A Denver man’s 17-year-old sister and her mother were released by Hamas on Friday after being held hostage in Gaza for nearly two weeks.
Judith and Natalie Raanan were in southern Israel celebrating Judith’s mother’s 85th birthday when the Palestinian group Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on Israel, killing around 1,400 people and taking at least 200 people hostage.
The Israel Defense Forces confirmed to The Associated Press that the mother and daughter, who live in the Chicago area, have been released.
The two Americans were out of the Gaza Strip and in the hands of the Israeli military, an army spokesman said. Hamas said it released them for humanitarian reasons in an agreement with the Qatari government.
Ben Raanan, Natalie’s sister and Judith’s former stepson, said in a Thursday interview with The Denver Post that the two were in a kibbutz about a mile from the Gaza border when they heard gunshots and explosions on Oct. 7, according to a message Natalie sent their dad.
“She sent my father a text saying, ‘Hey, I’m going to lock myself in the house and try to keep quiet,’ and that was the last we heard from” either Natalie or Judith,” Ben said Thursday.
A witness had seen the two get taken by Hamas, and the Israeli military found glass from a broken window inside the home.
Ben said Friday in a text message he had no comment on news of the release of Natalie and Judith.
The release of the two Americans on Friday was for “humanitarian reasons” following Qatari mediation efforts, and “to prove to the American people and the world that the claims made by Biden and his fascist administration are false and baseless,” Hamas armed wing spokesman Abu Ubaida said in a statement, ABC News reported.
Relatives of other captives welcomed the release and appealed for the others to be freed.
“We call on world leaders and the international community to exert their full power in order to act for the release of all the hostages and missing,’’ the statement said.
In a news briefing onboard Air Force One on the way to Tel Aviv with President Joe Biden on Tuesday, John Kirby, the National Security Council’s coordinator for strategic communications, said at least 31 Americans were killed in Israel, and 13 Americans were still unaccounted for.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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