The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), as a neutral intermediary in the release of hostages in Gaza, has worked closely with both parties to the conflict in order to reunite families, said the director-general of the organization.
In an interview with the China Global Television Network (CGTN) in Beijing, ICRC director-general Pierre Krahenbuhl emphasized that the Red Cross has built trust through decades of continuous communication with Hamas and Israel.
"In the midst of all the horror that we have seen in Gaza, these are moments of hope and humanity that are incredibly important. These operations are also very complex to manage and to implement. And one has to imagine that our colleagues on the ground had to prepare from a security point of view, from a logistic point of view, and from a coordination point of view, both with Israelis and with Hamas, in order for this to work," Krahenbuhl said.
"And we are very satisfied that the operations this week went by that allowed this release of the 20 hostages and over 1,800 Palestinian prisoners that were transferred back either to the West Bank or to the Gaza Strip by the ICRC. It is the neutral intermediary dimension of our work. What does that mean actually? It means that we maintain contact at all times with the parties. So the ICRC has constantly been in communication with Hamas, with the Israeli defense and security forces over decades actually, which enables us to build the kind of trust that is essential at moments like these. And again, we are pleased that this positive development could take place with our support," he continued.
ICRC serves as neutral intermediary in release of hostages in Gaza: official
