Hamas wants open humanitarian corridors, end to Israeli strikes for hostages to get aid

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Hamas said on Sunday it was prepared to co-ordinate with the Red Cross to deliver aid to hostages it holds in Gaza if Israel meets certain conditions, after a video it released showing an emaciated captive drew sharp criticism from Western powers.
Hamas said any co-ordination with the Red Cross is contingent upon Israel permanently opening humanitarian corridors and halting airstrikes during the distribution of aid.
According to Israeli officials, 50 hostages now remain in Gaza, only 20 of whom are believed to be alive. Hamas has so far has barred humanitarian organizations from having any kind of access to the hostages, and families have little or no details of their conditions.
On Saturday, Hamas released its second video in two days of Israeli hostage Evyatar David. In it, David, skeletally thin, is shown digging a hole that, he says in the video, is for his own grave. The arm of the individual holding the camera, which can be seen in the frame, is a regular width.
The video of David drew criticism from Western powers and horrified Israelis. France, Germany, the U.K. and the U.S. were among countries to express outrage, and Israel's Foreign Affairs Ministry announced that the United Nations Security Council will hold a special session on Tuesday morning on the issue of the situation of the hostages in Gaza.
WATCH | Gaza's hunger crisis prompts new fears for lives of hostages:
Gaza's hunger crisis prompts new fears for lives of hostages
23 hours ago
Families of Israeli hostages being held by Hamas are again calling for a ceasefire deal amid fears their loved ones could starve to death as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza deepens. The renewed pressure on the Israeli government comes after Hamas released video of an emaciated hostage, Evyatar David.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday he had asked the Red Cross to give humanitarian assistance to the hostages during a conversation with the head of the local delegation of the Swiss-based International Committee of the Red Cross.
A statement from the Hostages Families Forum, which represents relatives of those being held in Gaza, said Hamas's comments about the hostages cannot hide that it "has been holding innocent people in impossible conditions for over 660 days," and demanded their immediate release.
"Until their release," the statement said, "Hamas has the obligation to provide them with everything they need. Hamas kidnapped them and they must care for them. Every hostage who dies will be on Hamas's hands."
Among Palestinians, six more people died of starvation or malnutrition in Gaza over the past 24 hours, its Health Ministry said on Sunday, as Israel said it allowed a delivery of fuel to the enclave, in the throes of a humanitarian disaster after almost two years of war.
The new deaths raised the toll of those dying from what international humanitarian agencies say may be an unfolding famine to 175, including 93 children, since the war began in October 2023, the ministry said.
Egypt's state-affiliated Al Qahera News TV said two trucks carrying 107 tons of diesel were set to enter Gaza, months after Israel severely restricted aid access to the enclave before easing it somewhat as starvation began to spread.
COGAT, the Israeli military agency that co-ordinates aid, said later in the day that four tankers of UN fuel had entered to help in operations of hospitals, bakeries, public kitchens and other essential services.
WATCH | Worst-case famine scenario may already be unfolding in Gaza:
Worst-case scenario of famine unfolding in Gaza, says UN-backed food crisis authority
5 days ago
Israel's attacks on the Gaza Strip have sent the territory into a hunger crisis, and now a UN-backed food crisis authority says the situation is reaching famine levels. According to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification platform, two out of three famine thresholds have been reached in Gaza: plummeting food consumption and acute malnutrition.
There was no immediate confirmation whether the two diesel fuel trucks had entered Gaza from Egypt.
Gaza's Health Ministry has said fuel shortages have severely impaired hospital services, forcing doctors to focus on treating only critically ill or injured patients.
Fuel shipments have been rare since March, when Israel restricted the flow of aid into the enclave in what it said was pressure on Hamas militants to free the remaining hostages they took in their attack on Israel.
Israel blames Hamas for the suffering in Gaza, but in response to a rising international uproar, it announced steps last week to let more aid reach the population, including pausing fighting for part of the day in some areas, approving airdrops and announcing protected routes for aid convoys.
UN agencies say airdrops are insufficient and that Israel must let in far more aid by land and open up access to the territory to prevent starvation among its 2.2 million people, most of whom are displaced amid vast swaths of rubble.
COGAT said that during the past week, more than 23,000 tons of humanitarian aid in 1,200 trucks had entered Gaza but that hundreds of the trucks had yet to be driven to aid distribution hubs by UN and other international organizations.
Looted aid trucks
Meanwhile, Belgium's air force dropped the first in a series of its aid packages into Gaza on Sunday in a joint operation with Jordan, the Belgian Defence Ministry said. France on Friday started to drop 40 tons of humanitarian aid by air.
The Hamas-run Gaza government media office said on Sunday that nearly 1,600 aid trucks had arrived since Israel eased restrictions late in July. However, witnesses and Hamas sources said many of those trucks have been looted by desperate, displaced people and armed gangs.
More than 700 trucks of fuel entered the Gaza Strip in January and February during a ceasefire before Israel broke it in March in a dispute over terms for extending it and resumed its major offensive.
Palestinian local health authorities said at least 80 people had been killed by Israeli gunfire and airstrikes across the coastal enclave on Sunday. Deaths included people trying to make their way to aid distribution points in southern and central areas of Gaza, Palestinian medics said.
Among those killed was a staff member of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, which said an Israeli strike at its headquarters in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, ignited a fire on the first floor of the building.
The Gaza war began when a Hamas-led attack killed about 1,200 people and took about 251 hostage in a cross-border attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, according to Israeli figures. Israel's air and ground war in densely populated Gaza has since killed more than 60,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials.