Plane carrying medicine for Israeli hostages lands in Egypt

The first of two shipments of medicine for dozens of Israeli hostages still being held by Hamas terrorists arrived in Egypt Wednesday and was en route to Gaza as part of a deal brokered by France and Qatar.

A Qatari Air Force plane carrying the medications bought in France based on an Israeli list had landed at the el-Arish airport and the Egyptian Red Crescent rescue service was transferring it to the Rafah border crossing with Gaza, an Egyptian official confirmed.

As part of the agreement between Israel and Hamas – the first since the November cease-fire – each of the remaining 45 hostages will receive a three-month supply of vital medicine for chronic conditions, as well as other types of drugs and vitamins.

Several older men are among the captives who have been held in Gaza for more than 100 days.

The International Committee of the Red Cross will coordinate the delivery of the supplies on the ground.

Under the agreement, Israel must be provided with proof that the medicine did reach the hostages.

“We hope that the drug deal will finally materialize and they will reach their destination,” an Israeli official told the Jerusalem Post. “Qatar will guarantee the delivery of the drugs to the abductees. The success of the deal will create a good dynamic for achieving a deal to release the abductees.” 

In return, medical and humanitarian aid will be distributed to civilians in the most “affected and vulnerable” areas of the Gaza Strip, said Qatari foreign ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari.

A senior Hamas official, Musa Abu Marzouk, wrote on X that for every box of medicine provided for the hostages, 1,000 boxes of aid would be sent in for Palestinians.

The International Committee of the Red Cross will distribute the medicines in four hospitals serving all parts of the Gaza Strip, and the Israeli army will not be allowed to inspect the boxes containing the drugs, Marzouk said.

Hamas insisted that Qatar provide the medications and not France, because of the European country’s stance of “supporting the Israeli occupation,” according to a Kan News report.

French and Qatari negotiators had spent months hammering out the agreement, and the initial idea had come from the families of some of the hostages, according to Philippe Lalliot, head of France’s foreign ministry crisis center which organizes aid efforts.

With Post wires