Judith Tai Raanan and her daughter Natalie were handed over to Israeli forces
Illinois:
Two newly released American hostages, a Chicago-area woman and her teenage daughter, were reunited with family in Israel on Friday as relatives celebrated at home in Illinois, nearly two weeks after Hamas gunmen killed them and dozens of others near Gaza had kidnapped.
Judith Tai Raanan, 59, and her daughter Natalie, 17, were handed over to Israeli forces at the Gaza Strip border on Friday, becoming the first prisoners whose release by Hamas has been confirmed by both sides since the latest round of Arab-Israeli bloodshed. burst out.
The release was announced by Abu Ubaida, a spokesman for Hamas’s armed wing, the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, and confirmed shortly later in a statement by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The Israeli leader said the mother and daughter, from Evanston, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, were “on their way to a meeting point at a military base in the center of the country, where their relatives are waiting for them.”
Reached by phone in Bannockburn, Ill., outside Chicago, Uri Raanan, the teen’s father, said he had spoken to his daughter by phone. “She sounds very, very good, very happy – and she looks good.”
Natalie Raanan’s uncle Avraham Zamir said the family was happy the couple had been released safely. “But there are still many families whose loved ones are still being held hostage, and we will continue our efforts for their release,” he said from his home in Illinois.
In lighting a candle for the start of the Jewish Sabbath at sunset on Friday, Rabbi Meir Hecht, co-director of the Chabad House in Evanston, where Judith Raanan has worshiped for more than a decade, said the Orthodox Jewish congregation hopes for “ultimate peace’. .”
“Our prayers for Judith and Natalie have been answered,” he said. “We will continue to pray for all hostages.”
According to both Netanyahu and family members, the mother and daughter were kidnapped from Kibbutz Nahal Oz during the surprise attack on southern Israel from Gaza by Iran-backed Islamist Hamas militants on October 7.
The pair visited the kibbutz, about a mile from the Gaza border, as part of a trip that began in September to celebrate the Jewish holidays, the younger Raanan’s graduation and her grandmother’s 85th birthday, relatives said.
Friends described Judith Raanan in the New York Times as an artist and skilled cook of Israeli food, committed to her Jewish faith, which inspires her paintings, and keeping kosher in her home. She had recently worked as a home health aide for the elderly, the Times reported.
Natalie Raanan’s brother, Ben Raanan, told the Denver Post that his sister was unsure whether to find work in the fashion industry, become an interior designer or apprentice as a tattoo artist.
The mother and daughter were depicted in an image circulated by Israeli media showing a group of uniformed Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) personnel escorting them from the border shortly after their release. The two appeared healthy as they walked through the illuminated darkness, holding hands with Israeli Brigadier General Gal Hirsch, the IDF’s top hostage negotiator.
US President Joe Biden thanked Qatar and Israel for their partnership in securing the freedom of the Raanans. The president said on social media platform
Hamas separately released a video showing the two women being handed over to employees of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
The Raanans were among about 200 hostages that Hamas said it took during the deadly attack on communities and military bases in southern Israel, part of the bloodiest attack on the country since the 1973 Arab-Israeli war.
Hamas has said another 50 prisoners are being held by other armed groups in the coastal Palestinian enclave. It said more than 20 hostages were killed by Israeli airstrikes, but gave no further details.
Hamas said the two women, who Israel’s public broadcaster KAN reported as having dual Israeli-American citizenship, were released “on humanitarian grounds” in response to Qatari mediation.
Hamas has previously described prisoners of “foreign” nationality as “guests” who would be released if circumstances allow, without saying whether that included Israelis with dual nationality.
A source briefed on the hostage negotiations called the release of the two Americans “a first step” and added: “Discussions are ongoing for further releases.”
US and British officials said they have worked with Qatar to secure the release of hostages, including their own citizens, held in Gaza. Other countries whose citizens were captured include Thailand, Argentina, Germany, France and Portugal.
Israel responded to the October 7 attack, which killed 1,400 people, by bombarding Gaza with airstrikes, killing more than 4,000 people. Israel has said it will act to free the hostages while rooting out Hamas.
Netanyahu’s ability to hit back against Hamas is certain to be hampered by concerns over the safety of Israeli prisoners captured in the raid, as a country scarred by previous hostage crises faces perhaps its worst ever.
The Prime Minister has vowed ‘mighty vengeance’, but the fate of the Israeli soldiers, elderly, women and children brought to Gaza complicates how Israel delivers on this promise, while adhering to its long-standing principle of leaving no one behind to let.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
