Hamas official thanks Qatar for Gaza medicine deal

A Hamas official thanked Qatar on Saturday for sending medicine to the Gaza Strip "in light of the many risks that threaten the lives of Palestinians."

"Some medicine will be used to treat some Israeli prisoners," Osama Hamdan, a Lebanon-based Hamas leader, told a news conference in Beirut. Israel initially offered to send medical aid to Gaza for hostages held in the Strip by Hamas, the Palestinian group that rules the enclave, but Hamdan said this would have presented two problems.

"First, we believe our people are more deserving and in need of medicine, and secondly, there are security issues this would present." Israel struck an arrangement with Qatar on Friday allowing the delivery of medicines to its hostages.

Hamdan, during the news conference, maintained that the priority was the citizens of Gaza.