2023-10-22 14:45:19
Judith Tai Raanan and Natalie Shoshana Raanan. Hamas released on Friday evening these two American women whom it had kidnapped on October 7 during its deadly attack on Israel. Judith, 59, and Natalia Raanan, 17, a mother and daughter from Evanston, a suburb of Chicago (Illinois), were kidnapped while visiting the Nahal Oz kibbutz. According to CNNthe two women had come to Israel to celebrate Judith’s mother’s 85th birthday.
Questioned by the BBC, Natalie Raanan’s half-brother expressed his “tremendous joy” and “gratitude” on Friday and thanked “the people around the world who put my sister at the forefront of their lives.” thoughts and prayers. As for Natalie Raanan’s father, he said this weekend that she was doing well after two weeks in captivity. Uri Raanan, 71, told The Associated Press that he spoke to his daughter Friday by phone: “She is fine. She’s very well. I’m in tears and I feel very, very good. »
“Two of our hostages have returned home”
Judith, beautician and painter, and Natalie, who is due to celebrate her 18th birthday this week and is described as “a typical teenager”, a “sweetheart” who “loves animals, life and her friends” by her uncle, thus became in less than twenty-four hours the “ray of hope”, in the words of the Committee International Red Cross, for the approximately 200 hostages still held in Gaza. The two women were released after mediation by Qatar. US President Joe Biden quickly said he was “overjoyed”.
This photo released by Hamas shows two American hostages, Judith Tai Raanan and her daughter Natalie Raanan, assisted by a Red Cross official after being released on October 20, 202 – EPN/Newscom/SIPA
“Two of our hostages have returned home,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu immediately announced in a statement. “We will not relent in our efforts to find all the hostages and the missing. At the same time, we continue to fight until victory,” he added. Emmanuel Macron, for his part, underlined “the decisive role” of Qatar in the release of the hostages and assured “to maintain our efforts to obtain the release of the French hostages” held in Gaza.
Dual American and Israeli nationality
The Israeli Prime Minister’s office had indicated earlier that the two women had “been freed from the hands of the terrorist organization Hamas”, handed over to the Gaza border and were heading “to a meeting point, at a military base from the center of the country, where their family members are waiting for them.” In a video published by Hamas, we can see the hostages, of dual American and Israeli nationality, according to The New York Times, be handed over to staff of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The ICRC said it had “transported the hostages from Gaza to Israel”. “We are extremely relieved that they can reunite with their families after two weeks of anguish,” the committee said in a statement.
Note that the military spokesperson for the Islamist movement Hamas stated in a press release that the two hostages had been released “for humanitarian reasons, following mediation by Qatar”.
Returning to the United States at the start of the week
In Doha, the spokesperson for the Qatari Foreign Ministry, Majid Al-Ansari, confirmed that this release came “after several days of continuous communication between all parties involved. We will continue our dialogue with the Israelis and Hamas, and we hope that these efforts will lead to the release of all civilian hostages of all nationalities.”
Uri Raanan, quoted by The Times of Israël, believes that Natalie and Judith are currently in transit to Tel Aviv to reunite with family members, and that they would both be returning to the United States early this week. For its part, the White House said that Joe Biden had spoken with Judith and Natalie and that he “let them know that they would have the full support of the American government as they recover from this terrible ordeal” .
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