Families of Israelis being held hostage by Hamas were reprimanded by representatives of the Red Cross in a meeting earlier this week, with the Red Cross telling one family they need to “think about the Palestinian side,” KAN reported on Thursday night.
Roni and Simona, the parents of Doron Steinbrecher who was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists from Kfar Azza on October 7, were invited to a meeting with the Red Cross earlier this week.
Doron needs a medication she takes daily and her parents thought that the Red Cross was finally willing to transfer the medication to her, but instead they were sat down and reprimanded by representatives of the Red Cross.
“Think about the Palestinian side,” the representatives of the Red Cross told Simona, according to KAN. “It’s hard for the Palestinians, they’re being bombed.”
Simona expressed shock at the Red Cross’s behavior. “We left there as we entered: without new information, without something new, and with disappointment,” said Simona.
On October 7, Simona and Roni saw the terrorists headed for the area where Doron lived. Doron called them but the call dropped within a few seconds. She sent one last voice message to her parents, saying “they caught me, they caught me, they caught me.”
Since then, Doron has been held hostage by Hamas. Her parents thought she would be released in the recent ceasefire, but the fighting resumed without her being returned.
Outrage at Red Cross’s behavior concerning Israel-Hamas war
The Red Cross has sparked outrage in Israel with how it has handled the mass kidnapping and massacre conducted by Hamas on October 7, with some Israelis saying that the international organization operated as nothing more than a taxi service for when the hostages were released.
The family of Elma Avraham, an 84-year-old woman who was released during the ceasefire, told Israeli media that the Red Cross had refused to bring Avraham the medicine she needed. Immediately after Avraham was released, she was rushed to the hospital in critical condition. Since then, her condition has improved.
Dr. Nadav Davidovitz, who treated Elma after her release, said “We were in meetings with the Red Cross and asked them to make every effort to bring the medications to her, because some hostages are just dying. From a medical and nursing standpoint, what we witnessed is unlawful neglect.”
The Jerusalem Institute of Justice recently sent a letter to the ICRC pointing out that it had made several social media posts about the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, but not a single one about the plight of the hostages and other Israeli victims from the October 7 massacre.
About three weeks after the attack, 1,200 lawyers across the world signed a letter written by the Israeli human rights group Shurat HaDin, condemning the Red Cross for not doing enough to help the hostages. The attorneys accused the organization of repeating the mistakes of indifference and inaction that it admitted to having made during the Holocaust.
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