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Life-Threatening Risk: Israel Warns Red Cross Against Overfeeding Hostages Before Release
Israel has sent a formal request and a medical protocol to the International Red Cross, asking them to instruct Hamas not to give the starving hostages excessive food, a move that could lead to deadly refeeding syndrome.
In a first-ever public move highlighting a critical medical risk for returning captives, Israel's Coordinator for the Captives and Missing, retired Brigadier General Gal Hirsch, has formally requested that the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) instruct the Hamas terror group on the proper way to feed the hostages before their release. The request was made to the head of the ICRC delegation, Jülien Larridon, in a meeting this morning.
The urgent warning centers on a serious medical concern: the risk of refeeding syndrome. The fear is that Hamas, as reportedly occurred during the previous hostage exchange, will provide the severely deprived hostages with an abnormally large amount of food immediately before their transfer. For individuals who have been subjected to prolonged starvation, this sudden influx of nutrients can be deadly, causing severe electrolyte shifts and heart failure.
To mitigate this life-threatening danger, Hirsch provided Larridon with a specialized document prepared by experts from the Israeli Ministry of Health. This document outlines the precise nutritional protocols necessary for safely feeding the captives prior to their handover. The ICRC responded that it would do its utmost to transmit these crucial dietary guidelines to Hamas.
The demand was driven by testimonies from survivors released in the previous deal, who recounted being given an unusually large quantity of food by their captors just hours before their freedom.
Furthermore, given that ICRC personnel will be the first people to meet the hostages after they are transferred from Hamas custody, the organization was also asked to arrive at the handover point equipped with all necessary medical supplies to provide immediate care and assistance as needed.
The meeting between Hirsch and Larridon also covered the crucial coordination and logistics of the release, as the current potential deal involves the release of 48 live hostages and the bodies of deceased captives held in multiple locations across the Gaza Strip, requiring intricate planning.
This medical and logistical coordination comes as Hamas prepares its negotiating team for talks in Egypt tomorrow. A Hamas source told Al Arabiya that the group has begun collecting the bodies of the deceased Israeli hostages and requested a halt to bombings to complete this task. The source specified that the release of living hostages would occur in a single phase, but the transfer of the bodies "will take some time."