PARIS: A deal has been brokered by Qatar and France after intense talks with Israel and Hamas to deliver needed medication and other relief to 45 Israelis kept hostage by the group in Gaza.
Under the deal, in return the most vulnerable civilians in Gaza will also get medical supplies by aid organizations.
The two countries said the aid would leave Qatar for Egypt on Wednesday before being taken across the Rafah border crossing, Reuters news agency reported today.
Qatari foreign ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari said in a statement the deal would mean “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.”
He did not give details on how much aid or what aid would be delivered to civilians.
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said two Qatari Air Force planes were to land on Wednesday in Egypt with medicines purchased in France based on an Israeli list.
Earlier, Philippe Lalliot, head of France’s foreign ministry crisis centre which organises aid efforts, said negotiations had been going on for weeks and the initial idea had come from the families of some of the Israeli hostages.
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