LAST UPDATE | 12 Oct 2023

THE INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE of the Red Cross (ICRC) is in contact with Hamas and Israel to try to negotiate the release of hostages taken into Gaza, the group said today.

At least 150 Israelis and foreigners – including soldiers, civilians, children and women – have been held hostage in the Gaza Strip since Hamas’s surprise Saturday attack on Israel.

“As a neutral intermediary we stand ready to conduct humanitarian visits; facilitate communication between hostages and family members; and to facilitate any eventual release,” Fabrizio Carboni, the ICRC’s regional director for the Near and Middle East, said in a statement.

Hostage-taking is forbidden under international humanitarian law, and anyone detained must be released immediately, Carboni added.

The ICRC urged “both sides to reduce the suffering of civilians”.

In retaliation for Saturday’s attack, Israel has relentlessly pounded Gaza and imposed a complete siege on the impoverished territory of over 2 million people, cutting off water, electricity and fuel supplies.

Hamas has claimed that four of the captives died in Israeli strikes and threatened to kill others if civilian targets are bombed without advance warning.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has also started negotiations with Hamas for the release of the hostages, an official source told AFP late yesterday.

The war has already claimed several thousand lives on both sides since Saturday.

The death toll in the Gaza Strip has risen to 1,200 people, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said today.

More than 338,000 people have been forced to flee their homes in Gaza, according to the UN, while the European Union has called for a “humanitarian corridor” to allow civilians to flee the enclave’s fifth war in 15 years.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces said 1,200 people, most of them civilians, were killed in the onslaught – the worst in the country’s history.

Elsewhere, Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler and Iran’s president spoke by phone about the war between Israel and Hamas, Saudi state media said early today, their first call since a surprise rapprochement in March.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman received a call yesterday from the Iranian leader, Ebrahim Raisi, during which they discussed “the current military situation in Gaza and its environs”, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said.

Prince Mohammed told Raisi that Riyadh is “communicating with all international and regional parties to stop the ongoing escalation”, SPA said.

He also stressed “the kingdom’s firm position towards supporting the Palestinian cause”, it said.

Iranian state news agency IRNA also reported on the call, saying the two men discussed the “need to end war crimes against Palestine”.

Former US President Donald Trump have tried to lay blame on the Biden administration.

“With crooked Joe Biden, you have chaos, bloodshed, war, terror and death. Look what’s happening today,” Trump told a crowd of supporters in a speech that lasted more than an hour and a half at a convention centre in West Palm Beach, Florida.

The Biden campaign said Trump has been pushing dangerous misinformation about the crisis in Israel at a time when the country should stand together.

“While Trump continues to lie about his record, President Biden is laser-focused on providing steadfast support for Israel and leading on the global stage,” Biden campaign spokesman Kevin Munoz said.

- © AFP 2023 

Additional reporting by Press Association