TEL AVIV, October 20. /TASS/. Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen held a meeting with ambassadors from 22 countries, including Russia, and called for giving International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) staff access to the Israeli hostages being held in Gaza by radical Palestinian group Hamas, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said.

According to the Foreign Ministry statement, Israel demands that international organizations, including the Red Cross, be allowed to visit the hostages held in Gaza so that doctors can check their condition.

The meeting with Cohen was attended by ambassadors from Russia, France, Italy, Hungary, Austria, Canada, the Netherlands, Serbia and other countries whose citizens are being held in Gaza by Hamas supporters.

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Spokesman Daniel Hagari said on October 19 that the confirmed number of hostages being held in Gaza had reached 203, but was not final. Hisham Qassem, a member of Hamas' leadership abroad, said this represented an opportunity for the movement to secure the release of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.

On the same day, Palestinian Ambassador to Russia Abdel Hafiz Nofal told a TASS correspondent that Hamas had not yet signaled that it might release the hostages.