American hostages Judith Tai Raanan and her 17-year-old daughter Natalie Raanan are seen following their release by Hamas on Friday, October 20, 2023. By the Israeli Government.
Late on October 29, the Hamas Movement released two United States hostages from the Gaza Strip, Judith Raanan and her teenage daughter Natalie, who were captured from the settlement of Nahal Oz during the October 7 surprise attack on Israel.
They are the first U.S. hostages to be freed since Palestinian fighters carried out the attack on October 7, killing at least 1,400 people and talking about at least 203 others hostage.
Israel has responded with a relentless bombardment that has killed at least 4,137 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. In addition, Israel imposed a “complete siege” of the enclave and said it will not be lifted unless Israeli hostages are freed.
Hamas’s armed wing, the Ezzedeen al-Qassam Brigades, freed the hostages “for humanitarian reasons” after Qatari mediation efforts, its spokesman Abu Ubaida said in a post on the X online social network, previously known as Twitter.
The movement later put out a video showing the release of Judith and Natalie, in which the mother and daughter were taken out from a car. The video then shows the pair before being handed over to the Red Cross.
The release of the U.S. hostages came after “many days of continuous communication with all parties,” a spokesperson for Qatar’s foreign ministry said, adding that Qatar hopes dialogue will lead to the “release of all civilian hostages from every nationality.”
The Israeli prime minister’s office confirmed that Judith and her daughter Natalie had been released and were in the country.
U.S. President Joe Biden in a statement thanked Qatar and Israel for their partnership in securing the release of the two hostages.
Israeli officials cited by several Hebrew media outlets stressed that Hamas made the decision to release the two hostages unilaterally and that Israel didn’t offer anything in exchange. At the same time, unconfirmed media reports tied the release to the expected entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza through Egypt’s Rafah border crossing.
Following the release of the two hostages, a senior diplomatic official told The Times of Israel that the U.S. and several governments in Europe are quietly pushing Israel to hold off on launching a ground invasion of Gaza, fearing that the incursion will all but scuttle efforts to secure additional hostage releases for the foreseeable future,
The Western governments currently pressuring Israel each have citizens among those unaccounted for and believe that the more time that passes, the harder it will be to secure the hostages’ release, the official said.
He added that the governments recognize that a ground invasion is very likely and are not telling Israel not to launch one at all, rather hold off to try and see if additional diplomatic efforts can succeed.
The hostages will complicate Israel’s military plans in Gaza. However, this issue will not likely prevent a ground invasion of the Strip.
MORE ON THIS TOPIC:
