OHAD ZWIGENBERG/AP
Israeli military vehicles circulate in the Gaza Strip, near the Israel-Gaza border, as seen from southern Israel on Wednesday, January 17.
RAFAH, Gaza Strip >> A package of medicines destined for dozens of hostages held by Hamas arrived in Gaza on Wednesday, as part of a deal brokered between France and Qatar that marked the first agreement between Israel and the militant organization since a week-long ceasefire. . in November.
The deal may simply provide respite for some of the estimated 100 hostages still in captivity, as well as Palestinians in Gaza who desperately need help. But fighting is still raging in many parts of the besieged enclave, and the end of the war – or the release of hostages – is nowhere to be seen.
Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari announced last Wednesday on X, formerly Twitter, that the shipment had entered Gaza, without specifying when or how the drugs would be distributed.
“In the last few hours, medicines and aid have entered the Gaza Strip, in accordance with the announced agreement for obtaining benefits for civilians in the Strip, adding hostages,” he wrote.
A senior Hamas official said that for every box given to the hostages, 1,000 boxes of medicine would be sent to the Palestinians. The agreement also includes the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza residents.
The agreement came 100 days after the fighting began and as Palestinian militants continue to advance across Gaza in the face of one of the deadliest military campaigns in recent history. More than 24,000 Palestinians were killed. About 85 percent of the 2. 3 million people in this narrow coastal territory have fled their homes, and the United Nations says a quarter of the population is starving.
Israel has pledged to dismantle Hamas so that it can never repeat an Oct. 7 attack that sparked the war. The militants stormed Israeli border defenses and attacked several communities that day, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and capturing about 250.
Israel also has promised to win the return of the hostages still held inside Gaza.
Hamas has said it will not release any more hostages until there is a permanent cease-fire, something Israel and the United States, its top ally, have ruled out.
AID RELATED TO PALESTINIAN HOSTAGES AND CIVILIANS
The agreement reached in late November between Israel and Hamas resulted in a temporary truce in exchange for the release of more than 100 hostages, mostly women and children, as well as the release of dozens of Palestinians imprisoned in Israel.
A Qatari official said the medicine would be delivered to the hostages by the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run territory. It was not immediately clear when the drugs would be delivered, or how the handover would be verified. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was discussing behind-the-scenes diplomatic efforts.
France said it took months to organize the shipment of the medicines. Qatar, which has long served as a mediator with Hamas, helped broker the deal that will provide three months’ worth of medication for chronic illnesses for 45 of the hostages, as well as other medicine and vitamins. Several older men are among the remaining hostages.
Moussa Abu Marzouk, a senior Hamas figure, said in a message in X that the International Committee of the Red Cross would deliver all medicines, in addition to those intended for hostages, to hospitals serving all parts of Gaza. The ICRC declined to comment.
Senior U. N. officials have warned that Gaza will face widespread famine and disease if more aid is allowed in.
Israel completely sealed off Gaza after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack and only relented under U.S. pressure. It says there are now no limits on the entry of humanitarian aid and that U.N. agencies could reduce the delays by providing more workers and trucks.
But U. N. officials say aid delivery is hampered by the opening of too few border crossings, the slow tracing procedure and fighting throughout the territory, all of which is largely under Israel’s control.
ANCIENT FIGHTING IN GAZA
Israel said earlier this year that it had largely defeated Hamas in northern Gaza and would scale back its operations there, concentrating on dense urban spaces in the center and south of the territory. Additional Israeli forces withdrew from Gaza on Monday, but there has still been an unobvious slowdown in attacks, with dozens of Palestinians killed each day.
A strike on a home killed a woman and two children in the southernmost town of Rafah. An Associated Press reporter saw the bodies arrive at a nearby hospital. Tens of thousands of people who heeded Israeli evacuation orders have sought shelter in the town, which is home to the border crossing with Egypt.
Gaza’s Public Health Ministry said Wednesday that 163 bodies had been transported to the territory’s still-functioning hospitals in the past 24 hours, along with 350 wounded. This update brings the total death toll in the Gaza war to 24,448, with more than 60,000 wounded. The ministry said many more dead and wounded are trapped in the rubble or are inaccessible because of the fighting.
The ministry does not differentiate between civilian and combatant deaths, but says about two-thirds of those killed were women and children.
Israel blames Hamas for the higher number of civilian deaths because it fights in dense residential areas. Israel claims that its forces have killed some 9,000 militants, without offering evidence, and that 192 of its own infantrymen have been killed since the start of the conflict. offensive in Gaza.
Militants are still fighting in all parts of the territory, and Israel appears to be closer to freeing the remaining hostages. The deaths of two more hostages were shown Tuesday after Hamas said they had been killed in Israeli airstrikes.
TENSIONS ACROSS THE REGION
Tensions are also rising in the occupied West Bank, where Israeli forces have carried out almost daily arrest raids that lead to shootouts with Palestinian activists.
Israeli forces killed at least 10 Palestinians Wednesday in the territory, including five in the urban Balata refugee camp in the north, the military said. Among that group was a senior militant whom the military said was responsible for militant infrastructure and was allegedly involved in recent attacks against Israelis.
Five Palestinians were also killed in an Israeli attack in Tulkarem, the Palestinian Health Ministry said. The army said it was an organization of militants who opened fire and threw explosives at Israeli soldiers.
Over 360 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since Oct. 7.
The Middle East has witnessed a dizzying series of moves and counterattacks in days, from northern Iraq to the Red Sea and from southern Lebanon to Pakistan.
In the past few days, a U.S.-led coalition has carried out strikes against Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. Iran has struck what it described as an Israeli spy headquarters in northern Iraq and anti-Iran militants in Pakistan and Syria. Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah have escalated the intensity of their fighting across the border, raising fears of another war.
Jeffery reported from Cairo and Goldenberg from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press writer Isabel DeBre contributed to this report from Jerusalem.
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