Hamas released two American hostages, Judith Tai Raanan and her 17-year-old daughter, Natalie Raanan, on Friday nearly two weeks after launching a deadly attack in Israel and abducting around 200 people. <\/p>\n
The US citizens were handed over at the border with Gaza and are now in the care of the Israel Defense Forces, IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari said on Friday. They are currently on their way to an Israeli military base to be reunited with family, according to the office for Israel\u2019s prime minister. <\/p>\n
The Raanans are from Chicago and had been visiting relatives in Nahal Oz, a farming community in southern Israel, when they were taken hostage on October 7, according to their family. <\/p>\n
Courtesy Saray Cohen <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
During the attack, Hamas militants killed more than 1,400 people, including civilians and soldiers, according to Israeli authorities. It was the most deadly attack by militants in Israel\u2019s 75-year history and revealed a staggering intelligence failure by the country\u2019s security forces. <\/p>\n
Israel has since responded by enacting a blockade on Gaza and launching a barrage of airstrikes into the Palestinian enclave, sparking a humanitarian crisis. Israeli airstrikes in Gaza have killed more than 4,100 people, according to the Palestinian health ministry. <\/p>\n
They were released on \u201chumanitarian grounds\u201d because the mother is in poor health, the same source said. The release was the result of negotiations between Qatar and Hamas. <\/p>\n
In a statement,\u00a0Hamas spokesperson Abu Obaida said: \u201cIn response to Qatari efforts, Al-Qassam Brigades released two American citizens (a mother and her daughter) 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\u00a0and\u00a0baseless.\u201d\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Qatar confirmed the release of the two American hostages and said they will \u201ccontinue dialogue with Israel and Hamas in hope of releasing all civilian hostages from every nationality,\u201d the spokesperson for Qatar\u2019s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Majid Al-Ansari said in a statement. <\/p>\n
President Joe Biden said he is \u201coverjoyed\u201d that the two US citizens will \u201csoon be reunited with their family,\u201d and called for their privacy. Biden reiterated that his administration has been \u201cworking around-the-clock\u201d to free Americans held hostage by Hamas. <\/p>\n
\u201cJill and I have been holding close in our hearts all the families of unaccounted for Americans,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd, as I told those families when I spoke with them last week\u2014we will not stop until we get their loved ones home. As President, I have no higher priority than the safety of Americans held hostage around the world.\u201d <\/p>\n
The news came after US President Joe Biden, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak flocked to Israel in recent days, amid growing pressure on world leaders to secure the release of the hostages. <\/p>\n
A number of foreign nationals were among those kidnapped by Hamas, including people from the US, Mexico, Brazil and Thailand. <\/p>\n
Information about the status, location and identity of all the hostages remains scarce. Some have been identified by families who recognize them from online videos, sparking desperate pleads for their return. <\/p>\n
In a statement on Friday, Hamas said it is working with mediators in Egypt, Qatar and other \u201cfriendly countries\u201d to release foreign nationals. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis commitment remains resolute as we endeavor to enact our decision to release individuals of foreign nationalities under temporary custody, as and when security circumstances permit,\u201d the statement said. <\/p>\n
Representatives of the hostages have welcomed the release of the two Americans. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe call on world leaders and the international community to exert their full power in order to act for the release of all the hostages and missing.\u201d <\/p>\n
An Israeli blockade of food, water, fuel and electricity is \u201cgoing to kill many, many people\u201d in Gaza, a senior aid official warned Friday, as Israel\u2019s siege and bombardment of the enclave approached the two-week mark. <\/p>\n
Relentless airstrikes have killed more than 4,100 people in Gaza, including at least 1,660 children, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. More than 13,000 have been injured and there are growing fears that millions of Palestinians could be permanently displaced. <\/p>\n
Seventeen people were killed in the airstrike, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Former Michigan Congressman Justin Amash said several of his relatives were among the dead. <\/p>\n
In a statement, the Patriarchate said that \u201ctargeting churches and their institutions, along with the shelters they provide to protect innocent citizens, especially children and women who have lost their homes due to Israeli airstrikes on residential areas over the past thirteen days, constitutes a war crime that cannot be ignored.\u201d <\/p>\n
The IDF on Friday acknowledged that \u201ca wall of a church in the area was damaged\u201d as a result of an IDF strike. <\/p>\n
Meanwhile, seven hospitals and 21 primary care health centers had been rendered \u201cout of service,\u201d and 64 medical staff have been killed, a spokesperson for the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza said Friday. <\/p>\n
The administration of Al-Quds Hospital in Gaza said on Friday that the Israeli military has demanded the immediate evacuation of the hospital in preparation for a nighttime airstrike <\/p>\n
The IDF said that it requested residents in the northern area of the Gaza Strip to evacuate \u201cin order to mitigate civilian harm.\u201d But according to the Palestinian Red Crescent, Al-Quds Hospital currently houses over 400 patients and approximately 12,000 displaced civilians who have sought refuge there as a safe haven. <\/p>\n
Amnesty International has said Israel\u2019s \u201ccollective punishment\u201d of Palestinian civilians for Hamas\u2019 attack amounts to a war crime. <\/p>\n
Meanwhile, around 200 trucks carrying vital aid destined for Gaza remain stuck in Egypt, despite a frantic diplomatic effort to open the Rafah crossing. Negotiations continued through Thursday as workers filled dangerous road craters from Israeli bombing to allow up to 20 trucks to pass in an initial delivery. <\/p>\n
Deputy United Nations spokesperson Farhan Haq said Friday that the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres wants sustained delivery operations to Gaza. <\/p>\n
Haq said the Secretary-General \u201cwants to make sure that UNRWA, the relief and works agency, has fuel on its side so it can distribute humanitarian aid to the population.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cIt is no use dropping off aid on the other side and then leaving it there because the trucks simply do not have enough fuel on that side to give it to the people who need it,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n
Guterres traveled to the Rafah crossing on Friday as part of the UN\u2019s efforts to help aid reach Gaza. <\/p>\n
\u201cBehind these walls, we have two million people that are suffering enormously. So, these trucks are not just trucks, they are a lifeline. They are the difference between life and death,\u201d Guterres said at a press conference held on the Egyptian side of the border. <\/p>\n
The population of southern Gaza has swelled in recent days after the Israeli military told around 1 million residents to leave northern Gaza ahead of the expected Israeli ground incursion. <\/p>\n
Israeli forces are preparing for the \u201cnext stages\u201d of their attack, IDF spokesperson Hagari said in a news conference Friday. \u201cAs we speak, the crossings are closed and no equipment (aid) is getting into the strip,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n
His comments come on the heels of similar sentiments shared by Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant on Thursday. Gallant told troops gathered not far from the Gaza Strip that they will \u201csoon see\u201d the enclave \u201cfrom the inside.\u201d <\/p>\n
He said that potentially transferring so many Palestinians is a national security issue for Egypt as well as for Jordan. \u201cIf that is going to happen in Egypt, then who will prevent the Israelis from pushing us here in the West Bank to be forcefully transferred to Jordan?\u201d He added that this is an existential issue for Palestinians. <\/p>\n
Protests have erupted in response to Israel\u2019s bombardment of Gaza, enveloping much of the Arab world this week. Thousands of people took to the streets following Islamic Friday prayers. <\/p>\n
Protesters marched in Yemen on Friday to condemn Israel\u2019s airstrikes, the official Houthi news agency SABA reported. <\/p>\n
The Iran-aligned Houthi movement, which controls most of northwestern Yemen, including the capital Sanaa, organized the demonstration in \u201cmobilization and in support of the Palestinian people and the mujahideen in Gaza,\u201d SABA said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe mass crowds denounced the brutal massacres of the Zionist-American enemy, the crimes and genocidal war it is committing against the Palestinian people, and the prevention of the entry of humanitarian and medical aid in full view of the world,\u201d the agency added. <\/p>\n
In Beirut, several hundred people gathered to denounce the Israeli operation. Many waved the Palestinian and Lebanese flags, along with the flags of the Iran-backed Hezbollah group and its political ally in Lebanon, Amal. Young protesters burned the American flag, decrying Washington\u2019s support for Israel. <\/p>\n
Hundreds of Iraqis, mostly supporters of Iran-backed militias, staged a sit-in Friday at Iraq\u2019s main border crossing with Jordan. Others protested in Baghdad, not far from the fortified Green Zone that houses the United States embassy. <\/p>\n
Thousands of protesters shouting anti-Israel slogans gathered in Jordan, Kuwait, Egypt and Tunisia as well, as regional leaders grow frustrated with the rising Palestinian death toll and the US\u2019 apparent unwillingness to restrain Israel\u2019s actions. <\/p>\n
In Egypt and Jordan, both US allies who have signed peace treaties with Israel, officials have sounded alarms over what they perceive as a plan to transfer Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank to Egypt and Jordan. While Israel has not announced any such plans, both countries have warned such a move could pull them into war. <\/p>\n
This story is developing and being updated.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n Hamas released two American hostages, Judith Tai Raanan and her 17-year-old daughter, Natalie Raanan, on Friday nearly two weeks after launching a deadly attack in Israel and abducting around 200 people. The US citizens were handed over at the border with Gaza and are now in the care of the Israel Defense Forces, IDF spokesperson <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":10383,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-10382","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10382"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10382\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}