(Details at the end of the report)
PARIS, January 16 (Reuters) – France said on Tuesday evening that aid would be sent to hostages held in the Gaza Strip, where fighting has been taking place for more than three months between the Israeli army and Palestinian Hamas .
During the deadly attack in southern Israel on October 7, Hamas fighters kidnapped some 240 hostages, taken to the Gaza Strip, according to Israeli authorities.
Several dozen of these hostages have since been released, notably during a break in the fighting in Gaza for a week at the end of November, as part of an agreement obtained with the mediation of Qatar.
Negotiations led by France and Qatar with Hamas resulted in an agreement to deliver medicine to Gaza to help 45 hostages suffering from chronic or serious illnesses.
A plane will take off on Wednesday morning from Doha with the final destination of the Egyptian town of Rafah, bordering the Gaza Strip and the only access to the Palestinian enclave not controlled by Israel, the Elysee said.
This medical aid, described as “vital” by the French presidency, should be sufficient for three months, she said. It will be delivered to the hostages by the International Committee of the Red Cross and Hamas.
Philippe Lalliot, who heads the Gaza aid crisis center at the French Foreign Ministry, said at the same time that the negotiations had lasted several weeks.
He indicated that none of the three French hostages still in the hands of Hamas needed the specific medical aid provided for by this humanitarian operation. (Reporting by Elizabeth Pineau, written by Jean Terzian, edited by Zhifan Liu)
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