American mother, daughter taken hostage in Israel released as first photo of them freed emerges — and Biden pledges support
An American mother and daughter who were taken hostage wꦑhen Hamas stormed the kibbutz they♔ were visiting earlier this month have been released, officials said Friday.
Judith Raanan and her 🅠𒁃17-year-old daughter, Natalie, were both let go from Hamas custody in Gaza and were said to be en route to a military base in central Israel to reunite with their family, the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu .
A photograph later showed the 🗹mother and daughter being escorted through the night by what appeared to be military officials.
Prior to Netanyahu’s statement, Hamas officials said that they released t🅷he two women following Qatar’🐷s intervention in negotiation efforts.
“In response to Qatari efforts, Al-Qassam Brigades released two American citizens (a mother and her daughter) for huma🐬nitariaꦅn reasons, and to prove to the American people and the world that the claims made by Biden and his fascist administration are false and baseless,” the announcement read, .
The two victims were transferred from Gaza to the ๊Israeli border by the Red Cross, the officials added.
They were reꦏleased due to Judith’s declining health, the Times 🧸of Israel reported.
Natalie R✃aanan could be back in the States early next week, her brother Beꦍn .
“We have heard tentatively that sheꩵ might be coming back to Chicago sometime early next week,” he said, adding that he heard of their release through the media.
“This all moved so quickly, I was getting texts from reporters I met with saying this happened,” Raanan said of the release of his sister and stepmother. “I believe it’s because the government didn’t want to call us before it had been confirmed.”
Follow along with The Post’s live blog for the latest on Hamas’ attack on Israel
President Biden spoke with the Raanans after their release, he annꦯoܫunced on X.
“I just spoke with the two Americans released today after being held hostage by Hamas. I let them know that their government will fully support them as they recover and heal,” .
“Jill and I will continue holding close in our hearts all the families of unaccounted for Americans.”
In a statement earlier in the day, the commander in chief said, “Our fellow citizens have endured a terrible ordeal these past 14 days, and I am overjoyed that they will soon be reunited with their family, who has been wracked with fear.”
“I thank the government of Qatar and the government of Israel for their partnership in this work,” he added. “And, as I told those families when I spoke with them last week — we will not stop until we get their loved ones home. As president, I have no higher priority than the safety of Americans held hostage around the world.”
Judith ♏and Natalie, of Evanston, Ill., were taken hostage when Hamas stormed Kibbutz Nahal Oz 13 ♏days ago, it was previously reported.
Their release is “hopefu♈lly the start of more to come,” a diplomatic soꦗurce told CNN.
The same source also confi♚rmed that there were no exchanges involved in the 🅰release, the outlet noted.
“The families’ headqu🍰arters welcomes the release of hostages from Hamas captivity,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum — which represents the rela🎃tives of the Hamas hostages — said in a statement sent to CNN.
“The contin🎃ued holding of hostages is🦩 a war crime. Hundreds of families await the assistance of leaders of Arab states after Hamas’ actions shocked the entire world,” the write-up continued.
Looking to help? to UJA-Federation of New York’s emergency fund to supply critical aid to the people of Israel, working with a network of nonprofits helping Jewish communities around the world.
“Hamas commitꦐted war crimes. Many leaders in Arab states have tremendous influence over its leaders and must act to immediately release all the hostages and missing held in Gaza.”
Uri Raanan, Nata🍒lie’s father and Judith’s ex-husband, could not immediately be reached by The Post for a comment.
Since his daughter and former spouse went missing, Uri Ra💯anan, w♍ho also lives in Illinois, has covered in pleas for the pair’s release.
He also opened a GoFundMe for the effort, which stopped accepting donations sometime late T⛦hur♛sday or early Friday.
The Raanans were enjoying a “really special” trip to Israel to celebrate the 85th birthday of Judith’s monther and observe the Jewish holiday season when the Hamas war started, their rabbi, Meir Hecht, told the outlet.
The mot🃏her and daughter’s family 🥀members have also been informed, the report added.
“This is a huge sigh of relief,” relative Martin Fletcher, an NBC correspondent who once covered the Middle East and was the network’s Tel Aviv bureau chief, . “It’s a miracle.”
Ben Raanan that he thinks he’s “just going to hug them and just not let them go. I don’t t♛hink there are words to describe the emotions that we’re going to be feeling” when he’s finally reunited with his sister and stepmom.
Armed terꩵrorists from Hamas took at least 203 people — including young children and the elderly — captive and killed hu𒁃ndreds more during the early-morning launch of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on Oct. 7.
The deadly raid — which started when Hamas stormed through the border crossing between southern Israel and the Gaza Strip and launched thousands of rockets in the space of just a couple hours — kicked off the Israel-Hamas war that has♋ since killed over 1,400 Israelis.
Since the start of the conflict, Israeli ofไficials have vowed to wipe out Hamas while also working to rescue the hostages, many of whom were believed to be held in the terror group’s tunnel system underneath Gaza.
At one point𒅌, Hamas suggested that the hostages could be exchanged for the approxima𓆉tely 6,000 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.
The group also stated that over 20 hostages 🍌had been killed by Israeli airstrikes, but did not provide further details.
Israel-Hamas war: How we got here
2005: Israel unilaterally withdraws from the Gaza Strip more than three decades after winning the territory from Egypt in 📖the Six-Day War.
2006: Terrorist grou💫p Hamas wins a Palestinian legislative election.
2007: H🎃amas seizes control of Gaza in a civil war🅘.
2008: Israel launches military offensive against♍ Gaza after 🎃Palestinian terrorists fired rockets into the town of Sderot.
2023: Hamas launches the biggest at𝐆tack on Israel in 50 years, in an early-morning ambush Oct. 7, firing thousands of rockets and sending dozens of militants into Israeli towns.
Terrorists killed more than 1,200 Israelis, wounded 🌊more than 4,200, and took at least 200 hostage.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was quick to announce, “We are at war,” and vowed Hamas would pay “a price it has never known.”
The Gaza Health Ministry — which is controlled by Hamas — ꧂reported at least 3,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 12,50꧒0 injured since the war began.
Israel subsequently announced that its formidable blocka🎉de of the Strip would not end until all the hostages were released.
Hopeful viewers, however, should be careful not to trust Hamas’ “humanita꧒rian” angle on releasing the Raanans, former FBI agent and hostage team expert Christopher O’Leary told The Post.
“They are doing 🅰this for calculated reasons,” O’Leary insisted, noting that “Hamas does not have a humanitarian b𓃲one in their body.”
“This was not a goodwill or ꦰgood faith gesture … they are playing a long game with the hostages,” he added.
“They may be doing it to build some crediꦇbility in negotiations, [because] right now they do not seem like a legitimate negotiator.
“It also could be a counternarrative🎶 to what Biden put ou🐠t yesterday, going directly after Hamas and categorizing them as a terrorist organization.”
“Hamas is the quintessential terrorist organization,” O’Leary conc🦋lu✱ded.
On Oct. 20 — nearly two weeks after the initial Hamas attack — the Israel Defense Forces also confirmed th🧸at more than 20 of the hostages were under the age of 18, with another 10 to 20 over ag🌳e 60, .
At t𒐪he tim♋e, the IDF also said it had reason to believe that the majority of the hostages were still alive — though it was still scanning the Gaza border for bodies of missing Israelis, spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said at a press conference, .
Several hostages were believed to have been taken from the attack on the T🎉ribe of Nova music festival in the southe👍rn Negev, where 260 people were gunned down when Hamas stormed the outdoor concert area.
One of the festival captives, Mia Shem, appeared alive in a brief clip on Oct. 16 and detailed a har💎rowing three-hওour surgery in Gaza before begging for her release.
“Thꦬe🐻y are taking care of me, giving me medicine, everything is fine. I only ask that they bring me home as soon as possible to my parents, to my siblings,” the 21-year-old pleaded.
“Get me out of here as soon as possible. Please.”
The families of the hostages 🌳have spoken out frequently both individually and through Bring Th🅺em Home Now, an organization that was created to represent the loved ones of the missing.
A🔯mid their 💫agony, many of them expressed frustration with the Israeli government.
“Every second, every second, that our children are there is one second too much, and yet all [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu ta▨lks about is ‘winning the war,’” Hadas Kalderon, whose son, daughter, mother and niece were taken from Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7, told the Washington Post.
On Oct. 18, Kalderon learned that her mother, Carꦡmela, and her niece, Noya, were both dead. There was still no information about her son, Er𓂃ez, 12, or her 16-year-old daughter, Sahar.
“We are simple people; we are good citizens. We gave 🐠whatever we could to our country. It’s the Israꦦeli government that just forgot us,” she lamented.
With Post wires
