French envoy to Israel says he is hopeful medicine agreement will lead to hostage release

French Ambassador to Israel Frédéric Journès says that the deal to get medicine to hostages in Gaza was initiated by the family members of those held captive.

Journes tells a Kan public radio station that “this was an initiative of the families of hostages who approached us already in late October in order to ask us to help find a solution to passing medications to the hostages,” Kan reports.

The envoy adds that Paris “gathered data about the medicines the hostages need and sent Qatar the details,” noting that the plane with the medication landed in Qatar on January 13 while Doha was speaking to both Israel, Hamas and the Red Cross about the initiative.

He tells Kan that he hopes the deal will lead to a wider agreement to release hostages: “In a process like this there is a first humanitarian step, and then it can advance us toward a deal. This is also the first sign since the end of the earlier deal that something is possible in the issue of the hostages,” he is quoted as saying by the public broadcaster.