The President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Mirjana Spoljaric, met with the head of Islamic Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, in Qatar.
The humanitarian organization in Geneva said she traveled to the Gulf state on Monday to address humanitarian issues related to the conflict in Israel and Gaza. The visit is part of the Red Cross’ talks with all parties to “improve respect for international humanitarian law”.
Spoljaric also met with Qatari representatives. The country plays an important mediation role in negotiations for the possible release of hostages held by Hamas.
ICRC renewed its appeal
In view of the war between Israel and Hamas, the ICRC renewed its call for the urgent protection of all victims and relief from the “catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip”. The ICRC is not involved in negotiations to release hostages – but as a neutral humanitarian intermediary, it stands ready to support possible releases if the parties to the conflict agree to this. The organization also highlighted that it persistently called for the immediate release of the hostages and demanded access for its teams to those kidnapped.
Terrorists from the Islamic group Hamas and other groups kidnapped around 240 hostages in the Gaza Strip in attacks in Israel on October 7. Recently, statements by Qatar and the US raised hopes that a possible agreement to release many hostages was getting closer.