Hamas Ready to Cooperate with ICRC If Israel Opens Humanitarian Corridors in Gaza
The Palestinian movement Hamas has expressed its willingness to cooperate with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to deliver aid to Israeli hostages held in Gaza if Israel meets certain conditions.
Hamas statements came in response to the harsh criticism from Western leaders after releasing videos showing Israeli hostages in a visibly emaciated and fragile state.
Hostage Videos
On Thursday, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad released video of Rom Braslavski, in which he appeared thin and crying due to lack of food and water. Then, on Saturday, Hamas published video of emaciated Evyatar David, digging a hole “for his own grave,” reported Reuters.
The videos sparked fierce reaction from Israel and Western leaders. Israel accused Hamas of starving hostages, with the Israeli Foreign Ministry announcing that the UN Security Council will hold a special session on Tuesday morning to discuss the situation of the hostages in Gaza.
Moreover, countries such as France, Germany, the UK and the US condemned the videos, with French President, Emmanuel Macron, calling them “unbearable” and German Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, arguing that the images “show that Hamas should have no role in Gaza’s future.”
The ICRC in Israel and the Occupied Territories also said it was “appalled” by the videos, urging that the “dire situation must come to an end.”
An Appeal to ICRC
Israeli officials believe that Hamas is holding 50 hostages in Gaza, only 20 of whom are still alive. The Palestinian group has banned humanitarian organizations’ access to the hostages and their families have no information about their condition.
After the release of the videos, the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, spoke with the ICRC’s regional head on Sunday, requesting “his involvement in the immediate provision of food and medical care for the hostages,” reported CNN citing Netanyahu’s office.
The office also reiterated denial of starvation in Gaza, despite the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) warning that the “worst-case scenario of famine” is “now unfolding” in Gaza.
Hamas Conditions
In response, Hamas said it was ready to “deal positively” with the ICRC but on the condition that Israel opens humanitarian corridors into Gaza on a regular and permanent basis and halts airstrikes during the distribution of aid.
Furthermore, the Palestinian movement said that the emaciated state of the hostages reflected the worsening conditions in the Strip.
In the light of this, the spokesperson of al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ military wing, Abu Obeida, said that Hamas does not intentionally starve the hostages, adding that they eat the same food that the general Gaza population and the group’s fighters eat. “They will not receive any special privileges amid the crime of starvation and siege,” he noted.
Hunger Crisis
Gaza is enduring a worsening starvation crisis, with malnutrition-related deaths spiking in July. The World Health Organization (WHO) warned last week that malnutrition rates in the enclave reached “alarming levels,” with more than 5,000 children under five admitted for outpatient treatment of malnutrition in just the first two weeks of July.
According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, starvation and malnutrition inflicted by the war have claimed the lives of 175 Palestinians in the enclave, including 93 children, as of Sunday, August 3, 2025. Meanwhile, the war’s death toll has exceeded 60,800.
Moreover, 1,487 Palestinian aid seekers have been killed by Israeli gunfire while trying to collect food supplies from aid distribution sites and more than 10,500 others have been injured.
Gaza Ceasefire Stalemate
Ceasefire talks to end the war in Gaza have reached a deadlock, after the US and Israel pulled their negotiating teams from Doha, saying they would consider alternatives. Israel has put Hamas’ disarmament as one of the key conditions to reach a ceasefire in Gaza, but the Palestinian movement firmly rejects that demand.
During a recent visit to Israel, the US Special Envoy, Steve Witkoff, told the hostage families that Washington was working with the Israeli government on a plan to end the war in Gaza, saying Hamas expressed it willingness to abandon its arms.
However, Hamas dismissed Witkoff’s claims, insisting that it would not abandon “armed resistance” unless an “independent, fully sovereign Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital” was established.
Meanwhile, Hamas has emphasized its commitment to ceasefire and hostage release talks, but on the condition that the humanitarian situation in Gaza improves.
“It is essential to improve the catastrophic humanitarian situation significantly and to obtain a written response from the enemy regarding our response. This is a condition to go back to negotiations,” Basem Naim, a senior Hamas political official, told CNN
