Hamas frees two Americans held in Gaza, a first “ray of hope”“for the more than 200 hostages, while Israel continues bombing the enclave on Saturday, where millions of people are waiting for the arrival of humanitarian aid. The hostages identified as Judith Tai Raanan and her daughter Natalie Shoshana Raanan They arrived safely in Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Friday night.
Hamas published a video in which the two women can be seen released and cared for by staff of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The ICRC called the release a “ray of hope” for the families of those still held in Gaza. A Hamas source told EFE that the hostages are Judith and Natalie Raananfrom Evanston, outside Chicago (USA)
“Terrible experience”
The freed Americans had been captured in the Nahal Oz kibbutz, and Hamas announced in a statement that it had released them “for humanitarian reasons, after mediation by Qatar.”
The spokesman for the Gulf country’s Foreign Ministry, which houses Hamas’s political bureau, said the release came “after several days of continuous communication between all parties involved.” “We hope that these efforts will lead to the release of all civilian hostages of all nationalities,” added Majid Al Ansari.
This is the first release of hostages. Hamas assured that it is working “with all the mediators involved to implement the movement’s decision to close the case of [los rehenes] civilians if appropriate security conditions permit.” The Israeli army stated a few hours earlier that most hostages were still alive and that more than 20 were minors.
A response to Biden’s words
“We release the two American detainees to demonstrate to the American people and the world the falsehood of the accusations” made by the president of the United States, Joe Biden, against the Islamist movement, which he has described as a terrorist organization for the massacre of Israeli civilians which he committed during his incursion into southern Israel on October 7.
The relatives of those kidnapped by Hamas, grouped under the umbrella of the so-called “Headquarters of the Forum of the Families of the Hostages and Disappeared”, welcomed in a statement the release of the two women and recalled that the abductions are “a crime of war”.
Related news
It is unknown exact number of hostages with an American passport in the hands of Islamists in Gaza. There are currently 13 Americans missing and thirty dead after the surprise attack by Hamas on October 7 against Israel, which left more than 1,400 dead on Israeli soil.
The Palestinian group also kidnapped to 250 hostages – 200 that he says are in his hands and 50 in the power of other Palestinian militias -, although the Israeli Army has reduced that number to 203.