Qatar and France broker deal for aid and medicine to Gaza and Israeli Captives

Qatar and France have announced that they have mediated a deal between Israel and Hamas to deliver medicine to Israeli hostages and Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, where the humanitarian situation is dire after more than three months of Israeli bombardment.

According to Qatar's foreign ministry spokesman Majed Al Ansari, the humanitarian supplies will leave the Qatari capital, Doha, for Egypt on Wednesday.

The aid will then be taken to Gaza, to be delivered to civilians, while medicines are to reach Israeli captives.

More than 132 hostages are thought to be still held in Gaza. 

In a letter sent to Israel's war cabinet after a ceasefire ended last year, the Captives Families HQ group said many abductees needed regular medical attention and some were in immediate danger.

Last week Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said David Barnea, head of Israel's national intelligence agency Mossad, had approached Qatar to secure a deal for providing the medicines needed.

On Tuesday Netanyahu issued a statement expressing "his appreciation to all those who have assisted in the endeavour".

The Israel's intense bombardment of Gaza, has killed more than 32,300 people so far, most of them women and children, and more than 62,600 was injured according to the Palestinian health ministry.

Palestinian officials say that 85% of Gaza's population has been displaced.

While more aid is now getting into Gaza, the UN's humanitarian chief has described the situation as "intolerable".

Israel is coming under increasing international pressure to consider a ceasefire or pause in Gaza, such is the scale of the civilian suffering.

Even its closest ally the US, which consistently defends Israel's right to self defence, has repeatedly told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the civilian death toll is "far too high".

The US Middle East envoy has been in Qatar to discuss the possibility of a deal for the release of more hostages, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said on Tuesday. The discussions were "very serious and intensive", he added "We are hopeful it will bear fruit and bear fruit soon."

The Israeli military subsequently launched retaliatory airstrikes followed by a ground invasion of Gaza, a 140-square-mile territory where more than 2 million Palestinians have lived under a blockade imposed by Israel and supported by Egypt since Hamas came to power in 2007.

Gaza, unlike Israel, has no air raid sirens or bomb shelters.