Netanyahu rejects International Red Cross chief's claim that Hamas can’t be pressured to allow hostage visits

The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the international community is not able to pressure the Hamas terror group to permit visits to the remaining 135 Israeli and international hostages still being held in the Gaza Strip.

ICRC President Mirjana Spoljaric Egger appeared to reject criticism from Israel that her organization’s efforts to secure visits to the hostages are insufficient.

The Israeli prime minister repeated Israel’s position during his meeting with Spoljaric Egger, who visited Israel for the first time since the Hamas Oct. 7 massacre of more than 1,000 Israelis and subsequent kidnapping of some 240 hostages.

“You have every avenue, every right and every expectation to place public pressure on Hamas,” Netanyahu told the visiting ICRC chief on Thursday in Jerusalem.

However, Spoljaric Egger claimed it wouldn't work with Hamas.

“It is not going to work because the more public pressure we seemingly would do, the more they will shut the door,” she claimed.

“I’m not sure about that. Why don’t you try?” Netanyahu urged.

Netanyahu also conveyed his criticism of previous Red Cross statements that failed to make a distinction between Hamas’ deliberate invasion and brutality against Israeli civilians and “unintended casualties that accompany any war,” a reference to Hamas terrorists committing a war crime by using Gazan civilians as human shields.

“I want to express my gratitude for your help in securing the release of the hostages, but at the same time, some of the statements that have come out from the organization seem to not make the distinction that I’ve just made,” the Israeli prime minister stated.

Officials from the Red Cross organization have previously claimed their organization’s role as a neutral actor would be undermined if they publicly criticized Hamas leadership. However, the Red Cross has voiced criticism of the Jewish state for defending itself against relentless terrorism.

UN Watch, an NGO dedicated to combating public bias against Israel, documented that a whopping 77% of the Red Cross tweets were only focused on criticizing Israel during the period between Oct. 6 to Nov. 28. By contrast, only 7% of the Red Cross tweets were critical of Hamas during the same period.

During her visit to the Jewish state, Spoljaric Egger also met with President Isaac Herzog, Foreign Minister Eli Cohen and Health Minister Uriel Busso.

Following the meeting with Netanyahu, Spoljaric Egger stressed in a tweet that the ICRC must get access to the hostages in the Gaza Strip.

“ICRC must be granted permission, with practical details agreed between the parties, for visits to take place,” she wrote, without elaborating.

“I reiterate: hostages must be released – immediately,” she added.

However, the families of the Israeli hostages are not impressed with how the Red Cross is dealing with the current situation.

Tal Amano, the daughter of the 84-year-old mother Elma Avraham who was released from Hamas captivity in a hostage deal in late November, blasted the Red Cross for abandoning her frail mother while she was kidnapped by Hamas in Gaza.

“They abandoned my mother from a health perspective,” she said, noting that the Red Cross refused crucial medicines to her aging mother while being held captive by Hamas.

“My mother didn’t have to return like this. It was neglect during her entire period there. She didn’t receive her life-saving medications. She was abandoned twice, once on October 7 and a second time by all the organizations that should have saved her and prevented her condition,” she added.