ISTANBUL

Hamas’ armed wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, said Sunday it is willing to coordinate with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to allow the delivery of food and medicine to Israeli hostages on the condition that Israel opens humanitarian corridors for all Palestinians in the besieged Gaza.

“The al-Qassam Brigades is ready to deal positively with any Red Cross request to deliver food and medicine to (Israeli) enemy captives,” the group’s spokesperson, Abu Obeida, said in a statement on Telegram.

He conditioned the delivery “on the full and continuous opening of humanitarian corridors to allow the flow of food and medical supplies to all our people across Gaza, and on halting enemy aerial activity during the delivery of aid parcels to the captives.”

Abu Obeida emphasized that the group “does not deliberately starve the captives,” saying they receive the same food available to Hamas fighters and ordinary Palestinians under siege. “They will not be granted special privileges while our people endure starvation and blockade,” he added.

The statement came just hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a phone call with the Red Cross’ regional director, according to a statement from the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office.

Netanyahu asked him to help provide food and medical care to the hostages, according to the statement.

On Friday, al-Qassam Brigades released a video showing Israeli captive Evyatar David appearing visibly emaciated, with pronounced bone structure and signs of extreme weight loss due to the Israeli siege.

The video showed the captive sitting on a bed in a cramped room, his bones clearly protruding due to malnutrition. It also included earlier scenes of him inside a vehicle with another captive, watching the release of Israeli captives as part of a previous prisoner swap during a pause in January.

Israel has continued to impose a systematic starvation policy on approximately 2.4 million Palestinians in Gaza by sealing off all crossings to aid shipments, which have been stranded at the border since March 2. The blockade has pushed the enclave into famine.

Rejecting international calls for a ceasefire, the Israeli army has pursued a brutal offensive on Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, killing more than 60,800 Palestinians, most of them women and children.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.