A 59-year-old girl and her teenage daughter from Illinois had been launched by Hamas militants in Gaza on Friday practically two weeks after they had been taken hostage together with 200 others throughout terrorist raids in southern Israel that ignited a warfare, plunged the Middle East into disaster and left hundreds useless.
Hamas mentioned it was releasing the 2 American ladies, Judith Raanan and her daughter Natalie Raanan, 17, for “humanitarian reasons.” Their releases got here after negotiations involving officers in Qatar, who served as mediators between the United States and Hamas.
The ladies, who had been twin American-Israeli residents, had been kidnapped through the Oct. 7 Hamas assaults from Kibbutz Nahal Oz and taken again to the Gaza Strip. They had been launched to the International Committee of the Red Cross and then handed over to the Israel Defense Forces, who took them to be reunited with household at an Israeli army base, the Israeli Foreign Ministry mentioned in a assertion.
“Israel, the I.D.F. 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,” the assertion mentioned.
The U.S. authorities has mentioned that a minimum of 11 different Americans remained unaccounted for after the Hamas terrorist assault on Oct. 7, nevertheless it was not clear what number of had been being held hostage.
President Biden mentioned on Friday that the United States had labored with Qatar to safe the discharge of Judith and Natalie Raanan. He requested the general public to respect their privateness “as they recover and heal.”
“We will not stop until we get their loved ones home,” Mr. Biden mentioned. “I have no higher priority than the safety of Americans held hostage around the world.”
Ms. Raanan and her daughter went to Israel final month to rejoice the Jewish holidays and the 85th birthday of Judith’s mom at a kibbutz within the south of the nation.
Judith Raanan spent her adolescence in Israel earlier than settling within the Chicago suburb of Evanston, Ill., the place she raised a household. Natalie Raanan graduated from a public highschool in Deerfield, Ill.
On Friday, Rivka Benyihoun, one other good friend from Chicago, mentioned she and her husband had been watching Israeli tv for information of their good friend.
“We are all embracing and crying together,” Ms. Benyihoun mentioned. “I told my husband, ‘She’s a survivor. She’s going to make it.’”
In a assertion, Gov. J.B. Pritzker of Illinois mentioned he was “incredibly relieved” that the Raanans had been secure.
“I cannot wait to welcome them back home after demonstrating immense strength and bravery in the face of unthinkable terror,” Mr. Pritzker mentioned.
The scenario of the greater than 200 different hostages stays unclear. Israel has not publicly recognized them, however army officers have mentioned they embody older folks and youngsters.
Most had been captured from small Israeli cities close to the border with Gaza; others had been kidnapped from army bases or from an all-night music competition. They embody civilians, troopers, peace activists, grandparents and a 9-month-old child.
On Friday, Daniel Hagari, the Israeli army spokesman, disputed Hamas’s declare that it launched the Raanans for humanitarian causes. “This is actually a murderous terrorist organization that right now holds babies, children, women, and elderly people hostage in the Gaza Strip,” he advised reporters.
Hostage-taking is a tactic that Hamas has used prior to now towards Israel.
In 2006, the group seized an Israel soldier, Gilad Shalit, and held him in Gaza for 5 years. He was exchanged for greater than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, lots of whom had been convicted of killing Israelis in terrorist assaults.
The group has additionally been holding two Israeli civilians who entered Gaza in 2014 on foot, in addition to the stays of two Israeli troopers killed throughout a warfare that yr.
Shortly after the Oct. 7 assault, Hamas launched video of a girl and two babies it mentioned it had launched on the Gaza border. But the lady, Avital Aladjem, told Israeli news media that she and the kids escaped shortly after crossing the border as a result of their captors left them briefly alone. She mentioned the kids belonged to her neighbor, who was killed within the assault.
Earlier this week, Hamas launched a brief video of Mia Schem, 21, who was kidnapped through the Hamas assault on the music competition. In the video, she is proven with a bandaged arm and says that she has obtained medical therapy whereas in captivity. It is to date the one video the group has launched of any of the hostages.
“At the moment I am in Gaza,” Ms. Schem says within the video, which was posted to Telegram channels affiliated with Hamas. “I just ask that I am returned as fast as possible to my family, to my parents, and to my siblings. Please get us out of here as quickly as possible.”
Aaron Boxerman and Julie Bosman contributed reporting
