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Humanitarian workers are being increasingly targeted in Gaza and in Sudan, where five Red Crescent volunteers were killed this week, the International Committee of the Red Cross's director-general Pierre Krahenbuhl told AFP Friday.Israel has repeatedly launched deadly strikes on Gaza despite a ceasefire agreed earlier in October and reports have emerged of atrocities by paramilitaries during Sudan's brutal civil war."It is now becoming a pattern of violence against humanitarian workers in Sudan, in Gaza, and others, that we find very dramatic," Krahenbuhl said in an interview before the Manama Dialogue conference in Bahrain."There is a wider erosion of respect for international humanitarian law," which had "clearly not" been respected in either conflict, he added.On Tuesday, the ICRC said five Sudanese Red Crescent volunteers were killed in North Kordofan state, a major battleground of the war that has raged since April 2023.There were also reports of 460 people killed at a hospital in El-Fasher, which recently fell to Sudan's Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitaries.The capture of El-Fasher, following an RSF siege of more than 18 months, raised fears of a return to Sudan's ethnically targeted atrocities of 20 years ago.The western city has been cut off from all communications since its fall, but survivors who reached the nearby town of Tawila told AFP of mass killings, children shot in front of their parents and civilians beaten and robbed as they fled."We are dealing with probably one of the most dramatic conflicts of our time," Krahenbuhl said, pointing to attacks against civilians, "the extensive use of sexual violence" and the targeting of medical facilities.Krahenbuhl said Gaza's destruction was beyond anything he had seen before, and warned that aid supplies remained woefully short."In the 25 or 30 years that I've been working in the humanitarian field, I have not seen that level of destruction," he said."Not enough (aid) is coming into the Gaza Strip yet," the ICRC official added. "What people need is, of course, far bigger than what we currently are able to deliver."The basic needs of Gazans are so immense "that what we are starting to do with improved humanitarian access is only the tip of the iceberg".The United Nations also warned this week that although aid had increased since the truce, humanitarian groups faced funding shortfalls and problems coordinating with Israeli authorities.Separately, Krahenbuhl hit out at Israel's order this week banning the ICRC from visiting Palestinians held under a law that allows for their indefinite detention.Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said resuming the visits, which were suspended during the Gaza war, would "seriously harm the state's security".But there was "no way in which our visits can pose a security threat or a national security threat", Krahenbuhl said, urging Israel to lift the ban.

The National Committee for International Humanitarian Law at the Ministry of Justice and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) reviewed ways to enhance cooperation and joint coordination in the field of military training and the implementation of programs directed toward the armed forces. This came during a meeting that brought together the National Committee for International Humanitarian Law and a delegation from the ICRC, led by the Head of the ICRC delegation in Qatar, Basma Tabaja, along with Representative of the Armed Forces to the ICRC, Ahmed Moharram, and the Legal Advisor at the ICRC Mission in Damascus Bassel Almajd Representing the National Committee for International Humanitarian Law were members of the Committee and representatives of the Ministry of Defense Brigadier General Abdullah Ibrahim Al Fadala, Rapporteur of the Committee Khalid Mohammed Al Khamis Al Obaidli, and Assistant Rapporteur Alaa Ismail Al Musleh. The meeting comes as part of the Committee's ongoing commitment to promoting the principles of international humanitarian law and building national capacities in the military field, in a way that contributes to strengthening respect for humanitarian rules during armed conflicts.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has received the second group of 13 Israeli captives in the Gaza Strip, as part of the first phase of the ceasefire agreement. The ICRC earlier received the first group of seven Israeli captives and handed them over to the Israeli authorities. Under the exchange deal, the Israeli occupation authorities are expected later today to release 250 Palestinian detainees serving long and life sentences, in addition to 1,700 others arrested by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip after October 7, 2023. Hamas will also hand over the bodies of several dead Israeli captives in two phases. The Prisoners' Information Office published a list of Palestinian detainees scheduled for release today under the exchange deal, including those arrested in Gaza after October 7 and others serving long and life sentences. According to Palestinian institutions concerned with detainees' affairs, Israel currently holds more than 11,100 Palestinians in its prisons, the majority of whom are administrative detainees. This figure does not include those held in Israeli military camps. The number of detainees from the Gaza Strip has risen to over 4,000 since the start of the war. The captive-detainee exchange between Hamas and Israel forms part of the ceasefire agreement brokered by Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey. The accord, reached in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, and effective since last Friday, constitutes the first phase of US President Donald Trump's peace plan aimed at ending the war in Gaza.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday welcomed the start of Hamas's release of Israeli captives in the Gaza Strip, saying that with their release, "peace becomes possible for Israel, for Gaza, and for the region." "I share the joy of the families," Macron wrote on X, after seven captives were handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The French president made the remarks upon his arrival in Egypt to attend a summit on Gaza. The Sharm El-Sheikh Peace Summit is being held today, co-chaired by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and US President Donald Trump, with participation from leaders of more than 20 countries. The summit aims to mobilize broader international support for President Trump's peace plan for the Gaza Strip, amid ongoing discussions regarding post-war governance, security and reconstruction in the territory.

The exchange of Palestinian detainees and Israeli captives in the Gaza Strip began Monday morning as part of the initial phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement, with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) receiving seven Israeli captives. Meanwhile, Palestine Red Crescent Society crews entered Ofer Prison, west of Ramallah, to transfer a sick Palestinian detainee slated for release.The first phase of the plan proposed by US President Donald Trump to end the war in the Gaza Strip includes the release of all living Israeli captives held in Gaza — a total of 20 people — in two groups. In addition, 28 bodies will be handed over gradually, depending on the progress of recovery efforts under the rubble in the Gaza Strip.In exchange, Israeli occupation authorities will release 250 Palestinian detainees serving life sentences, along with 1,718 detainees from Gaza who were arrested after the war began on Oct. 7, 2023.Authorities have transferred detainees designated for release from five central prisons to Ofer Prison, west of Ramallah, and others to Ketziot Prison in the Negev, in preparation for their transfer to the Gaza Strip and subsequently to Egypt.The swap process is being conducted under the supervision of an Egyptian-Qatari-US joint committee, which monitors the implementation of the ceasefire agreement.On Oct. 9, US President Trump announced an agreement to implement the first phase of his Middle East peace plan, which he had outlined earlier on Sept. 29. The plan calls for ending the war in Gaza, the withdrawal of Israeli occupation forces, the entry of humanitarian aid, and the exchange of captives and detainees.The ceasefire took effect last Friday, marking the start of the 72-hour deadline set by the agreement for completing the exchange process.According to organizations concerned with Palestinian detainees' affairs, the number of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons exceeds 11,000, amid dire conditions including torture, starvation, and systematic medical neglect, which has led to several deaths in custody.The number of detainees sentenced to life imprisonment has reached 350, with indictments filed paving the way for additional sentences. There are 53 female prisoners, including three from Gaza and two girls, and about 400 child prisoners held in Ofer and Megiddo prisons. The number of administrative detainees — held without trial — has reached around 3,380 as of October, the institutions reported.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) announced Friday that the number of people registered as missing worldwide has exceeded a quarter of a million, marking an increase of nearly 70% over the past five years.Director General of the Committee Pierre Krahenbuhl stated that from Sudan to Ukraine, from Syria to Colombia, the trend is clear: the sharp rise in the number of missing persons is a stark indication that warring parties and their supporters are failing to protect people in times of war.The issue of missing persons is one of the most tragic humanitarian consequences of armed conflicts and disasters, with hundreds of thousands of individuals disappearing annually due to fighting, displacement, forced detention, or natural disasters.The ICRC plays a central role in registering cases of missing persons, communicating with their families, and working with conflicting parties to search for the missing or determine their fate.This crisis is particularly evident in prolonged conflict zones such as Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, and Colombia, where families suffer greatly due to the lack of information about their loved ones, making it an ongoing humanitarian emergency that requires urgent international efforts.Statistics reveal that the number of missing persons registered with the ICRC rose from approximately 169,500 in 2019 to around 284,400 by the end of 2024, an increase of more than 70%.In the past year alone, the Committee was able to locate around 16,000 missing individuals and reunite 7,000 of them with their families through the Restoring Family Links network in collaboration with Red Crescent and Red Cross societies.