The Role of the International Committee of the Red Cross – ICRC in Gaza: Navigating Neutrality or Facilitating Inaction ?*
By: Lillian Robb
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is, as enunciated in its mission statement, an “impartial, neutral and independent organisation whose exclusively humanitarian mission is to protect the lives and dignity of victims of armed conflict and other situations of violence and to provide them with assistance”. The four Geneva Conventions and Additional Protocol I confer on the ICRC a specific mandate to act in the event of international armed conflict.
On 29 November 2023, the bodies of five premature Palestinian babies were found in Al-Nasr Children’s Hospital, a full three weeks after their deaths. The bodies were decomposing, still lying in their hospital beds. Israeli forces ordered patients and staff to leave the hospital in early November, despite the logistic impossibility of doing so. The hospital was hit by an Israeli bombardment on 9 November, rendering it inoperable, and the staff and patients were forced to evacuate. Dr. Mustafa Al Kahlot, director of the hospital, said that he had tried to save the lives of the five children before it was too late by requesting help from international organisations including the ICRC but received no answer.[1] The incident has given rise to accusations of negligence on behalf of the ICRC in responding to calls to save the lives of children and patients in Gaza, a repeated accusation, as well as calls for investigations regarding the conduct of evacuations.
The ICRC is the sole international organisation with the mandate to visit prisoners of war and civilian internees within prison and detention facilities. Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association has called on the ICRC to abide by its responsibilities but has not seen any real pressure from the ICRC to conduct such visits. Human rights activists call on the organisation to do better, saying that the least it can do is try to provide news of loved ones and to communicate the status of prisoners to their families.
The number of Palestinian prisoners inside Israeli jails has doubled since October 7. Since October 7, 6 have been killed in prison. These prisoners suffer extreme torture. While Israel released 150 Palestinians during the four-day humanitarian pause, more than 168 Palestinians were arrested during the same period. Those who were released were all women and children, and 2/3 of them had never been charged. These prisoners had no contact with the outside world. Those taken since October 7 don’t know whether their families are dead or alive, or if a ceasefire was reached, and reciprocally, their families do not know their status.
Since October 7, the ICRC has repeatedly condemned attacks on Israel.[2] The organisation named Hamas, urging them to release hostages. However, the ICRC has failed to name Israel as the perpetrator of atrocities in Gaza,[3] despite the sheer scale of those breaches. Press releases have repeatedly used sentences with no subject, such as “With a military siege in place, people in Gaza are deprived of food, water and medicine”, or “Hostilities taking place in heavily populated urban areas, including around hospitals, endanger the lives of the most vulnerable people”. These sentences evade the issue of responsibility and do not attribute those breaches to the responsible actor.[4] The same releases refer to the situation with wording that implies a disaster with no maker, using phrases such as ‘deteriorating humanitarian situation’, ‘unbearable tragedy’, or ‘humanitarian disaster’.
The lack of action or pressure from the ICRC comes alongside repeated press releases by organisation regarding the Israeli persons held in Gaza, and visits offered to them.[5] In these released, the ICRC systematically uses the term ‘hostages’ when referring to Israeli prisoners (even soldiers), and ‘detainees’ when referring to Palestinian prisoners (even those detained without trial or those arrested to compel a family member to surrender to the occupying army), continually re-entrenching a differentiation.[6]
Even after two months of relentless bombing and violence directed at a civilian population in situation stark power imbalance, the ICRC continues to use language that clouds that fact, referring to ‘all sides’,[7] calling on all parties,[8] and referring to the situation with the words “after more than a month of heavy fighting” that imply a war between equal parties.
The ICRC is a ‘neutral’ organisation. But neutrality, if not utilised with care and caution, can easily become facilitation through inaction, particularly when such neutrality fails to capture the vast imbalances of power or the disparity in the number of violations of humanitarian law committed by the parties.
In the Summer of 1942, the ICRC debated whether to launch a general appeal on violations of international humanitarian law when faced with knowledge of the grave crimes being committed against the Jewish population in Europe. But the ICRC “decided in the end not to issue the appeal, believing that it would not achieve the desired results” and continues instead with bilateral approaches. The ICRC has apologised for this failure: the failure to react vigorously, and the organisation’s impotence.
We beg the ICRC not to make that mistake again.
* The perspectives and opinions expressed in the articles published by the Law for Palestine Organization solely reflect those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official policy or stance of the Organization.
[1] The ICRC confirmed that they received “several requests” for evacuation from hospitals in the north of Gaza, but due to the “security situation” it was “not involved in any operations or evacuations, nor did teams commit to doing so.” See:
[2] See also: https://www.icrc.org/en/document/israel-and-occupied-territories-evacuation-order-of-gaza-triggers-catastrophic-humanitarian-consequences
[3] See also: https://www.icrc.org/en/document/icrc-president-tells-paris-conference-gaza-immediate-imperative-is-to-save-lives; https://www.icrc.org/en/document/israel-and-occupied-territories-icrc-urges-protection-gaza-civilians-evacuating-and-staying
[4] See also: https://www.icrc.org/en/document/israel-and-occupied-territories-icrc-demands-protection-patients-healthcare-workers-medical-facilities-in-gaza; https://www.icrc.org/en/document/israel-and-occupied-territories-nightmare-civilians-once-again-hostilities-resume
[5] See also: https://www.icrc.org/en/document/israel-and-occupied-territories-horrific-suffering-civilians-must-end; https://www.icrc.org/en/document/icrc-president-tells-paris-conference-gaza-immediate-imperative-is-to-save-lives. “In our role as a neutral intermediary, we are ready to visit anyone detained so we can check on their well-being and provide news to their loved ones”: https://www.icrc.org/en/document/israel-and-occupied-territories-icrc-calls-immediate-protection-civilians-after-horrific, 7 October 2023. “The release of two hostages in Gaza today is a sliver of hope. We are extremely relieved that they can be reunited with their family after two weeks of agony”: https://www.icrc.org/en/document/israel-and-occupied-territories-icrc-helps-release-hostages-gaza.
[6]See also: https://www.icrc.org/en/document/israel-and-occupied-territories-horrific-suffering-civilians-must-end; https://www.icrc.org/en/document/icrc-president-tells-paris-conference-gaza-immediate-imperative-is-to-save-lives; https://www.icrc.org/en/document/israel-and-occupied-territories-operation-reunite-hostages-detainees-families-deliver-assistance%E2%81%A3; https://www.icrc.org/en/document/israel-and-occupied-territories-operation-reunite-hostages-detainees-families-deliver-assistance; https://www.icrc.org/en/document/israel-and-occupied-territories-operation-reunite-hostages-detainees-families-deliver-assistance
[7] See also: https://www.icrc.org/en/document/israel-and-occupied-territories-deescalate-now-prevent-further-human-suffering
[8] See also: https://www.icrc.org/en/document/israel-and-occupied-territories-nightmare-civilians-once-again-hostilities-resume
ICRC Red Gaza Neutrality Inaction
