Hamas says American mother, daughter taken hostage released for humanitarian reasons

International News | The Hill

An American woman and her daughter taken hostage by Hamas from Israel were released Friday, with the U.S.-designated terrorist group saying it had made the decision for humanitarian reasons.

Israel confirmed that the hostages were in its custody.

“The person in charge of the abductees and the missing, Brigadier General Gal Hirsch, together with the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] and the security forces, received them at the border of the Gaza Strip and at this moment they are on their way to a meeting point at a military base in the center of the country, where their family members are waiting for them,” a spokesperson for the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement.

Israel identified the released hostages as Judith and Natalie Raanan, who are American citizens, and said the two were kidnapped from the Kibbutz Nahal Oz during Hamas’s terrorist attack against Israel on Oct 7.

“The Government of Israel, the IDF and the entire security establishment will continue to operate with the best of their abilities and efforts in order to locate all of the missing and return all of the abductees home,” according to the statement.

Abu Obaida, a spokesperson for Hamas’s military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, confirmed in a statement that the two Americans were released.

Qatar led the negotiations with Hamas to secure the release, diplomatic sources told the Times of Israel, and the U.S. also contributed to the effort.

The mother and daughter’s release comes as aid trucks bound for Gaza are loitering on the Egyptian side of the Strip.

Netanyahu has said that no aid can enter Gaza until Hamas releases hostages, though President Biden said he had secured a commitment from both Israel and Egypt to allow aid to begin flowing.

Biden said Friday that at least 20 aid trucks are expected to cross Gaza’s border with Egypt in the next 24-48 hours.

“I believe you will see … I got a commitment from the Israelis and the president of Egypt that the crossing will be open,” he said in remarks from the Oval Office.

Rabbi Meir Hecht told ABC-7 Chicago earlier this week that Judith and her daughter Natalie, who turned 18 over the past week, had traveled to Israel for a relative’s 85th birthday and to celebrate the Jewish holiday season.

Ben Raanan told ABC-7 that after losing contact with his mother and sister in the wake of Hamas’s attack on Israel on Oct. 7, Biden had reached out and spoke with the family at length.

Israel said that Hamas is holding at least 203 hostages in the Gaza Strip who were kidnapped while the terrorist organization carried out its initial attack that combined a mass of rocket barrages with a ground infiltration and massacre, with an estimated 1,400 people killed.

The Biden administration has said that more than a dozen Americans remain unaccounted for but has not confirmed that they are being held hostage by Hamas.

American families in Israel have spoken out, saying they believe their loved ones are being held by the terrorist organization.

Hamas has released videos of hostages, including of an Israeli woman named Mia Schem, who said her hand was injured in Hamas’s initial attack and underwent surgery in the Gaza Strip, demonstrating that the terrorist group was taking care of her even as she asked to be released back to her family.

Hamas has said it seeks to use hostages as bargaining chips to secure the release of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, and it has said that it is treating the hostages as “esteemed guests.”

—Updated at 2:47 p.m.