Illinois mom, daughter taken hostage by Hamas released

(NewsNation) — Hamas released hostages Friday for the first time: an American mother and her teenage daughter abducted after the militant group’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

A Hamas spokesperson said it released the two because of “humanitarian reasons” in an agreement with the Qatari government.

The hostages were Judith Tai Raanan and her 17-year-old daughter Natalie Raanan of Evanston, Illinois. The mother and daughter had been visiting Israel to celebrate a relative’s birthday and Jewish holidays when they were taken hostage, according to the family’s rabbi, Meir Hecht. They were in the kibbutz of Nahal Oz, near Gaza, when Hamas and other militants stormed into southern Israeli towns.

Friday evening, Ben Raanan, the son of Judith and brother to Natalie, talked to NewsNation’s Elizabeth Vargas.

“For the past 13 days, we’ve just focused on getting them back and we had this kind of tightness in our stomach of like, don’t let any emotion in like we have to stay strong,” Ben Raanan said during an appearance on “Elizabeth Vargas Reports.”

Uri Raanan of Illinois told NewsNation that he spoke to his daughter Friday by telephone. “She’s doing good. She’s doing very good,” said Uri Raanan, who lives in the Chicago suburbs. “I’m in tears, and I feel very, very good.”

The 71-year-old said he saw on the news earlier Friday that an American mother and daughter would be released by Hamas, and he spent the day hoping that meant his daughter and her mother.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at a press briefing the Raanans were safe in Israel and that officials expect the U.S. embassy to see them shortly.

“Over the coming hours, they’ll receive any support and assistance they need,” Blinken said.

There are still ten additional Americans who remain unaccounted for in the conflict, some of them held hostage as well, Blinken added.

Relatives of other captives welcomed the release and appealed for the others to be freed.

“We 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,’’ they said in a statement.

Qatar said it plans to continue its dialogue with Israel and Hamas to win the release of all hostages “with the ultimate aim of de-escalating the current crisis and restoring peace.”

U.S. President Joe Biden said in a statement he is “overjoyed” that Judith Tai Raanan and Natalie Raanan will be reunited with their loved ones soon.

“These individuals and their family will have the full support of the United States government as they recover and heal, and we should all respect their privacy in this moment,” Biden said.

Hecht said in an interview with NewsNation’s Natasha Zouves that while their community is happy and thankful for the Raanans’ release, they are continuing to pray for the rest of the hostages as well.

“We don’t know what their condition is, we weren’t notified — but ‘humanitarian reasons’ doesn’t sound great, so we are hoping that they’re okay,” Hecht said. “I’m sure that the American government will do all they can to make sure that both Judith and Natalie get the care that they need and be able to come back home to complete and full health.”

Blinken said he could not speak on the condition of the two former hostages at the briefing.

The Israeli military said around 203 people were believed to be captured by Hamas after its attack killed 1,400 people.

Israel’s government swiftly declared war following the attack, sending relentless airstrikes into Gaza while also blocking food, water, fuel and electricity from getting to people there.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said Friday that 4,137 Palestinians have been killed and more than 13,000 others wounded since the war started. Over 1 million people have been displaced in Gaza, fleeing to heed Israel’s orders to evacuate. However, Israel continued to bomb areas in Gaza where Palestinians had been told to seek safety.

Some of the information that NewsNation’s Robert Sherman has been getting from the Israeli Defense Forces is that a majority of the hostages currently being held by Hamas are still alive.

A reconnaissance mission was sent into the Gaza Strip, where the IDF put boots on the ground to gain more evidence as to exactly where some of the hostages are.

Hamas officials have said they will release citizens if Israeli airstrikes stop, according to Iran’s Foreign Ministry, but Blinken dismissed this suggestion to reporters Friday.

“Hostages should be released immediately and unconditionally. That’s been our position from day one, it remains our position,” he said. “I would not take anything that Hamas says at face value.”

This story is developing. Refresh for updates.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.