Medicine for hostages and Palestinians arrives in Gaza under first Israel-Hamas deal since November
- Medicines-for-aid deal mediated by Qatar and France comes after more than 100 days of war
- More than 24,000 Palestinians have been killed, UN says quarter of the population is starving
The deal could bring respite to some of the roughly 100 hostages who remain in captivity, as well as to Palestinians in Gaza in desperate need of aid.
But fighting still rages in many parts of the beleaguered enclave, and an end to the war – or the release of the hostages – seems nowhere in sight.
Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Majed al-Ansari, announced late Wednesday on X that the shipment had crossed into Gaza, without saying when or how the medicine would be distributed.
“Over the past few hours, medicine & aid entered the Gaza Strip, in implementation of the agreement announced yesterday for the benefit of civilians in the Strip, including hostages,” he wrote.
A senior Hamas official said that for every box provided for the hostages, 1,000 boxes of medicine would be sent in for Palestinians. The deal also includes the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza residents.