JERUSALEM 

The office of Israel’s prime minister has confirmed that the delivery of medicines to Israeli hostages in the Gaza Strip will start Wednesday, following a deal brokered by Qatar and France to allow medicine and aid into the enclave.

''On instruction from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and pursuant to the Director of the Mossad's agreement with Qatar on providing medicines to the Israeli hostages, two Qatari Air Force planes are expected to fly tomorrow to Egypt with medicines that have been purchased in France, according to a list that was compiled in Israel, according to the medical needs of the hostages,'' Netanyahu’s office said Tuesday in a statement on X.

''Upon the planes' arrival in Egypt, the medicines will be transferred by Qatari representatives to their final destination inside the Gaza Strip,'' it said.

The statement also noted that "Prime Minister Netanyahu conveys his appreciation to all those who have assisted in the endeavor," adding that ''Israel insists that all the medicines reach their destination.''

The statement follows Qatar's announcement Tuesday evening of reaching an agreement between Israel and Hamas to allow medicines and humanitarian aid into Gaza Strip in exchange for delivering medications to Israeli hostages held in the enclave.

Israel has launched relentless air and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7 which Tel Aviv says killed 1,200 people.

At least 24,285 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and 61,154 injured, said Palestinian health authorities.

According to the UN, 85% of the population of Gaza is already internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure is damaged or destroyed.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio