Foreign Minister Eli Cohen and Health Minister Uriel Buso met today (Tuesday) with the president of the Red Cross, Mirjana Spoljaric Egger, as part of their political visit to Geneva. In their meeting, the ministers demanded that the organization act immediately to visit the abductees held by Hamas in Gaza.
The meeting was also attended by representatives of the abductees' families: Ofri Bibas Levy, sister of Yarden Bibas who was kidnapped to Gaza with his wife Shiri and their two children Ariel (4 years old) and Kfir (10 months old); Ilan Regev, the father of Mia and Itai; Idit Ohel, Alon Ohel's mother; And Ayelet Svetitsky, daughter of Chana Perry (age 79) and sister of Nadav Kopelwell. The members of the families contacted the president of the Red Cross, told her about the kidnapping of their loved ones and asked for the organization's urgent activity to reach the abductees, verify their condition and ensure medical care for them.
"The Red Cross must work through all channels to quickly visit the abductees, including children, women and the elderly, who are being held hostage by the terrorist organization Hamas," Cohen said at the meeting. "We expect the Red Cross to put the issue at the top of the organization's priority list, to use all the levers of pressure and not rest until it visits all the abductees, checks their condition and makes sure that they receive the medical care they need. It is appropriate that the Red Cross focus on the greatest humanitarian disaster that the terrorist organization Hamas brings upon Gaza, and not the State of Israel, a country that is committed to international law and acts according to it."
Buso went on to say at the end of the meeting that "today I informed the president of the Red Cross and the chairman of the World Health Organization that the State of Israel does not intend to stop until all the abductees from the captivity of the terrorist organization Hamas are released, and I demanded her involvement in maintaining their safety. I mentioned to her that Gaza is paying a heavy price for the serious fact that Hamas terrorists use hospitals as terrorist bases and that I expect the international community to condemn this in clear language - it is impossible that medical facilities are used to defend terrorism. We are determined and will do everything to bring our brothers and sisters home safely."