Israeli authorities announced on Friday that hostages held in the Gaza Strip since the Palestinian Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 will receive medicine “in the coming days” under an agreement with Qatar.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said the negotiations resulted in the “importation of medicines for hostages of the terrorist organization Hamas.”
A diplomat familiar with the negotiations with Qatar said that “both parties,” Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement in power in the Gaza Strip, “have expressed their desire to authorize the supply of medicines.”
“The mediators are currently finalizing the details of the type and quantity of medicines required, as well as the terms of their delivery,” this source said. “The logistics of delivery are being discussed,” she continued.
A source close to Hamas confirmed to AFP that talks over the import of medicines were taking place, but not their conclusion.
Of the approximately 250 hostages kidnapped in southern Israel on October 7, 132 are missing, according to Israeli authorities, including 25 who died without their bodies being returned.
About a hundred hostages were released during a ceasefire in fighting in late November over Israel's release of Palestinian prisoners, a swap that had already been negotiated through Qatar.
At least a third of hostages suffer from chronic illnesses and require treatment, according to a report released Tuesday by the Hostage Families Collective entitled “Bring Them Home Now.”
“Many others were injured during their abduction” and require care, while others suffer from pathologies related to the conditions of captivity, according to the collective.
This group of families has been putting pressure on the government to secure the release of the hostages since the beginning of the war, which was triggered by the unprecedented attack by Hamas and which, according to authorities, left around 1,140 dead on Israeli soil, mostly civilians. Israelis.
According to the Hamas Ministry of Health, the Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip, which were launched immediately in retaliation, claimed at least 23,708 lives, most of them women, teenagers and children.
The Israeli government has set itself the destruction of Hamas and the release of the hostages as its war goal.
“Time is running out,” said Israeli government spokesman Eylon Levy on Tuesday, referring to the hostages’ health.