FLASH
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The Palestinian militant group Hamas has said it is ready to cooperate with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to provide food and medical aid to Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip. However, this commitment comes with strict conditions for Israel, such as the opening of permanent humanitarian corridors and a halt to airstrikes during aid deliveries.
Hamas' statement follows the release of a shocking video of Israeli hostage Evyatar David, who appears in critical condition, weakened by hunger and digging what he describes as his own grave. The video, released on Saturday, has sparked strong international reactions. Western leaders, including France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States, strongly condemned the footage, calling it evidence of Hamas's "unrelenting cruelty."
French President Emmanuel Macron called the images “unbearable,” while German Chancellor Friedrich Merz stressed that the release of the hostages is a prerequisite for any ceasefire. In response, Israel’s Foreign Ministry announced that the UN Security Council would hold a special session on Tuesday to discuss the hostage situation in Gaza. According to Israeli authorities, 50 hostages are currently being held in Gaza, of whom only 20 are believed to be still alive.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a conversation with the head of the ICRC delegation in the region, Julien Lerisson, has called for the immediate intervention of the Red Cross to provide food and medical aid to the hostages. The ICRC, for its part, expressed its “horrified” by the videos showing the dire conditions of the hostages and reiterated its call for direct access to assess their condition, provide medical assistance and facilitate contact with their families. So far, Hamas has blocked any access by humanitarian organizations to the hostages, leaving their families with minimal information about the fate of their loved ones. The Hostage Families Forum, which represents the relatives of those held in Gaza, called Hamas’s statement an attempt to mask the reality of the “impossible conditions” in which the hostages have been held for more than 660 days.
Meanwhile, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza continues to worsen. The Gaza Health Ministry reported that six more people died of hunger or malnutrition in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of famine victims to 175 since the start of the war, including 93 children. UN agencies and humanitarian organizations have warned that the hunger crisis in Gaza has reached extreme levels, with two of its three thresholds already met: a drastic decline in food consumption and acute malnutrition.
In the face of international pressure, Israel has promised measures to facilitate aid deliveries, including temporary suspensions of fighting in some areas, approval of air deliveries and the creation of protected routes for aid convoys. According to COGAT, the Israeli military unit that oversees policy in the occupied territories, over 23,000 tons of humanitarian aid entered Gaza in the past week on 1,200 trucks. However, the UN stresses that air deliveries are insufficient and that large-scale ground aid is the only way to prevent mass starvation among Gaza’s 2.2 million residents, most of whom are displaced by the war.
The Hamas-run government in Gaza has reported that some 1,600 aid trucks have entered since late July, but witnesses and Hamas sources say many have been looted by desperate people and armed gangs. Furthermore, a fuel shortage has paralyzed hospital services, forcing doctors to focus only on critically ill patients. According to the Gaza Health Ministry, at least 80 people were killed by Israeli strikes on Sunday, including some trying to reach aid distribution points.
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