Agency reports
Two Americans held captive in Gaza by Hamas, a woman and her teenage daughter, were released on Friday, nearly two weeks after they were taken hostage along with 200 others during terrorist raids in southern Israel that ignited a war, leaving thousands of people dead.
Hamas said it was freeing Judith Raanan, 59, and her daughter, Natalie Raanan, 17, for “humanitarian reasons,” but did not elaborate.
Their releases came after negotiations involving officials in Qatar, who served as mediators between the United States and Hamas, the Palestinian group that controls the Gaza Strip.
The women, dual American-Israeli citizens who live in Illinois, had been kidnapped from Kibbutz Nahal Oz during the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel that killed some 1,400 people, and taken back to the Gaza Strip.
They were released to the International Committee of the Red Cross and then handed over to the Israel Defense Forces, who took them to be reunited with family at an Israeli military base, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Hamas still holds 10 other Americans hostage, according to the State Department, and President Biden vowed on Friday to make every effort to reunite them with their families.
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“We will not stop until we get their loved ones home,” Mr. Biden said in a statement. “I have no higher priority than the safety of Americans held hostage around the world.” He asked the public to respect the privacy of the Raanans “as they recover and heal.”
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, at a news conference on Friday that “every hostage needs to be released and needs to be released now,” unconditionally.
Mr. Blinken said he could not discuss details of the negotiations to free Judith and Natalie Raanan. However according to a source familiar with the negotiations, Hamas asked for nothing in return for their release.
Hamas, Mr. Biden and Mr. Blinken all noted the role played by the government of Qatar, a wealthy Persian Gulf emirate that allows Hamas leaders to live there in safety, and has often acted as a go-between to resolve conflicts between the group and Israel. Mr. Blinken said Qatar had provided “very important assistance” in the hostage negotiations.
A spokesman for Qatar’s Foreign Ministry, Majid Al-Ansari, said in a statement that the release of the hostages came after days of continuous talks. He said Qatar would continue its mediation.
“We hope these efforts will lead to the release of all civilian hostages from every nationality, with the ultimate aim of de-escalating the current crisis and restoring peace,” he said.
In a statement, Hamas said it had decided to work toward “closing the file” of the hostage issue, “should the appropriate security circumstances be provided.”
