Hamas, Israel trade medicines

DEAL: CIVILIANS, CAPTIVES TO GET MUCH-NEEDED AID

Deliveries of medicine for Israeli hostages and Palestinian civilians were expected to start arriving in Gaza yesterday under a deal mediated by Qatar and France, after a night of deadly bombardments in the territory’s south.

Militants took around 250 hostages during the bloody 7 October attacks that touched off the war and about 132 are still in Gaza, including at least 27 believed to have been killed.

The fate of those remaining in captivity has gripped Israeli society, while a broader humanitarian crisis in the besieged territory, marked by the threat of famine and disease, has fuelled international calls for a ceasefire.

In a statement to the official Qatar News Agency (QNA), Doha announced a deal “between Israel and [Hamas], where medicine along with other humanitarian aid is to be delivered to civilians in Gaza... in exchange for delivering medication needed for Israeli captives in Gaza”.

Qatari foreign ministry spokesperson Majid Al-Ansari told QNA the medicine and aid would leave Doha yesterday for the Egyptian city of El-Arish before being transported to the Gaza Strip.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office confirmed the deal.

A total of 445 hostages are expected to receive medication under the agreement, according to the French presidency.

After the drugs arrive at a hospital in the southern Gaza border town of Rafah, they will be received by the International Committee of the Red Cross, divided into batches and immediately transferred to the hostages.

Hamas released dozens of hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel during a November ceasefire, mediated by

Qatar, which hosts the group’s political office.

US National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said he was “hopeful” that Qatar-brokered talks could lead to another such deal “soon”.

The war in Gaza began with Hamas’ unprecedented October attack that resulted in about 1 140 deaths in Israel, mostly civilians.

At least 24 285 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in Israeli bombardments and ground operations since, according to the territory’s health ministry.

The ministry said another 81 people were killed in overnight strikes.

The United Nations says the war has displaced roughly 85% of Gaza’s 2.4 million people, many of whom struggle to get food, water, fuel and medical care.

Witnesses reported strikes on the Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis, sparking panic among the hundreds of displaced people seeking shelter there. –