The International Red Cross Committee yesterday handed over to Israel a list of 39 additional wounded Israeli prisoners of war. The list was supplied to the Red Cross here by its delegate in Cairo, Marcel Boisard, who yesterday was allowed to visit 45 wounded Israeli POWs in Egypt.
The Red Cross spokesman here said that the names of six of the wounded had already been supplied to Israel as part of the first list made known by Egypt on Oct. 16 which contained 46 names. Though the Red Cross spokesman was not prepared to go into details he said that all the men seemed to be treated in accordance with the Geneva Convention. Israeli sources here said that an additional list is expected some time today or early tomorrow morning.
The Red Cross delegate in Damascus has not yet been authorized to visit the Israeli POWs held by Syria. Syria has, moreover, not yet released the names and identities of the Israeli POWs nor sent a definite date by which these lists would be made available. Since the cease-fire of Oct. 22, Israel has pressed Egypt and Syria to release the identities of the Israeli POWs. Israel has already supplied the Red Cross with some 5000 names out of a total of 7000 and has enabled the Red Cross delegate in Tel Aviv to visit the prisoners both in their places of detention and in the hospitals in which the wounded are being taken care of.
Observers in Geneva believe that Egypt has put forward a number of conditions including the supply of blood plasma and medical equipment to the men of the besieged Egyptian Third Army in order to permit the Red Cross to visit the Israeli wounded. Both the American and Soviet delegations in Geneva have been informed of the negotiations’ progress. It is not known whether Washington and Moscow played an active role in smoothing over the difficulties and enabling Israel and Egypt to find a compromise solution.
(In Cairo, President Anwar Sadat told a news conference yesterday that there would be no move toward a POW exchange with Israel until the Israeli troops withdrew to their Oct. 22 positions when the first Security Council cease-fire resolution went into effect.)
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