Red Cross starts 'multi-day' Gaza hostages, Palestinian detainees operation

The Red Cross said it began Friday a multi-day operation to reunite hostages and detainees with their families in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories.

Hamas said a group of hostages seized in the deadliest attack in Israel’s history were handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) as a temporary truce took hold in Gaza following weeks of fighting.

A convoy of ICRC vehicles was seen crossing the Rafah border from the Gaza Strip into Egypt.

“Teams from the ICRC on Friday began carrying out a multi-day operation to facilitate the release and transfer of hostages held in Gaza and of Palestinian detainees to the West Bank,” the organisation said.

“In its role as a neutral intermediary, the ICRC over several days will transfer hostages held in Gaza to Israeli authorities and ultimately their families, and transfer Palestinian detainees to authorities in the West Bank, to be reunited with their families.”

The statement also said that the ICRC would bring in “additional medical supplies” to be delivered to hospitals in Gaza.

The Geneva-based organisation said the parties to the conflict agreed the details of the operation, including who would be released and when.

The ICRC said it was not involved in the negotiations and stressed its role was purely to facilitate the agreement.

“The deep pain that family members separated from their loved ones feel is indescribable. We are relieved that some will be reunited after long agony,” said Fabrizio Carboni, the ICRC’s Near and Middle East regional director.

“Our deep desire is for all hostages to be released, and that civilians be shielded from the pain and suffering that armed conflict brings.”

Hamas broke through Gaza’s militarised border with Israel on October 7 to kill about 1,200 people and seize around 240 Israeli and foreign hostages, according to Israeli officials.

Israel’s retaliatory air, artillery and naval strikes alongside a ground offensive have killed about 15,000 people, the Hamas government in Gaza said.

During a four-day truce, at least 50 hostages are expected to be freed, leaving an estimated 190 in the hands of Palestinian militants.

In exchange, 150 Palestinian prisoners are expected to be released.

The ICRC said that all hostages and detainees must be treated with humanity and that humanitarian principles had to be respected at all times, including during the releases and transfers.