Hamas hostages and families of prisoners sue the Red Cross in Israeli court
Dozens of people kidnapped from Israel by Hamas terrorists on October 7 or related to hostages have sued the International Committee of the Red Cross in an Israeli court, arguing that the organization has failed to meet its obligation to protect victims of armed conflict and violence. and to protect their lives and dignity.
The lawsuit comes as the Red Cross has come under increasing political pressure from Israelis and their leaders – including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – to do more to convince Hamas to let its aid workers and paramedics visit the remaining hostages. Israel believes 129 people, mostly men, are still being held captive.
Mr Netanyahu has called on the Red Cross to put public pressure on Hamas to grant access to the hostages, but the organisation’s president, Mirjana Spoljaric, has said: “the more public pressure we would put on apparently, the more they would close the door. ”
The lawsuit, filed Thursday in the Jerusalem District Court, says the Red Cross failed to visit the hostages in captivity to monitor their health, provide them with medicine and then report to their relatives on their well-being . The complaint also states that the Red Cross “did not and is not doing enough to secure their release.”
The civil complaint was filed on behalf of former hostages and family members by the Shurat HaDin-Israeli Law Center, an Israeli human rights organization, and seeks approximately $2.8 million in damages, as well as a court order directing the Red Cross to visit all remaining hostages . , provide them with medicines and pass on information about them to their families.
A spokesman for the ICRC, Jason Straziuso, said the organization had not yet seen the lawsuit. He said Red Cross officials did not know where the hostages were being held in Gaza and could not visit them without assurance of safe passage from both Hamas and the Israeli army due to the active fighting.
“Even if we knew where the hostages were being held, it is entirely possible that showing up unannounced could endanger them, and we would never do that unless arrangements were made,” Mr. Straziuso said. He added that the ICRC cannot supply medicines for the same reason.
Alyona Synenko, spokeswoman for the ICRC in Jerusalem, said the organization’s efforts to access the hostages took place behind closed doors and was not visible to the public.
“People held hostage and their families have gone through a horrific experience, and it is easy to understand their anger and frustration,” Ms Synenko said.
A lawyer representing the families, Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, acknowledged the lawsuit was unusual. The complaint argues that the ICRC occupies a unique position under international humanitarian law and the Geneva Convention, giving it a mandate and moral obligation to visit the hostages, monitor their well-being and fight for their release. The ICRC did not act as “reasonably expected,” the lawsuit said.
“The Red Cross does not exist in a vacuum,” Ms. Darshan-Leitner said. “There are ways it could have put pressure on Hamas – through the United Nations, through the roughly 196 countries that finance Hamas, through the Palestinian Authority. They play an important role, a role of life and death, and every day and every hour that passes is crucial.”
Although the Geneva Convention gives the ICRC the authority to visit prisoners of war and victims of violence in conflict zones, the organization has said it cannot force its way into places where hostages are being held. “People say ‘just go visit them,’ but they may not understand how hard it is to do that,” Mr. Straziuso said.
Mr Netanyahu said an agreement reached in late November to exchange hostages for Palestinian prisoners included a provision for the ICRC to visit all remaining hostages in the Gaza Strip, but that aspect of the agreement was not confirmed by the other parties .
Ms. Darshan-Leitner argued that the current situation in Gaza carries echoes of the ICRC’s scant efforts during World War II to rescue Jews who were deported and exterminated in concentration camps across Europe. The organization has acknowledged this failure and apologized for it.
She also noted that the ICRC has not visited Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier who was held captive in the Gaza Strip for five years until his release in 2011, nor has it visited other Israelis held by Hamas.