Red Cross chief says pressure to free Gaza hostages 'should have come earlier'
The ICRC president told the New York Times earlier pressure for a Gaza deal could have saved more lives, condemned double standards toward Palestinians living in rubble and called on Israel to restore access to Palestinian detainees
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) president, Mirjana Spoljaric, has stated that pressure to free Gaza hostages should have come earlier. According to the Jerusalem Post, Spoljaric met with former Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Qatar and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to arrange visits to Israeli hostages held in Gaza.
Spoljaric described discussions with Haniyeh as "tough" and "frank", but noted that the ICRC has no access to the hostages. The ICRC president expressed her opinion that the hostages "should have come back unconditionally as of day one".
The Haaretz reported that Spoljaric also condemned double standards toward Palestinians and called on Israel to restore access to Palestinian detainees. She told the New York Times that earlier pressure for a Gaza deal could have saved more lives.
Brief written by urgent.news from Haaretz, Jerusalem Post — 2 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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