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MEDICINES DEAL
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Friday a deal had been negotiated with Qatar to get medicine to hostages still being held in Gaza.
The deal “will allow the entry of medicines for the hostages held by the Hamas terrorist organisation in Gaza”, Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.
Israeli campaign group Hostages and Missing Families Forum released a report this week saying the captives were in poor health, some with complex illnesses, others with injuries.
A diplomat familiar with the negotiations told AFP that both sides had expressed a willingness to allow the delivery of medicines.
“The mediators are now in the process of finalising the details” of the type and quantities of medicines required, as well as the conditions for their delivery, the source said.
A source close to Hamas confirmed to AFP that talks had been held on allowing the entry of medicines, but that discussions were ongoing.
100 DAYS
Israel criticised the UN human rights office for not reiterating its calls for the release of the hostages in a statement marking the looming 100th day of the conflict.
“A call for a ceasefire, without demanding the release of our hostages and the disarming of Hamas, is a call for terrorism to win,” its office in Geneva said.
The UN high commissioner for human rights, Volker Turk, has called repeatedly for the hostages to be freed.
In the occupied West Bank, Israeli troops killed three militants after they attacked a Jewish settlement, the army said.
It said there had been a “terrorist infiltration” in the Adora settlement, about 20km west of Hebron, and soldiers had come under fire.
The soldiers searched the area and “three assailants were identified and neutralised by the security forces”.
When questioned by AFP, the Israeli army confirmed the death of the three assailants, while the Palestinian agency Wafa identified them as a 19-year-old and two 16-year-olds.
Since the war in Gaza broke out, violence in the occupied West Bank has also surged, with at least 337 people killed by Israeli troops or settlers, according to the health ministry in Ramallah.
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