By Gilad Grossman
In the immediate aftermath of the attacks in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, the International Committee of the Red Cross condemned the attacks and the taking of hostages.
Since then, we consistently repeated that taking hostages is in violation of international humanitarian law, and demanded the immediate release of the hostages and that we be given access to them to provide medical assistance and deliver family news.
The ICRC has had significant and ongoing difficult discussions with Hamas and with outside parties about these issues. No discussion has taken place without a demand for access.
We continue to relay our concerns about the well-being of all remaining hostages and have criticized the treatment of hostages on the day of their release.
The frustrating reality is that we continue to be denied access — just as we have been denied access to Israeli places of detention. However, our leverage is limited, and the responsibility is on the parties themselves.
Simply put, the ICRC cannot force its way for access. Despite this, some have accused the ICRC of sinister motives, implying that the ICRC is not interested in getting access to hostages. This is simply false and contradicted by the public record.
Following the onset of the cease-fire agreement in Gaza on Jan. 19, 2025, the ICRC acted quickly and with determination to safely return 30 hostages to freedom in Israel and to reunite them with their families. We also returned eight deceased hostages’ home for a dignified burial.
The ICRC carried out these actions with a humanitarian motivation — to save lives and alleviate suffering.
During this phase of the cease-fire agreement, the ICRC was entrusted week after week to bring home hostages. We acted on behalf of hostages immediately, just as we did in November 2023, when we returned 109 hostages to safety.
We carried out these operations — often at a moment’s notice — with little freedom of action, and with the Israeli authorities knowing these release efforts would be broadcasted to the public.
Our place is not on the stage. We said consistently that these releases should be private. But we cannot control the circumstances during the releases. What we can control is the decision about whether to proceed.
And while we pushed back on the release ceremonies, our mission is to facilitate the handover and bring people to safety. In the moment, faced with a choice to leave or compromise, we chose to ensure that hostages were returned to their homes.
We welcome informed and constructive criticism. Our mission — to preserve the lives and dignity of victims of conflict — necessitates a willingness to learn and adapt. However, that criticism often takes the form of falsehoods and baseless attacks.
Unfortunately, misinformation and disinformation about our work and our motivations have meaningful and harmful consequences for the most vulnerable that we seek to help.
The principles that inform our actions around the globe, including impartiality and neutrality, are rooted in our mandate, history and our understanding of how to best achieve humanitarian outcomes in complex environments.
The way we work is often misunderstood, but working consistently with these ideas in mind is fundamental to our work. Impartiality means we act on behalf of all victims of conflict, regardless of nationality or religion.
In Israel, in the immediate aftermath of the violence on Oct. 7, 2023, we provided immediate support to responders in the Gaza envelope, offering material and equipment to assist in the response. We are also supporting vulnerable communities in southern and northern Israel that continue to suffer from the reverberating impacts of the conflict.
Neutrality is a tool for action. As a principal it can be difficult to accept, but it is precisely because we uphold neutrality in our work that the government of Israel and Hamas have entrusted us with the critical task of returning hostages, saving lives, reuniting families and for some, ensuring a dignified burial.
Our work in Israel and Gaza is consistent with our work around the globe. In every delegation, our colleagues go to work every day thinking about how to help victims of conflict.
Here in Israel, we continue to try to gain access to the hostages still being held in Gaza and prepare for our critical role if allowed access. Our colleagues engage with families and advocacy groups and connect with government officials to ensure we are capable at a moment’s notice to visit the hostages, and that we are equipped with vital information for the moment they are in our care.
Our teams have been ready since day one to visit hostages and to facilitate releases. And when the moment came for their release, our teams were on the spot, ready to act.
Our way of working in the ICRC is quiet and discreet. Working in conflict zones is challenging — we work on both sides of lines of conflict and calibrate accordingly. We stay consistent to the law and to core principles of humanitarianism.
We know that quiet humanitarian diplomacy is more effective than grandstanding. And we will continue this work — with the scrutiny that comes with it — because we know that lives depend on it.
Gilad Grossman is a spokesperson for the ICRC based in Tel Aviv. Prior to joining the ICRC, he worked as a journalist and for various Israeli human rights organizations.
