On May 8, to mark World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day, New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) posted a statement celebrating the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, hailing its “more than 100 years of helping those who suffer without discrimination.” It affirmed New Zealand’s continued funding for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), and the New Zealand Red Cross (NZRC), while commending the role of humanitarian workers and international humanitarian law.
On any other day, this might pass as standard diplomatic fare. But this is not any other day. This statement arrives amidst the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza and, more pointedly, the continuing captivity of Israeli hostages held by Hamas since the October 7 massacre. Among them are children, elderly civilians, and foreign nationals. 59 remain in captivity after more than 550 days, with reports of torture, sexual violence, and forced separation from families. And throughout this ordeal, the ICRC has remained disturbingly absent.
Despite its legal mandate to access detainees and monitor their welfare, the ICRC has not visited a single hostage in Gaza. It has failed to demand access with the moral clarity and urgency the situation demands. Its carefully worded statements have offered more balance than outrage, even as hostages are paraded on propaganda videos or killed in Israeli rescue attempts. In past hostage releases, ICRC vehicles were used by Hamas to choreograph public spectacles — yet the ICRC said little about the broader injustice of arbitrary detention, the denial of medical care, or the weaponisation of hostages as human shields.
New Zealand’s unqualified praise, in this context, is not just tone-deaf — it is morally compromising. A responsible government should not be cheerleading an organisation that has failed in one of its core responsibilities — the protection of innocent lives in war. To acknowledge “the protection of humanitarian workers” while failing to demand protection for the victims of terror held without trial, charges, or access to the outside world is a glaring moral inconsistency.
Even more troubling is MFAT’s affirmation that New Zealand has directly funded ICRC operations in Gaza. What exactly has this money supported? Has it funded silence? Logistical cooperation with Hamas? The absence of meaningful action or advocacy for those held in dark tunnels beneath the Strip?
This is not a call to defund the ICRC entirely — but it is a call for accountability. New Zealand has the right and the responsibility to condition its support on performance, especially when the stakes are this high. Blind praise helps no one — not the hostages, not the humanitarian system, and not the credibility of New Zealand as a principled voice on the world stage.
