Red Cross ‘appalled’ by videos showing captives in Gaza
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has said it is “appalled by the harrowing videos” released by Palestinian groups showing Israeli captives held in Gaza.
“All forms of public exposure that humiliate persons deprived of liberty and endanger their safety must be avoided,” the ICRC said in a statement. “We have said from day one, and we reiterate, that all hostages must be released immediately and unconditionally.”
The comments come after Hamas and Islamic Jihad released separate videos showing two of the captives held in the enclave. One of them, Evyatar David, looks emaciated as he digs what he said is his own grave.
There are about 50 captives still in Gaza. At least 20 of them are thought to be alive. Hamas on Sunday said Israeli captives held in the besieged territory “eat what our fighters and all our people eat”, but added it is open to the ICRC delivering aid to them.
Red Crescent says Israeli forces kill Palestinians waiting for aid in central Gaza
Paramedics from the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) say they have recovered the bodies of two Palestinians and treated 11 injured people after Israeli forces targeted a group of civilians waiting for humanitarian aid in central Gaza.
In a statement posted to social media, the PRCS said the casualties occurred in the Netzarim Corridor, a stretch of land in central Gaza that Israeli forces have turned into a militarised zone.
Footage shared by the PRCS shows the aftermath. In one clip, medics carry a wounded man into the back of an ambulance before rushing him to a nearby medical facility.
Another video shows paramedics wrapping a body in a white blanket. Other footage captures a man with his arm in a sling being wheeled into hospital alongside other wounded people.
A day earlier, the PRCS said one of its own team members had been killed and two injured in what it said was an Israeli attack on its headquarters in Khan Younis.
Palestinians seeking aid at GHF point in central Gaza
Gaza needs ‘sustained food supply’ to reverse hunger crisis, Save the Children says
While the news of starvation coming out of Gaza is “nothing short of catastrophic for children who are being bombarded in tents and are really struggling to access basic supplies”, the extent of the suffering in the Strip is likely being underreported amid difficulties in reporting from the ground, a senior Save the Children official has said.
“Definitely it’s much worse for children who are terrified that they might be killed at any moment,” Ahmad Alhendawi, Middle East director of Save the Children International, told Al Jazeera from Amman in Jordan.
“The children we reach out to through our teams on the ground are telling us they are not only terrified of dying, they are terrified that even if they survive [an attack] they might not be found under the rubble. This is a catastrophic, apocalyptic reality for children in Gaza.”
Alhendawi said all impediments to aid reaching people in Gaza must be removed by Israel to begin to reverse a starvation crisis that is months in the making.
“This is about almost four months of this blockade, of starvation that has built over weeks and months and to come back from that point of extreme malnutrition and starvation requires a sustained supply of food and medical equipment and also food supplements for children in need,” he said.
“It’s possible to reverse some [of the damage done to children by hunger] but I’m afraid that some of this damage would be irreversible at this stage.”
