Medicine To Be Provided To Hostages Still Held By Hamas

Deal includes delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza’s citizens

- TOM BENNETT

A delivery of medicines for dozens of hostages held in Gaza is on its way to the besieged territory as part of the first agreement between Israel and Hamas since a week-long ceasefire in November. The agreement, which was brokered by Qatar and France, will also see humanitarian aid delivered to Gaza. A senior Hamas official said that for every box of medicine delivered for the hostages, 1,000 boxes would be sent in for Palestinian residents.

After the drugs are transferred from Egypt into Gaza, they will arrive at a hospital in the southern border town of Rafah, where they are set to be divided into batches and then sent on to the hostages via the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Ricardo Grichener is the uncle of Israeli hostage Omer Wenkert, who suffers from colitis. He told The Independent: “I’m optimistic because, after 103 days, as far as we understand, he saw no doctors and received no medicine.” A chronic digestive condition, colitis normally requires Mr Wenkert to take tablets three times a day. The disease can cause internal bleeding, diarrhoea, abdominal pain and weight loss, among other symptoms.