Medical supplies for Israeli hostages and Palestinian civilians will begin arriving in Gaza on Wednesday under a deal brokered by Qatar and France.
In a statement by the official Qatar News Agency (QNA), Doha on Tuesday announced the deal “between Israel and Hamas, under which medicines and other humanitarian aid will be delivered to the civilian population of Gaza…. in exchange for the delivery of medicines needed by Israeli captives in Gaza.”
Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majid al-Ansari said the medical supplies and aid would leave Doha on Wednesday for the Egyptian city of El Arish and then be transported to the Gaza Strip. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office confirmed the deal.
Forty-five hostages are expected to receive medical supplies as part of the agreement, according to the French presidency. After the medicines arrive at a hospital in the southern Gaza border town of Rafah on Wednesday, the International Committee of the Red Cross will divide them into batches and immediately hand them over to the hostages, he said.
The supplies will continue for three months, coordinated by the French Foreign Ministry’s crisis centre, which purchased the drugs and sent them to Doha by diplomatic pouch on Saturday, said Philippe Lalliot, the centre’s director.
Qatar, home to Hamas’ political office, has led negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian militant group, mediating a week-long pause in the Gaza war in November that led to the release of dozens of Israeli and foreign hostages.
Hamas attacks on Israel on 7 October killed more than 1,200 people, mostly civilians. The Israeli offensive killed at least 24,285 people, mostly women and children, according to the latest figures from the Palestinian health ministry.
The ministry said early Wednesday that another 81 people were killed in overnight strikes, including in the main southern city of Khan Younis.
The war has forced some 85 per cent of Gaza’s 2.4 million residents to huddle in shelters and struggle for food, water, fuel and medical care, according to the United Nations.
