Released by Hamas, American mother, daughter reunited with family in
Israel
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[October 21, 2023]
By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Eric Cox
GAZA/EVANSTON, Illinois (Reuters) -Two newly freed American hostages, a
Chicago-area woman and her teenage daughter, were reunited with family
inside Israel on Friday as relatives celebrated back home in Illinois,
nearly two weeks after Hamas gunmen abducted them and dozens of others
near Gaza.
Judith Tai Raanan, 59, and her daughter Natalie, 17, were handed over to
Israeli forces at the Gaza Strip border on Friday, becoming the first
captives whose release by Hamas has been confirmed by both sides since
the latest round of Arab-Israeli bloodshed erupted.
The release was announced by Abu Ubaida, a spokesman for the armed wing
of Hamas, the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, and confirmed a short time
later in a statement from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The Israeli leader said the mother and daughter, from the Chicago suburb
of Evanston, Illinois, were "on their way to a meeting point at a
military base in the center of the country, where their family members
are waiting for them."
Reached by phone in Bannockburn, Illinois, outside Chicago, Uri Raanan,
the teenager's father, said he spoke with his daughter by phone. "She
sounds very, very good, very happy - and she looks good."
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Oct/21/images/ads/current/lincolnheating_lda_PPP_2023.png)
Natalie Raanan's uncle, Avraham Zamir, said the family was joyful the
pair had been safely released. "But there are still many families whose
loved ones are still being held hostage, and we will continue our
efforts for their release," he said from his home in Illinois.
At a candle lighting for the start of the Jewish sabbath at sundown on
Friday, Rabbi Meir Hecht, co-director of the Chabad House in Evanston
where Judith Raanan has worshiped for more than 10 years, said the
Orthodox Jewish congregation hopes for "ultimate peace."
"Our prayers have been answered for Judith and Natalie," he said. "We
will continue to pray for each and every one of the hostages."
According to both Netanyahu and relatives, the mother and daughter were
abducted from Kibbutz Nahal Oz during the surprise assault on southern
Israel carried out from Gaza by Iranian-backed Islamist militants of
Hamas on Oct. 7.
The pair were visiting the kibbutz, about a mile from the Gaza border as
part of a trip that began in September to celebrate the Jewish holidays,
the younger Raanan's high school graduation and the 85th birthday of her
grandmother, family members said.
Friends described Judith Raanan to the New York Times as an artist and
skilled cook of Israeli food who is devoted to her Jewish faith, which
informs her paintings, and kept kosher in her home. She had recently
worked as a home aide for elderly people, the Times reported.
Natalie Raanan's brother, Ben Raanan, told the Denver Post his sister
was weighing whether to find work in the fashion industry, become an
interior designer or apprentice as a tattoo artist.
IMAGES OF FREEDOM
The mother and daughter were pictured in an image carried by Israeli
media showing a group of uniformed Israel Defense Forces (IDF) personnel
escorting them from the border moments after their release. The two
appeared healthy as they walked through the illuminated darkness,
hand-in-hand with Israeli Brigadier General Gal Hirsch, the IDF's chief
hostage negotiator.
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![](../images/102123PIX/news_g70.jpg)
Chicago-area residents Judith Tai Raanan and her daughter Natalie
Shoshana Raanan, two American hostages freed on Friday by the armed
wing of Hamas, pose in this undated picture obtained by Reuters on
October 20, 2023. Obtained by Reuters/via REUTERS
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Oct/21/images/ads/current/graue_lda_BUICK23_101623.jpg)
U.S. President Joe Biden thanked Qatar and Israel for their
partnership in securing the Raanans' freedom. The president said on
social media platform X he had spoken with the two by telephone, and
posted a photo of them, apparently taken during that call.
Hamas separately released a video of the two women being turned over
to workers with the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC).
The Raanans were among about 200 hostages that Hamas said it took
during the deadly rampage into communities and military bases in
southern Israel, part of the bloodiest attack on the country since
the 1973 Arab-Israeli war.
Hamas has said 50 more captives are held by other armed groups in
the coastal Palestinian enclave. It said more than 20 hostages have
been killed by Israeli air strikes, but has not given any further
details.
RELEASE A 'FIRST STEP'
Hamas said the two women, who Israel's Kan public broadcaster
reported were dual Israeli-American nationals, were freed "for
humanitarian reasons" in response to Qatari mediation.
Hamas has previously described captives with "foreign" nationalities
as "guests" who would be released when circumstances allow, without
saying if that included Israelis with dual nationality.
A source briefed on the hostage negotiations called the release of
the two Americans "a first step," adding, "discussions are ongoing
for more releases."
American and British officials said they have been working with
Qatar to secure release of hostages, including their own citizens,
held in Gaza. Other countries whose citizens were taken captive
include Thailand, Argentina, Germany, France and Portugal.
Israel responded to the Oct. 7 attack, which killed 1,400 people, by
pounding Gaza with air strikes, killing more than 4,000 people, and
has said it will act to free the hostages while wiping out Hamas.
Netanyahu's options for striking back at Hamas are certain to be
hampered by concern for the safety of the Israeli captives seized in
the raid, as a nation scarred by past hostage crises faces perhaps
its worst one yet.
The prime minister has vowed “mighty vengeance,” but the fate of the
Israeli soldiers, elderly people, women and children taken into Gaza
complicates how Israel delivers on that promise while abiding by a
longstanding principle of leaving no one behind.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Oct/21/images/ads/current/llm_lda_FOOTBALL_2023.png)
(Reporting by Enas Alashray in Cairo and and Nidal al-Mughrabi in
Gaza; additional reporting by Eric Cox and Tom Polansek in Evanston,
Illinois; Writing by Steve Gorman and Michael Georgy; Editing by
Grant McCool and Lincoln Feast.)
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