Hamas has released a pair of U.S. hostages, a mother and daughter who were being held in Gaza, following mediation with the Qatari government.
The women have been identified as Judith Tai Raanan and Natalie Shoshana Raanan, according to a spokesperson for the Israeli prime minister’s office. They were visiting Israeli family who lived in kibbutz Nahal Oz by the Gaza border, CBS News reported. The kibbutz was later attacked by Hamas in the October 7 assault. Natalie Raanan had just graduated from Deerfield High School in Chicago.
The younger woman’s uncle, Avi Zamir, told CBS News Chicago that she had texted the family shortly after the onslaught started. “We’re all fine, yes indeed. Mommy’s room that she was sleeping in got bombed, but we are now transferring to another guest house where there is a shelter,” she wrote in a message.
The pair then were reported missing. Now, they are with the Red Cross on their way to Egypt, from which they will go to Israel, multiple outlets reported.
The terrorist group decided to release the two for “humanitarian reasons, and to prove to the American people and the world that the claims made by (President Joe) Biden and his fascist administration are false and baseless,” said Abu Ubaida, a spokesman for the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, in a statement first reported by Reuters.
On Thursday, former NBC News foreign correspondent Martin Fletcher told MSNBC in a TV interview that he found out that “Natalie and Judith Raanan,” members of his wife’s family, had been abducted by Hamas.
“They’re from Evanston, Illinois,” he said. “They’re Americans. They were visiting her grandmother for her 85th birthday. They were last seen, their hands tied, being dragged away by the Hamas terrorists. It’s personal. It’s real. Nobody is really confident that we’ll be able to get them back alive. Of course, everybody’s hoping the United States is doing everything they can.”
Yesterday, former NBC News foreign correspondent Martin Fletcher spoke about them in a TV interview, which likely contributed to the decision to release them: pic.twitter.com/wmnRaf5P5o
— Hen Mazzig (@HenMazzig) October 20, 2023
In its bloody rampage on October 7, Hamas killed over 1,400 Israelis and abducted hundreds of other civilians, including Americans and other foreign nationals. Israel’s military has alleged that Hamas took over 200 people hostage.
Israel has responded by relentlessly bombarding Hamas locations in Gaza as it prepares to launch a ground offensive. The Israeli military told Gaza residents to evacuate to the south of the strip last week. Earlier this week, the Israel Defense Forces alleged Hamas was actively blocking the mass evacuation of Gazan civilians, with a spokesperson presenting photo evidence of roadblocks preventing a long line of cars from leaving.
“Hamas has both issued warnings to their civilians not to evacuate and when people didn’t listen to those warnings of Hamas, they have actually stopped civilians and . . . convoys of Gazan civilians trying to flee from the situation and listening to our warnings, knowing that they are much better off south of the Gaza River than staying in the northern part,” IDF spokesman Jonathan Conricus said early Sunday.
The Israeli defense minister on Thursday ordered ground troops to get ready to go into Gaza without specifying a timeline.