(Bloomberg) -- A deal has been reached to deliver medicine and other humanitarian aid to residents of Gaza in exchange for medicine being provided to hostages held by Hamas since its Oct. 7 attack on Israel, according to the government of Qatar.
The supplies are to be flown into Egypt on Wednesday by the Qatari air force before entering the Gaza Strip, according to a statement from the Qatar Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The mediation was made in cooperation with France, the ministry said in a statement posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“Medicine along with other humanitarian aid is to be delivered to civilians in Gaza Strip, in the most affected and vulnerable areas, in exchange for delivering medication needed for Israeli captives in Gaza,” the ministry said.
Israel vowed an all-out war in Gaza to destroy Hamas after the Iran-backed group, designated a terrorist organization by the US and the European Union, attacked Israel, killing about 1,200 people. Since then, more than 24,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry there, and humanitarian organizations say the lack of food and medicine is dire.
The US welcomed the announcement by Qatar. It would “deliver badly-needed medicine to the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza in the coming days,” Adrienne Watson, a spokesperson for the National Security Council, said in a statement. “We will continue to pursue every effort to secure the release of the hostages and reunite them with their families.”
Hostage relatives visited Qatar last weekend and raised concerns, for the first time, that family members held captive by Hamas are in need of prescribed medication, according to a diplomat briefed on the talks.
Qatar has expedited efforts — with both Hamas and Israel — to get medicines to the hostages as well as Palestinians in Gaza, and mediators are now working to finalize the arrangement, the diplomat said.
On Tuesday, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said during a session at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that the Biden administration sees a “pathway to a shift in the military campaign in Gaza,” although he warned that the conflict is still at risk of broadening out into a wider war.
The US and other countries must “try to ensure that we manage escalation across the Middle East to the maximum extent possible, taking every possible measure in that regard,” he said.
(Updates with details of Qatari efforts starting in sixth paragraph.)
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