Why did Netanyahu really ask the Red Cross to help get aid to hostages in Gaza?

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has requested the assistance of the International Committee of the Red Cross to help get food and medical assistance to the remaining hostages in Gaza. This follows the release of video footage by militants of emaciated Israeli hostages being held underground in Gaza. Hamas says it's ready to cooperate and deliver food to those it's holding if Israel agrees to open humanitarian corridors across the entire Gaza Strip. Netanyahu spoke with the families of the hostages seen in these released videos, telling them he was determined to free the hostages and, quote, eliminate Hamas. Well, meanwhile, the Hamas-controlled health ministry in Gaza says at least 80 people have been killed by Israeli gunfire and airstrikes in Gaza on Sunday. Many of them were reportedly trying to reach aid hubs in southern and central areas. In Khan Younis, in the south of the Strip, one Red Crescent worker was killed and three others injured in an airstrike on the aid organization's offices in what it's calling a blatant breach of international law. Fires and destruction. The Palestinian Red Crescent says this video captured the aftermath of a deadly Israeli airstrike on its headquarters in Khan Younis. The aid organization says the building was hit repeatedly, the second strike happening while rescuers were busy evacuating people after the first strike. That, it says, demonstrates that the attack was deliberate and systematic, calling it a blatant breach of international law. Israel says it has no knowledge about the attack. Elsewhere in Khan Younis, more death. According to a Palestinian news agency, a UN school was hit by an Israeli strike. 17-year-old Hala lost family members in the attack. Israel had no immediate comment. Total destruction. What did the children do? Children were sleeping on the bed here. They haven't done anything. What will children do to you? Is this what you do to them? You have burned them and left nothing. They were children who wanted to sleep. They slept hungry with no food or water. You killed them. On Sunday, more food was airdropped into Gaza to try to ease the hunger crisis. Following growing global criticism it was starving Gazans, Israel has eased restrictions in the last week. But Gazans say it's unsafe and insufficient. The airdropping is dangerous, and when we head to the wooden pallets, it's also dangerous because of the crowding and the pressure of people. Can you imagine 12 or 20 pallets for all the crowds in here? It's not enough. Not enough for the needs of the people here. The scarcity was plain to see as people scrambled to pick up food from the ground at an aid distribution point from the US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Hospital officials and eyewitnesses say dozens of people were killed by Israeli fire at the controversial aid sites on Sunday. The foundation's media office said there was no gunfire near or at its sites. In Gaza City, members of the civil defense found a survivor under the rubble of a building that collapsed in an Israeli airstrike. A glimmer of hope on another violent day in Gaza. And we can now speak to Mayrav Zenshine. She is a senior analyst on Israel-Palestine for the International Crisis Group. Welcome to DW, Mayrav. So, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is now asking the Red Cross for help to get aid for those hostages in Gaza after the harrowing images of them were released. How do you interpret this move? Do you see it as a shift in strategy, or is this a response to mounting public pressure? Thanks. It's good to be with you. I think primarily Netanyahu's message that included the Red Cross appeal is to show that he is not responsible for the hunger in Gaza and for the starvation that's happening there. And he wants to put the blame on Hamas, and he wants to put a spotlight on those hostages who are, of course, suffering. The Israeli public and the families of the hostages have been calling for a full ceasefire and hostage deal for months. The entire former security establishment has. Hamas has already agreed to enter a full deal for months and months and months now. And it's very clear that Netanyahu is the one who has been the major obstacle to that deal. So what he's talking about now really is just more framing for his own political survival. It has very little to do with the hostages' well-being. Well, the prime minister also said earlier that Israel is going to intensify its military campaign against Hamas in Gaza. Is there broad public support for this? You mentioned the hostage families who are against it. But how does the rest of the country feel about this? The country has for months, including right-wing voters, been calling for a hostage deal. Obviously, it's more complicated when you talk about the nuances of what it would look like in the day after. But a solid majority of 70 percent of the Israelis would like the war to end, soldiers are dying, hostages are dying. This is just something that at this point, despite the consensus at the start of the war to fight Hamas and to eliminate Hamas, Israelis understand that there's no way to get the hostages back without a deal. And when Netanyahu talks about military eternal victory, everybody now understands that that's not something that's going to happen and that the two war goals are at odds. And we've been through this for months, and everybody already understands this. So Netanyahu and his far-right government are actually working against the will of the majority at this point. Well, meanwhile, for its part, Hamas is saying it would allow the Red Cross access to the hostages if humanitarian aid corridors were opened in Gaza. Mairav, what's your take on Hamas's response? Well, I mean, the average amount of trucks that are needed for feeding the population of Gaza is 600, and I believe their demand now is something like 250. And Hamas is using the starvation and the deprivation of aid, which Israel is directly responsible for, as leverage now to buy time, get more aid into the Strip, and not necessarily agree to the type of deal that Israel wants. But the humanitarian disaster created in Gaza is something that everybody should be concerned about. And Hamas is using that as leverage, of course. But, you know, regardless of the ceasefire deal, regardless of a hostage deal, the people of Gaza have to be able to eat. And this is just the situation that Israel has brought upon itself. So Hamas's demands are, you know, quite understandable considering the fact that we are on the brink of famine in Gaza. That was Mairav Zenshine, senior analyst on Israel-Palestine for the International Crisis Group. Many thanks indeed for all of your insights. We appreciate it. Thank you.