The Israeli government announced Friday evening that the two American hostages that Hamas had announced would be released earlier in the day had arrived in Israel.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement that the two women, Judith Tai Raanan and Natalie Shoshana Raanan, “have been freed from the hands of the terrorist organization Hamas,” have been handed over to the Gaza Strip border and are “on their way to “One.” meeting point, in a military base in the center of the country, where their family members are waiting for them.”
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said it had “transported the hostages from Gaza to Israel” and welcomed these first releases as a “glimmer of hope.”
“We are extremely relieved that they can be reunited with their families after two weeks of suffering,” the ICRC said in a statement.
In an interview with CNN, Rabbi Meir Hecht of Judith’s congregation in Illinois said he was “extremely grateful to Almighty God and for this incredible miracle that is unimaginable.”
The two women were kidnapped on October 7 while visiting the kibbutz (collectivist farming village) Nahal Oz.
This is the first hostage release confirmed by both parties.
The Islamist movement’s military spokesman said in a statement that the two hostages were released “for humanitarian reasons and after” mediation from Qatar.
“Hamas claims to the world that it released these women it had taken hostage for humanitarian reasons, while it is a murderous terrorist organization that is currently holding infants, children, women and the elderly,” responded Daniel Hagari, who Spokesman for the Israeli newspaper Army.
In Doha, Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majid Al-Ansari confirmed that “two American civilian hostages were released by Hamas and handed over to the Red Cross in the Gaza Strip.”
“Today’s progress is the result of several days of ongoing communication between everyone involved. “We will continue our dialogue with the Israelis and Hamas and hope that these efforts will lead to the release of all civilian hostages of all nationalities, with the ultimate goal of defusing the current crisis and restoring peace,” he said.
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According to Hamas’s military spokesman, the release of the two hostages is also aimed at “proving to the American people and the entire world that the accusations made by (Joe) Biden and his fascist government (about Hamas) are unfounded.”
“Hamas announces to the world that it has released the hostages on humanitarian grounds, but we are talking about a terrorist organization that is currently holding babies, children and the elderly,” replied Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari.
The Army has not confirmed any provision of humanitarian assistance in return for these releases.
About 200 Israeli, foreign and dual nationals were kidnapped in Israel and taken to Gaza by Hamas militants during the unprecedented attack on October 7, sparking a war in which Israel fired shells from the Gaza Strip to “destroy” the Islamist movement “.