Israel has made an arrangement with Qatar that will allow the delivery of medicines to hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza, the Israeli prime minister's office said on Friday.
More than 100 hostages remain in Gaza after an Oct. 7 rampage by militants from Hamas © Mena Today
Israel has made an arrangement with Qatar that will allow the delivery of medicines to hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza, the Israeli prime minister's office said on Friday.
The medications would be given to the hostages "in the next few days," the office said in a statement.
More than 100 hostages remain in Gaza after an Oct. 7 rampage by militants from Hamas who killed 1,200 people and took 240 people hostage, according to Israel's tally. Israel has since laid waste to the Palestinian enclave in a campaign to eliminate Hamas.
In a deal brokered by Qatar and the United States that allowed for a brief truce in November, Hamas freed almost half the hostages in return for the release by Israel of scores of Palestinian detainees, as well as an increase in humanitarian aid shipments to Gaza.
Families of the hostages, many of whom are elderly and have chronic illnesses that require daily medications, have petitioned the International Committee of the Red Cross to visit their relatives in order to deliver medicine and inspect their conditions. The Red Cross has said access has been denied by Hamas.
Reporting by Emily Rose
An apparent drone attack - claimed by the Iranian-backed Houthi militia - hit central Tel Aviv in the early hours of Friday, killing one man and slightly wounding four others, the Israeli military and emergency services said.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told his U.S. counterpart that military operations in the Gaza Strip have created conditions that would enable a hostage deal to be reached, Gallant's office said on Wednesday.
A meeting of the United Nations Security Council on the Middle East was briefly interrupted on Wednesday when two protesters stood with signs and yelled for the release of Israeli hostages held by Palestinian militants Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
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