Israel, Hamas in talks to deliver medicine to hostages

Qatar is mediating high level talks between Israel and Hamas to potentially deliver medicine to both the Israeli hostages in the Gaza Strip and Gazan civilians. Family members of the 120 hostages believed to still be held in Gaza raised concerns about their medical needs during a meeting in Doha with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Adbdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, an official confirmed to the New York Times .

Daniel Lifshitz – the grandson of 83 year old hostage Oded Lifshitz – also told the outlet about the conversation. Several of the hostages suffer from chronic conditions like cancer and diabetes, and require regular prescription medicine, the Times explained. “The fact that so many hostages have been denied the medications they need is a death sentence.

They should have received what they needed on the first day,” Lifshitz said. An Israeli official speaking on the condition of anonymity said that talks about medicines for both the hostages and Gazan civilians impacted by Israel’s retaliatory attack on the Gaza Strip had made progress. Israel has shown willingness to allow the delivery of medications to the civilians, the official explained.

Only 15 of the hospitals in Gaza are at least partially functioning three months into the war, according to the United Nations. Senior Hamas official Husam Badran wrote in a text message that the terror group was participating in the talks “with great positivity,” the Times added. Israel has been allowing trucks with medicine to enter Gaza, but the UN claims that the supplies mostly fail to reach residents.

“If this situation continues, I’m worried many won’t survive. We’re dealing with an impossible situation,” Waleed Abu Hatab, the director of maternal medicine at the Nasser Medical Center in the southern Gazan city of Khan Younis, told the Times over the phone. The hospital is running low on milk formula, vaccines, and anesthetics, he explained.

Meanwhile, the Red Cross has not been able to visit the hostages since the war started, the Times reported. The organization does not even know where the hostages are held, the outlet said. “In a humanitarian initiative, I.C.R.C. teams have been urging the parties and those who have influence to get medicines delivered to the hostages,” Jason Straziuso, a spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross, told the Times.

“The most critical step is that the medicines get into the hands of those who need it. We won’t be satisfied until they do,” Straziuso insisted. “All of the hostages’ lives are at risk, especially those who need medical treatment,” said Dr. Hagai Levine, the chairman of the medical team with the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.

“It’s my wish that they will finally get the treatment that they deserve,” he said..