International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement Response
ICRC
The ICRC has played a crucial role in engaging with parties to the armed conflict to remind them of their obligations under IHL, and in particular:
- the rules governing the conduct of hostilities;
- the protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure;
- the prohibition of hostage-taking;
- the protection of the medical mission;
- the civilian population’s right to access essential services;
- the treatment and family rights of persons arrested and detained; and
- the dignified management of the dead.
The ICRC has scaled up its response to address new humanitarian needs in Israel and the Gaza Strip, through the strength of its mandate, existing presence, and built-in emergency capacity. It stepped up its response in the West Bank to address the humanitarian consequences of a sharp rise in violence.
The ICRC works in close coordination with its partners in the Movement and service providers, partners and communities on the ground, in particular PRCS and MDA.
From 7 October 2023 to 31 October 2025, ICRC has:
- Facilitated the release, transfer and return of 192 hostages from the Gaza Strip to their families.
- Facilitated the release, transfer and return of 3,474 Palestinian detainees to their families.
- Processed 18,666 requests from family members seeking news about loved ones with whom they had lost contact. 7,228 families have been informed of the fate and whereabouts of their loved ones.
- Distributed over 321,000 items, including face masks, scrubs, boots, aprons, body tags, body bags, and rolls of shrouds to first responders in Gaza.
- Visited 327 detainees in 19 places of detention in the occupied Palestinian territory, one in Gaza and 18 in the West Bank, to assess and monitor their treatment and conditions of detention.
- Provided basic assistance for over 163,000 vulnerable people (over 32,700 households), mostly families internally displaced by the ongoing hostilities.
- Provided essential household items to 2 million internally displaced persons accommodated in non-UN shelters in the Gaza Strip, Khan Younis and the Middle Area.
- Opened the Red Cross Field Hospital, operated in collaboration with Partner National Societies of the ICRC.
- The Red Cross Field Hospital has provided over 186,000 consultations, with over 5,200 patients admitted. The surgical teams have performed over 9,000 surgical procedures, 6.3% of which were orthopaedic surgeries. There were over 2,300 weapon-wounded admissions. Almost 800 women had their childbirth facilitated at the field hospital.
- Helped over 1,500,000+ people in the Gaza Strip City, Deir Al-Balah, Beit Lahia, Khan Younis, and Rafah maintain and regain access to clean water.
Red Cross pays our respects to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander custodians of the country where we work, and to Elders, past, present and emerging.
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