Humanitarian aid for the besieged Gaza Strip was delivered under a deal negotiated between Israel and Hamas.
The aid, which includes medicine for Israeli prisoners still held by Hamas, arrived from Egypt on Wednesday, after being flown from France to Qatar. Paris and Doha announced the day before that they had negotiated the first agreement between Israel and the Palestinian group since the end of the truce on December 1.
More than 100 of the approximately 240 prisoners captured by Hamas during its October 7 attack on Israel were released during the week-long pause in fighting, which followed lengthy negotiations brokered by Qatar and the United States. -United. In exchange, Israel released hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
However, efforts to bring Israel and Hamas back to the negotiating table have since failed. Israel has declared that it will not stop its bombing of Gaza until all prisoners are released and Hamas is destroyed; Hamas says it will not release more prisoners without a complete ceasefire.
France said Tuesday that negotiations over the aid deal had been going on for some time and that the initial idea had come from the families of some of the Israeli prisoners.
The aid will be given to the International Committee of the Red Cross. Once he crosses the border with Gaza, he will be handed over to Hamas.
Back and forth
Paris said it took months to organize the drug supply.
“The French Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying that 45 captives will receive medication for various chronic illnesses and that the medication is expected to last about three months,” Tel Aviv Tribune’s Stefanie Dekker said from occupied East Jerusalem.
“There was a lot of back and forth on this transaction,” Dekker said. “The Israeli prime minister’s office announced it a few days ago, but there were many logistical problems to resolve.”
Several elderly men are among the hundreds of prisoners remaining held by Hamas. Most women and children were released during the week-long truce that ended on December 1.
They will receive prescription medications for their illnesses, Dekker said — something that helped delay the deal.
“This medicine is intended for specific hostages and Hamas has expressed concerns about the possibility of finding it, so that Israel can find out where they (the captives) are,” she said.
Captives’ families are demanding proof that these drugs will reach their loved ones, Dekker said.
The Israeli government, for its part, was a party to the deal because it wants to show that it is taking serious steps to get the captives out, she added.
Aid to Gaza is also desperately needed, with most of the enclave’s 2.3 million residents displaced and at risk of starvation. The Palestinian population is facing “starvation-like conditions,” said Hani Mahmood, reporting from Rafah, on the border with Egypt.
The agreement will provide humanitarian aid to civilians in “the most affected and vulnerable areas”, Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
In all parts of the Gaza Strip, intense Israeli bombardment continued overnight, Mahmood said.
A new agreement is planned?
Amid the worsening situation in Gaza, reports suggest that pressure for another truce between Israel and Hamas may be gaining momentum again.
On Tuesday, the White House said U.S. Middle East envoy Brett McGurk had been in Doha in recent days to discuss a possible deal that could free Israeli prisoners.
National security spokesman John Kirby told reporters that McGurk was involved in “very serious and intensive discussions” with the Qataris about another deal.
“We hope it will bear fruit, and it will bear fruit soon,” he said.
At the same time, Israel intensified its airstrikes on southern Gaza on Wednesday.
“It was the most difficult and intense night in Khan Younis (southern city) since the start of the war,” declared the Hamas government, whose Health Ministry reported 81 deaths across the Palestinian territory.
