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Two American Hostages Released by Hamas for “Humanitarian Reasons”
Edited by: TJVNews.com
In a surprising turn of events, Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist group, has announced the release of two American hostages who were abducted during the October 7th deadly attack on Israel. Hamas claimed that this release was made “for humanitarian reasons,” in a statement reported by the Times of Israel. The hostages in question are a mother and her daughter, identified as Judith Raanan and her 18-year-old daughter, Natalie.
The release of these American citizens came as a result of Qatari efforts to mediate their freedom. Hamas stated that one of the reasons for their release was to challenge what they termed as “false and baseless claims” made by President Joe Biden and his administration, as was reported by the New York Post. Israeli officials have just confirmed this release through the Red Cross bit there remains some uncertainty about the situation.
The abduction of Judith Raanan and her daughter Natalie occurred when Hamas stormed Kibbutz Nahal Oz 13 days prior to their release. The victims, hailing from a northern Chicago suburb, had embarked on a trip to Israel to celebrate a relative’s birthday and observe the Jewish holiday season, according to the Post report. Their rabbi, Meir Hecht, described the trip as “really special” before it was disrupted by the outbreak of a bloody war that Hamas launched against Israel.
The exact circumstances surrounding their abduction and subsequent release remain unclear, with the involvement of Qatari mediation raising questions about potential negotiations or concessions made, as was indicated in the Post report. In any case, the release of the American hostages marks a significant development in the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Hamas terrorist organization.
“It feels like our community has been violated,” Rabbi Hecht said of the brutal abduction, as was reported by the Post.
Armed terrorists from Hamas took at least 203 people – including young children and the elderly – captive and killed hundreds more during the early-morning launch of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on October 7.
The Post report indicated that the deadly raid 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. This began the Israel-Hamas war that has since killed over 1,400 Israelis and left over 3000 wounded.
Since the start of the conflict, Israeli officials have vowed to wipe out Hamas while also working to rescue the hostages, many of whom were believed to be held in the terror cells tunnel system underneath Gaza, the Post reported.
The group also stated that over 20 hostages had been killed by Israeli airstrikes, but did not provide further details, according to the report.
At the time, the IDF also said it had reason to believe that the majority of the hostages were still alive – though they were still scanning the Gaza border for bodies of missing Israelis, spokesperson Rear Amd. Daniel Hagari said at a press conference, according to a report at the Times of Israel.
As was noted in the Post report, several hostages were believed to have been taken from attack of the Tribe of Nova music festival in the southern Negev, where 260 people were gunned down when Hamas stormed the outdoor concert area.
Israel subsequently announced that its formidable blockade of the Strip would not end until all the hostages were released.
