ICRC president met Haniyeh twice over hostages in Gaza — Jerusalem Post

International Committee of the Red Cross President Mirjana Spoljaric said she met twice in Qatar with former Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. She sought to arrange visits by ICRC representatives to Israeli hostages held in Gaza, the Jerusalem Post reports.

According to Spoljaric, these talks were difficult and frank. She also discussed access to the hostages with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Asked whether the ICRC had access to the hostages, the head of the organization answered in the negative.

Visits to hostages

Spoljaric said that arranging visits to the hostages was more difficult than securing their return. In her view, the hostages should have been returned unconditionally from day one, but the ICRC can act only within the tools available to it.

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In August 2025, the mothers of former hostages Evyatar David, Nimrod Cohen, Guy Gilboa-Dalal, David and Ariel Cunio met with Spoljaric in Geneva. They asked the organization to visit their relatives in Gaza. In addition, eight hostages released during the temporary ceasefire in December 2025 wrote to the ICRC, asking it to visit 137 people who remained in captivity at that time. Such visits did not take place.

Neutrality and detainees

The ICRC chief described the taking of hostages as an extremely difficult and cruel phenomenon and stressed that their return should be the main goal. She believes that earlier pressure during negotiations could have saved more lives.

Spoljaric also said that the ICRC's strict adherence to neutrality was important for the return of many hostages to Israel. Separately, she said that Israel has a moral and legal obligation to restore visits by the organization's representatives to people the country holds as security detainees. Such visits stopped after the October 7 attack.