Hamas Hostages and Families of Captives Sue the Red Cross in Israeli Court

Dozens of people that had been kidnapped from Israel by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7 or are associated to hostages have sued the Worldwide Committee of the Crimson Cross in an Israeli court docket, arguing the group has not fulfilled its obligation to help victims of armed battle and violence and to guard their lives and dignity.

The lawsuit comes because the Crimson Cross has come below mounting political stress from Israelis and their leaders — together with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — to do extra to influence Hamas to let its support employees and paramedics go to the remaining hostages. Israel believes 129 folks, largely males, are nonetheless being held captive.

Mr. Netanyahu has called on the Red Cross to put public pressure on Hamas to grant entry to the hostages, however the group’s president, Mirjana Spoljaric, has mentioned “the extra public stress we seemingly would do, the extra they’d shut the door.”

The lawsuit, filed in Jerusalem District Court docket on Thursday, says the Crimson Cross has failed to go to the hostages in captivity to verify on their well being, present them with medicines after which report again to their family members on their welfare. The criticism additionally asserts the Crimson Cross “didn’t and isn’t doing sufficient to result in their launch.”

The civil criticism was filed on behalf of former hostages and family members by the Shurat HaDin-Israeli Regulation Heart, an Israeli human rights group, and seeks about $2.8 million in damages, in addition to a court docket order directing the Crimson Cross to go to all remaining hostages, present them with medicines and relay details about them to their households.

A spokesman for the I.C.R.C., Jason Straziuso, mentioned the group had not but seen the lawsuit. He mentioned Crimson Cross officers didn’t know the place the hostages had been being held in Gaza and couldn’t go to them with out assurance of secure passage from each Hamas and the Israeli navy due to lively preventing.

“Even when we knew the place the hostages had been being held, it’s fairly doable that displaying up on the doorstep unannounced may put them in peril, and we’d by no means do this until agreements had been in place,” Mr. Straziuso mentioned. He added the I.C.R.C. can not ship medicines for a similar cause.

Alyona Synenko, an I.C.R.C. spokeswoman in Jerusalem, mentioned the group’s efforts to achieve entry to the hostages had been happening behind closed doorways and weren’t obvious to the general public.

“Individuals who had been held hostage and their households have gone via a horrific expertise, and it’s simple to know their anger and frustration,” Ms. Synenko mentioned.

A lawyer representing the households, Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, acknowledged the go well with was uncommon. The criticism argues the I.C.R.C. occupies a novel place below worldwide humanitarian legislation and the Geneva Conference, giving it a mandate and ethical obligation to go to the hostages, verify their well-being and struggle for his or her launch. The I.C.R.C. has not acted because it was “moderately anticipated” to, the lawsuit says.

“The Crimson Cross doesn’t exist in a vacuum,” Ms. Darshan-Leitner mentioned. “There are methods it may have put stress on Hamas — via the United Nations, via the roughly 196 international locations that finance it, via the Palestinian Authority. They play an necessary position, a life and loss of life position, and on daily basis and each hour that goes by is essential.”

Whereas the Geneva Conference empowers the I.C.R.C. to go to prisoners of warfare and victims of violence in battle zones, the group has mentioned it can not drive its approach in to locations the place hostages are being held. “Folks say ‘simply go go to them,’ however they could not perceive how tough it’s to take action,” Mr. Straziuso mentioned.

Mr. Netanyahu mentioned {that a} deal brokered in late November to change hostages for Palestinian prisoners included a provision for the I.C.R.C. to go to all of the remaining hostages held within the Gaza Strip, however that side of the deal was not confirmed by the opposite events.

Ms. Darshan-Leitner argued the present state of affairs in Gaza carries echoes of the I.C.R.C.’s scant efforts throughout World Warfare II to save lots of Jews who had been being deported and exterminated in focus camps throughout Europe. The organization has acknowledged and apologized for that failure.

She additionally famous that the I.C.R.C. didn’t go to Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier who was held captive within the Gaza Strip for 5 years till his launch in 2011, and has not visited different Israelis held by Hamas.