ICRC

Hamas has said it is open to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) delivering aid to Israeli captives in Gaza after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he requested the Geneva-based international organisation to step in.

The statements from Hamas and Netanyahu came after Palestinian groups last week released videos showing two emaciated Israeli captives held in Gaza, where some 2 million Palestinians are struggling to survive the Israeli-induced starvation crisis.

Netanyahu said on Sunday he had spoken to Julian Larson, the head of the ICRC delegation to Israel, requesting the group’s “immediate involvement” in providing food and medical treatment to captives still held in Gaza.

In a post on X, Netanyahu wrote in Hebrew that he told Larson that Hamas was propagating a “lie of starvation” in the enclave, but the reality was that “systematic starvation is being carried out against our hostages”.

Later on Sunday, the spokesman for the Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s armed wing, said in a statement that Israeli captives held in Gaza “eat what our fighters and all our people eat”.

“They will not receive any special privilege amid the crime of starvation and siege,” the spokesman, known as Abu Obeida, said.

But, he added, the group is “ready to act positively and respond to any request from the Red Cross to deliver food and medicine to enemy prisoners”.

In order for requests to aid captives to be accepted, “humanitarian corridors must be opened in a normal and permanent manner for the passage of food and medicine to all our people in all areas of the Gaza Strip”, Abu Obeida said.

Israeli attacks “of all forms must cease during the receipt of packages for the prisoners”, he added.

The ICRC said in a statement on Sunday that it was “appalled by the harrowing videos” of the captives held in Gaza and reiterated its call to be “granted access to the hostages.”

“These videos are stark evidence of the life-threatening conditions in which the hostages are being held,” the ICRC said in the statement shared on X.

“We know families watching these videos are horrified and heartbroken by the conditions they see their loved ones held in,” the ICRC added.

On its website, the ICRC says that “securing access requires the cooperation of all parties involved”. The ICRC also says on its website that it “has not been able to visit any Palestinian detainees held in Israeli places of detention since 7 October 2023.”

In a separate statement on Sunday, the ICRC said it was also “appalled” that a Palestine Red Crescent Society staff member had been killed in a “clearly marked Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) building” in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza.

The PRCS had earlier said the attack was perpetrated by Israeli forces, but the ICRC statement did not refer to who was responsible.

One million women and girls starving

Meanwhile, the families of Israeli captives held in Gaza said on Sunday that Netanyahu’s continued insistence that a “military resolution” was the only solution was “a direct danger to the lives of our sons, who live in the hell of tunnels and are threatened by starvation and immediate death”.

“For 22 months, the public has been sold the illusion that military pressure will bring back the hostages, and today, even before reaching a comprehensive draft agreement, it is said that an agreement is futile,” the families said in a statement.

There are about 50 captives still in Gaza. Fewer than half are believed to be still alive.

The latest developments come as the Government Media Office in Gaza said that Israeli authorities allowed just 36 aid trucks to enter the Gaza Strip on Saturday, while 22,000 aid trucks continue to sit outside the Strip waiting to bring much-needed food to Palestinians there.

The United Nations office in Geneva on Sunday also warned that 1 million women and girls in Gaza are now starving.

In a post on X, the UN said: “One million. That’s how many women and girls are starving in Gaza. This horrific situation is unacceptable and must end.

We continue to demand the delivery of lifesaving aid for all women and girls, an immediate ceasefire, and the release of all hostages.”

At least 175 people, including 93 children, have now been confirmed dead from forced starvation, according to the territory’s Ministry of Health, including 17-year-old Atef Abu Khater, whose weight had dropped to just 25kg (55lbs) before he died on Saturday.

Israeli attacks at aid distribution sites sending increased number of casualties to hospitals says ICRC.

Gaza’s healthcare system is “extremely fragile” amid the ongoing Israeli war, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has warned.

The organisation said in a statement on Sunday that the enclave’s hospitals are in urgent need of protection and reinforcement amid Israel’s continued bombardment and blockade. It added that the system is facing growing pressure due to increasing casualty rates from Israeli attacks at aid points.

“In the last two weeks, the Red Cross Field Hospital in Rafah has had to activate its mass casualty incident procedure 12 times, receiving high numbers of patients with gunshot and shrapnel wounds,” ICRC said in a statement on X on Sunday.

“An overwhelming majority of patients from the recent incidents said they had been trying to reach assistance distribution sites,” it continued.

The healthcare system in Gaza is extremely fragile. To avert preventable deaths, the services of the remaining health-care facilities must be preserved and reinforced. pic.twitter.com/LhPBz6mSpy

— ICRC in Israel & OT (@ICRC_ilot) June 8, 2025

Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire around aid distribution sites operated by the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) since it launched on May 27.

The organisation ousted the United Nations and other independent agencies from the aid distribution effort following an 11-week blockade of the enclave that prompted numerous warnings that many of Gaza’s people now face famine.

Gaza’s Government Media Office reported on Sunday that the death toll from events centred on the GHF aid sites had risen to 125. A further 736 are reported to have been wounded, with nine missing.

‘Increase in hostilities’

The Hamas-run office said 13 people were killed and 153 injured in the latest attacks. Israeli forces were reported to have opened fire on civilians gathered near aid distribution centres east of Rafah and Wadi Gaza Bridge, in central Gaza.

Witness Abdallah Nour al-Din told the AFP news agency that “people started gathering in the al-Alam area of Rafah” in the early morning.

“After about an hour and a half, hundreds moved towards the site and the army opened fire,” he said.

The Israeli military said it fired on people who “continued advancing in a way that endangered the soldiers” despite warnings.

A GHF statement said there had been no incidents “at any of our three sites” on Sunday.

‘Urgent action’

The Red Cross also expressed concern that the intensifying conflict is putting the enclave’s few functional medical facilities at risk.

“Recent days have seen an increase in hostilities around the few remaining and functional hospitals,” it said in the statement.

“This has made patient transfers between facilities increasingly challenging, and in many cases, patients cannot receive the intensive or specialized care they require.”

The ICRC warned that further loss of life is inevitable without urgent action and called for the protection of healthcare infrastructure and personnel.

“It requires taking all feasible steps to support their work, ensure their safety, and guarantee that they are not deprived of vital resources needed to carry out their work.”