hamas,” he said.
The Red Cross defended its work on Thursday, with spokesperson Alyona Synenko telling NPR that “when the bombs continue to fall, it is also impossible for our teams to do their jobs.”
“For us it is a priority to get access and to visit all the hostages. The amount of suffering they endure is also unimaginable. We have been constantly calling on the Hamas authorities to give us access so that we can provide medicine, that we can give news to the families of the hostages.”
“We cannot do that unless we are given the needed humanitarian space and the access to be able to do our job,” Synenko said. “We cannot force our way through bombs. We just need all the parties to show goodwill and also to respect their obligation under the international humanitarian law.”
The Red Cross, which has been involved in supplying humanitarian aid to Gaza, has also cautioned Israel over civilian casualties – however, Cohen claimed that Israel “is bound by international law and acts in accordance with it.”
Palestinian officials say that more than 9,000 people have so far been killed by Israeli air strikes on Gaza, and that about 70% of those killed are children, women and the elderly.
“Palestinian officials say that more than 9,000 people have so far been killed by Israeli air strikes on Gaza, and that about 70% of those killed are children, women and the elderly.”
Perhaps if Palestinian officials would stop deliberately positioning their fighters and bases in between the civilian population this wouldn’t happen? Perhaps if the civilians would heed the warning pamphlets that are dropped prior to bombings and actually get out of dangerous areas they wouldn’t become a statistic? It’s so odd how quick everyone is to condemn Israel, yet literally NOT ONE of the surrounding Muslim nations are willing to even negotiate taking in Palestinian refugees who they apparently all love so much 🤔
We’re not supposed to think about any of that though, hey? We’re supposed to just ignorantly scream “apartheid state” and “Israel bad” because that’s the new current thing.
You happy to write off the 6000 women and children?
Why should the Palestinians be moved along again, and one of Israels neighbours have to take them in. That is their home. And Israel is making it uninhabitable. Maybe Israel should open up more land for the Palestinians to settle. Lol, yeah right they will do that.
And, it is the IDF that is killing Palestinians. Killing hundreds of Palestinians to get one commander, as they say with Jabalia refugee camp, is just sick.
This will spiral out of control and we will all be f***ed with an attitude like yours. It may already be too late
What about the children 😱
Always the immediate go-to when you can’t refute logic. What about the Israeli children I’ve seen on YouTube being tied to posts and kicked, punched and whipped by Palestinian children at the encouragement of their parents? Do you not care about THOSE children?! Why do you hate children?! See – I can do it too.
War is war, dude. It’s awful and terrible. NOBODY deserves to experience it on either side. I’m not happy to write anybody off, I’m not “happy” about ANY of it.
But the non-stop howling at the moon about the poor, precious Palestinians, the anointed ones, is getting a bit much. Two countries I’m not particularly vested in are at war with one another, but one side is clearly the @$$hole in this conflict, one side started attacking, kidnapping and murdering civilians unprovoked at a concert and then parading their bodies around on flatbed trucks, one side are such a cancer on society that not even their Muslim brethren living close to their borders are willing to give them sanctuary. They apparently all hate Israel, yet their actions suggest they hate the Palestinians more. Why is that?
And the “pro-Palestine at all costs” mentality coming from NZ lefties and college smooth-brains is as annoying and uneducated as their screams about “apartheid states” and 1947. Why do they never mention 1890? Why do they never mention the book of exodus, Moses leading the Jews into Israel? Are they aware of the many centuries of warring Assyrians, Babylonians, Akkadians, Hyksos, Huns, Mongolians, Persians etc all repeatedly waging war in the holy land? Or do they really believe the Islamic caliphates and Ottoman sects most modern Palestinians are descended from attained their position on that land peacefully without ever spilling a drop of blood? Are they really that naive, or is it just because they don’t do stupid things like me like read books?
We aren’t “all gonna be f**cked” with an attitude like mine. We aren’t going to be anything, this conflict does not concern us. And the fact that the people on the idiot box are screaming at me each night to desperately care about poor, mostly peaceful Palestine just reminds me of all the other fake things they scream at me to care about. It has all the same hallmarks; abandon logic, ignore history, cast common sense to the wind. Let your emotions rule you. And the children!! Think of the children!!
If the Palestinians cared about their children, they would kill or arrest those HAMAS generals themselves and turn them in to the Israelis. But they don’t. So nope, you aren’t gonna change my mind with “think of the children”.
Sorry 🤷🏼♂️
Brilliant comment. Quite!
Sarcastic, deceptive and obfuscating mumblings of fascist Israel, since 9/11 a global terrorist, occupying and oppressing Palestine since 1948.
You forgot to mention that Isaac was the first son and the father of all Jews. Ishmael was the second son and the father of all Arabs. If you want to talk about land, then Isaac was the original inheritor and all land in the Middle East is Jewish. It has been stolen by Arabs.
That little piece of land you call Israel. Arabs have 97 times more land than the Jews, yet it still causes a problem.
You know why? Because Arab-Muslims hate Jews and are jealous of their accomplishments: Jews in the last 75 years in Israel (and the Arab Israelis of course) have turned a barren land into a fertile land and have lots of high technology industry, some of it, world leading.
If the Palestinians want to do something useful then perhaps stop inciting genocide against Jews, stop firing missiles into Israel, do not EVER do again what happened on 7 October in Israel.
Who cares of what lore you invoke.
And drop that sophism.
Fact is the historic injustice the Palestinian People have endured for a looooong time.
Envisage a little mind game if you will.
Create a scenario in your head if you are able to, where either North- or South island is annexed by …… (insert your choice of adversaries here, like colonial deluded Great Britain in 1948 with newly created United Nations, to give the theft ‘legitimacy). The remainder of Kiwis is treated like prisoners in their own country, where one of the most sophisticated military and surveillance entities is geared to subjugate (and that term is putting it lightly) the whole Kiwi people, now pretty much pushed into the ‘other’ island.
Then allow for plenty of killings of civilians, just because THEY can, totally shielded by anything resembling world justice (forget the UN).
Then, in the occupied island (no, that’s NOT the one THEY totally stole from Kiwis. It would be the other island), you have settlers of the adversary stealing YOUR farm/house/paddock/orchard, and YOU get beaten or killed trying to defend of what’s left of YOUR livelihood and YOUR family’s meagre survival earnings.
Then envision a few determined Kiwi warriors taking up arms (the few they can muster or fabricate) and them embarking on a partisan warfare. And because ya’all living so densely in that open air prison, it’s by reason (and historic slavedom) that y’all innit together.
Bit of a bit different perspective, ay?
BTW, did you know that in the ‘greater’ Israel, so that’s incl. occupied territories like Gaza, there are about as many Jews as there are Palestinians, breeding much faster. Come handy a bit of war-induced genozide.
And if you seriously want to suggest that the most sophisticated surveillance and spy apparatus in the world did not have fore-knowledge of what Hamas had planned, you are uniformed about recent reports of Netanyahu denying one of his top generals an audience RE the planned Hamas attack.
This was as much CIA/Mossad as 9/11.
At the core for the same purpose.
why don you go back to pre historic times and go to live in a grotto and eat raw meat ?
I’m sorry for the lost lives, but ultimately don’t give a hoot.
Tired of it over the years, would probably nuke both sides and forget about it.
LOL, Hardcore Harry 😉
at least some one decent
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24103463-craig-mokhiber-resignation-letter
Literally who? 😆
https://www.firstpost.com/world/latin-american-nations-sever-diplomatic-ties-with-israel-over-gaza-conflict-13330442.html