The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross said on Saturday that the war in Gaza had destroyed “all meanings of common humanity,” calling for a cessation of hostilities, the release of hostages and allowing access to Palestinian detainees.
Mirjana Spoliatric said, in a statement, that after five months of war between Israel and Hamas, “the situation in the Gaza Strip is deteriorating by the hour and there is no safe place to go,” considering that “the number of civilian deaths and hostage-taking are shocking and unacceptable.”
She added, “This brutal war has broken all sense of common humanity.”
In the face of this “profound suffering”, the Geneva-based International Committee is launching three urgent appeals.
It calls for a “cessation of hostilities” to facilitate the work of humanitarian workers.
It also repeated its request to be allowed to visit the hostages who were kidnapped during the unprecedented attack launched by Hamas on Israeli territory on October 7, and to release them “without conditions.” Spoliatric calls for respect for their dignity, safety and medical needs.
Finally, the organization stresses the need to “treat Palestinian detainees humanely and allow them to contact their families,” also calling for “informing the International Committee of the Red Cross and allowing it to visit Palestinians detained by Israel.”
The President of the International Committee of the Red Cross recalls that “Israel, as the occupying power, must meet the basic needs of the population or facilitate the safe and unhindered delivery of humanitarian aid.”
Israel does not allow aid trucks from Egypt to enter except in small quantities, according to the United Nations, which warns that 2.2 million Palestinians out of the 2.4 million residents of the small Strip are threatened by famine, with a major shortage of food and drinking water.
The head of the committee believed that “a regular and large flow of humanitarian aid to meet needs is only part of the solution” in Gaza, calling on the parties to “conduct their military operations in a way that avoids civilians caught in the middle of all this” and respects international humanitarian law.
“This is the dividing line between humanity and barbarism,” she stressed.
