OAN’s Elizabeth Volberding
6:24 PM – Tuesday, January 16, 2024
Qatar has successfully mediated an agreement between Israel and Hamas, which will allow Israeli hostages to receive much needed medication.
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Officially, Qatar declared on Tuesday that it had successfully brokered a deal between Israel and Hamas to provide medicine to the hostages in Gaza. In exchange, Israel will provide humanitarian supplies to Gaza citizens.
Two military planes from Qatar are scheduled to depart from the capital of Qatar, Doha, on Wednesday with the medications. The medications will then travel to the coastal city of el-Arish on the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt.
“Medicine along with other humanitarian aid is to be delivered to civilians in the Gaza Strip, in the most affected and vulnerable areas, in exchange for delivering medication needed for Israeli captives in Gaza,” the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Tuesday in a statement shared on X.
The agreement was also mediated in part by France, according to a statement from Qatar’s Foreign Ministry.
French President Emmanuel Macron announced that he had requested his Foreign Affairs Ministry to create a catalog of medicine for 45 hostages, to purchase them, and to deliver it to Qatar.
A French official notified the Times of Israel that the Jewish State is responsible for the operation’s security measures. Additionally, the International Committee of the Red Cross is also involved in the agreement.
On Friday, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that the medicine would be “delivered in the upcoming days.”
Israel agreed to expand medical assistance included in the humanitarian aid being brought into Gaza each day, with the purpose of being exchanged for Israeli hostage medicine. According to the Qatari statement, a portion of that aid will be included in the shipment being sent to Egypt on Wednesday.
More than 100 days have passed since October 7th, when at least 1,200 people were killed and over 240 were taken hostage by Hamas terrorists in an attack on Israel. According to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, every day that the victims are held in captivity, their lives and health are at risk.
In a report published last week, the forum stated that at least a third of the hostages suffer from long-term illnesses that require medication. It further stated that “others suffer from illnesses related to the harsh captivity conditions, which include mental and physical torture.”
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