Es is an agreement between war opponents that is ultimately based on trust. Israeli officials admitted on Wednesday that they were unable to verify whether Hamas was actually distributing an agreed shipment of medicines to the hostages in the Gaza Strip. Qatar guaranteed this, an unnamed government official told the Kan radio station. He expressed hope that the deal, if successful, would pave the way for another agreement leading to the release of hostages.
Qatar and France announced the agreement on Tuesday evening. Accordingly, 45 of the estimated 110 living hostages held in the Gaza Strip since the terrorist attack on October 7th will receive urgently needed medication. Their relatives had repeatedly pointed out the poor health of many of the hostages, including several older men.
According to media reports, the delivery includes, among other things, medication for chronic diseases such as asthma or diabetes. At the same time, medicine for four hospitals and other relief supplies will be brought to the Gaza Strip. The International Committee of the Red Cross is supposed to distribute the goods there.
Hamas apparently did not trust France
According to information from Paris, the negotiations lasted weeks. One reason for this was apparently Hamas' fears that Israel could use the deliveries to find out the whereabouts of the hostages. If the deal holds, it will be the mediators' biggest success since November, when an agreement led to a week-long ceasefire, more humanitarian aid and the release of 105 hostages.
According to Musa Abu Marzuq, a senior Hamas leader, Hamas had made it a condition of the current deal that for every package of medicine for the hostages, a thousand packages for the Palestinians would enter the Gaza Strip. In addition, the Islamists insisted that Qatar make the delivery because they did not trust France, wrote Abu Marzuq on the X platform.
Two Qatari military planes brought the drugs to El-Arish on the Sinai Peninsula on Wednesday. From there they were to be transported to the Gaza Strip. It was unclear in the afternoon whether the delivery would first go through the security check that Israel has made a condition for aid deliveries. Abu Marzuq had stated that one of Hamas' conditions was that this not happen. After Israeli media reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had agreed to this, the head of government's office issued a denial.
It said Netanyahu had authorized the delivery of the drugs to the hostages but “did not deal at all with the security procedures.” These would be determined by the army and security officials. The distancing from their own military was probably not well received there. Israel's Channel 12 reported shortly afterwards, citing sources in the army, that the army had not known until the Hamas leader's tweet that the delivery would not be subject to inspection.
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