War between Israel and Hamas: medicines “on the way” for hostages

Although at least a third of Israeli hostages in the hands of Hamas suffer from chronic illnesses, according to a recent report by Families Collective, they are eagerly awaited. The medicines are to be sent there in exchange for humanitarian aid to the Palestinian population as part of an agreement reached by France and Qatar.

The purpose of this agreement is to deliver medicine and humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, especially to the most affected and vulnerable areas. In exchange, Israeli prisoners in the Gaza Strip will be provided with necessary medicines. Medicines and aid are to be sent to Egypt’s Al-Arikh “on board two Qatari military aircraft for the purpose of transferring them to the Gaza Strip,” Qatar’s head of diplomacy said Tuesday evening.

An Egyptian security source said in the morning that a Qatari plane had arrived at Al-Arikh “with medicine.” “Medicines are being delivered to hostages in Gaza,” Emmanuel Macron said on the social network X (formerly Twitter).

Meanwhile, violence between Israel and Hamas continues. This Wednesday the IDF is bombing the Gaza Strip again. An AFP correspondent reported a series of overnight airstrikes and artillery shelling of the town of Khan Younes in the southern Gaza Strip. Witnesses spoke, in particular, about explosions near Nasser Hospital, where, according to the Israeli army, the leaders of Hamas, classified by Israel, the United States and the European Union as a terrorist organization, are hiding.

“My daughter can’t sleep”

The Palestinian movement reported at least 81 deaths overnight in Khan Younes and other areas of the Gaza Strip, where the humanitarian situation is also considered “catastrophic,” according to the UN, which says there is a “risk of famine” and is in the middle of the peak of winter cold. “My daughter can’t sleep, she always tells me she’s cold, look how they sleep on the floor, I have nothing to cover them with, I can’t tell you how cold it is here,” Hanin Aduan whispers. displaced by the fighting in Rafah, on the border with Egypt.

The war was sparked by an unprecedented Hamas attack on October 7 in southern Israel that killed some 1,140 people on the Israeli side, most civilians killed on the same day, according to an Agence France-Presse tally based on official Israeli data. . During the attack, about 250 people were taken hostage and taken to Gaza, about 100 of whom were released during a truce in late November. According to Israeli authorities, 132 people are still in Palestinian territory, of whom 27 are believed to have died.

In response, Israel vowed to “destroy” Hamas, which has been in power in the Gaza Strip since 2007, and 24,448 people, the vast majority of women, children and teenagers, have been killed there in bombings and Israeli military operations, according to a report released Thursday by Hamas . Ministry of Health care.