US mother and daughter released from Hamas captivity after Qatar brokers deal
A mother and daughter from Chicago who were siezed during the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October and held hostage in Gaza have been released after Qatar brokered negotiations with the militant group.
Natalie Raanan, 17, and her mother, Judith, were reportedly with Red Cross representatives late on Friday and being transferred to Egypt through the Rafah crossing in the south of Gaza.
The two women had travelled to Israel for the holiday season and to celebrate a relative’s 85th birthday, their rabbi, Meir Hecht, told the Associated Press after they were seized.
They were at the Nahal Oz kibbutz, less than 2 kilometres from Gaza, when Hamas militants broke through a hi-tech border fence, slaughtered 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and took more than 200 people hostage into Gaza.
The family had spoken extensively to Joe Biden, Natalie’s brother Ben Raanan told a local TV channel. The US president, on a trip to Israel earlier this week, said securing the release of American hostages was his top priority.
Natalie was a fashion-mad teenager who had just graduated from high school before the trip and was looking forward to getting a first tattoo with her brother, Ben said. She was released days before her 18th birthday.
“She’s quite addicted to her phone, madly in love with fashion,” he told ABC7 Chicago. “She loves wearing these, like, kind of ridiculous nails that are like 6 inches long, which you can’t open doors with, but she thinks they look great.”
Thirteen Americans are confirmed to be among the 203 people Israel said had been taken hostage. It was not immediately clear why the Raanans were the first hostages released, or whether other releases might follow.
A Hamas spokesman, Abu Ubaida, said the hostages were released in response to Qatari mediation efforts, “for humanitarian 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”.
More details soon …