The Qatari Al Araby channel on Wednesday morning reported that a Qatari military plane carrying medicines landed at El Arish airport in northern Sinai, Egypt. The medicines were purchased from France for the Israeli hostages as well as for the general population in the Gaza Strip (France Irate: Bibi Didn’t Give Them Credit for Facilitating Medicines to the Hostages). Israel had conditioned permitting the passage of medicine into Gaza on Hamas providing medicines to the hostages.
The medicines were scheduled to arrive in two cargo planes in Egypt and from there be transferred to Gaza. According to the agreement, Israel will receive proof that the medicines reached the hostages.
Adrienne Watson, spokeswoman for the White House National Security Council, said on Tuesday that President Joe Biden “welcomed” Qatar’s announcement that it had reached an agreement to deliver medicine to the hostages.
The official spokesperson for the Qatari Foreign Ministry, Majid Al-Ansari, announced that “The success of the mediation of the State of Qatar in cooperation with the friendly French Republic, in reaching an agreement between Israel and Hamas, includes the introduction of medicines and the shipment of humanitarian aid to the civilians in the Gaza Strip, especially in the most affected and damaged areas, in exchange for the delivery of the medicines needed by the detainees in the sector.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Office stated that the operation was launched “under the direction of Netanyahu, and in keeping with the agreement of the head of the Mossad in Barnea with Qatar.”
