The sensitive position of the Red Cross in the hostage issue during the Israel-Gaza conflict

 The sensitive position of the Red Cross in the hostage issue during the Israel-Gaza conflict

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), a key player in the hostage-taking process, has been quietly but significantly involved in the handling of the prisoners that Hamas has freed.

In the tape that has been made public, Red Cross employees can be seen being taken hostage by masked gunmen, being carefully transferred to their cars, receiving first aid, and even playing with children in their first moments of freedom. They are dressed in their recognizable white vests emblazoned with the insignia that is known worldwide.

Since the group's big raid on Israel on October 7, when Hamas abducted roughly 240 individuals and returned them to Gaza, the organization has maintained communication with Hamas. It has demanded time and time again that he be freed or at least granted access for the ICRC to see him.

58 captives have been freed to the ICRC so far: 40 Israeli and 12 Thai. The group was ready to assist with the release once the conditions were finalized, but it was not a party to the conversations over the terms of release.

Israel has expressed dissatisfaction about the ICRC's lack of action.

However, the group said, "Neither the location of the hostages nor the ICRC's ability to enter with force."

The statement expresses Geneva's dissatisfaction that not everyone is aware of the Red Cross's limitations.

It is making an effort to carry out its mandate under the Geneva Conventions, which includes seeing captives, providing news to helpless families, and delivering medical supplies. Without the consent of Israel and Hamas, nothing can happen. Since the ICRC is disarmed, it can only do its job with the confidence of the combatants and the people involved in the fighting.

Additionally, it has sent Palestinian detainees freed by Israel to their families in the West Bank, just as it has moved hostages out of Gaza.

Although the logistics are difficult, the ICRC is used to dealing with difficult situations. About 900 inmates detained by Saudi-backed government soldiers in Yemen and Houthi rebels were freed last year thanks to its assistance.

The ICRC visited each prisoner to make sure they were well enough to travel and that they really wanted to go home before sending chartered flights to pick them up in combat zones. The whole process took two days.

The ICRC's regional director for the Middle East, Fabrizio Carboni, expressed his relief at the time that the exchange had gone so well. An aid worker's existence "is about frustration... a lot of the time," he remarked. Saying "no" rather than "yes" is the key.

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There is a lengthy history behind the ICRC's current preparations for the captives in Gaza.

Six million registration cards describing the imprisoned and missing from the two world wars are kept at the Red Cross Museum in Geneva.

One of the cards in this intriguing collection verifies that Charles de Gaulle, the commander of France during World War II and subsequently its president, was captured during the Battle of Verdun in 1916. Other cards depict the worried and melancholy responses of moms who are looking for their sons and confirming their deaths.

The collection exemplifies the vital responsibility that the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was given under the Geneva Conventions: finding the missing and dead, speaking with prisoners of war, ensuring their well-being, and facilitating communication between POWs and their families.

Now, with the battle continuing to lead to Moscow's full-scale invasion in 2022, the Red Cross tracing agency is doing just that for Russian and Ukrainian families in a quiet location in the hills above Geneva.

However, the ICRC's scope of operation has grown throughout the century between the First World War and now.

The way we wage war has evolved. Armed militias often supplant traditional militaries, and both citizens and fighters are imprisoned, kidnapped, or go missing.

The Red Cross's mission is still to notify loved ones who are missing and, if feasible, to bring together families that have been split up by conflict.

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The ICRC paid Nelson Mandela several visits on Robben Island throughout his lengthy incarceration in South Africa under apartheid.

The ICRC visited with jailed paramilitary group members prior to the Good Friday Agreement, which established peace and power sharing in Northern Ireland.

The release of hostages and prisoners involved in kidnappings is another service provided by the Red Cross.

In 2014, Boko Haram kidnapped hundreds of schoolgirls in Nigeria; two years later, the ICRC assisted negotiate the release of some of them.

However, providing aid or assistance does not equate to bargaining, much as with the hostages who are now in Gaza.

"We did not participate in the talks that led to their release... At the time, the ICRC said, "We moved the girls with the agreement of both parties."

Mr. Carboni described how the Red Cross views its core job, which has remained mostly unaltered for more than a century. Mr. Carboni and his supervisor, Mirjana Spoljaric, took a plane to Qatar earlier this week.

"I say to myself, 'Imagine now there's a front line between us, they've been captured, and I can't see them.'" while I glance at my brothers and children. Or, even worse, you don't know; you don't know that I don't know.

Therefore, he continues, "it's hard to describe, the feeling of purpose, when we manage to get people together again."