France hopes Gaza medicines reach ‘every hostage’: Minister

French Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu said Monday he hoped medicines delivered to Gaza would reach “every hostage,” nearly a week after the aid shipment arrived in the Hamas-ruled Palestinian territory.

“We trust all parties to ensure that these medicines arrive safely… at the destination of every hostage,” Lecornu said on a visit to Israel.

“It’s our duty to do it,” Lecornu said after meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Medicines for hostages and humanitarian aid for civilians entered Gaza on Wednesday, under a deal mediated by Qatar and France.

Forty-five hostages are expected to receive medication according to the agreement between Israel and Hamas.

France said last week the drugs would be sent to a hospital in Rafah where they would be handed over to the Red Cross and divided into batches before being transferred to the hostages.

Some 250 people were taken to Gaza by Palestinian militants during the unprecedented October 7 attack by Hamas on southern Israeli communities.

Israeli officials say 132 of them are still being held captive in the territory, including 28 who are believed to have been killed.

The October 7 attack resulted in the death of around 1,140 people in Israel, mostly civilians,  based on the latest official Israeli figures.

In response, Israel has carried out a relentless air, land and sea offensive that has killed at least 25,295 people in Gaza, around 70 percent of them women, children and adolescents, according to the latest toll issued Monday by Gaza’s health ministry.