DUBAI, January 17. /TASS/. Israel and Palestine’s radical movement Hamas have reached an agreement to deliver humanitarian aid and medicines to the Gaza Strip with the mediation of Qatar and France, the Foreign Ministry of Qatar said in a statement.

"Majed bin Mohammed Al-Ansari, Official Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, announced the success of a Qatari mediation in cooperation with the friendly Republic of France, in reaching an agreement, between Israel and Hamas, where medicine along with other humanitarian aid is to be delivered to civilians in Gaza Strip, in the most affected and vulnerable areas, in exchange for delivering medication needed for Israeli captives in Gaza," the ministry said in a statement, posted on the X social network (formerly known as Twitter).

According to the document, the cargo will leave Doha tomorrow to be delivered to the Egyptian city of Al-Arish by two transport aircraft of the Qatari Armed Forces. From there, it will be transported to Gaza via the Rafah border checkpoint in the north of the Sinai Peninsula.

The ministry emphasized that Qatar would continue to work with its regional and international partners within the framework of Qatari efforts to bring about an end to the war in Gaza.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7, 2023, after militants from the Gaza Strip-based radical Palestinian group Hamas launched a surprise incursion on Israeli territory, killing many Israeli kibbutz residents living near the Gaza border and abducting more than 200 Israelis, including women, children and the elderly. Hamas described its attack as a response to Israeli authorities’ aggressive actions against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. Israel declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip and launched bombardments of the enclave and some areas in Lebanon and Syria, as well as a ground operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Clashes are also reported in the West Bank.

In late November 2023, Hamas and Israel reached an agreement that was brokered by Egypt and Qatar and established a humanitarian truce, which helped release several groups of children, teenagers and women who were held in Gaza in exchange for the release of teenagers and women from Israeli prisons. The pause lasted from November 24 to December 1, ending when the Israeli military announced that Hamas had violated the truce by shelling Israeli territory. In response, the military resumed fighting in Gaza. Palestine blamed the US for the resumption of fighting.