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Hamas has released two US hostages captured during its devastating assault on Israel almost two weeks ago, amid intense diplomatic efforts to ease tensions in the Middle Eastern conflict and deliver humanitarian aid to suffering civilians.
The women — named by the Israeli prime minister’s office as mother and daughter Judith Tai Raanan and Natalie Shoshana Raanan — were snatched by Hamas militants from the Nahal Oz kibbutz in southern Israel on October 7, in what was the deadliest attack on the country in its 75-year history.
Their release follows a whirlwind visit to Israel by US president Joe Biden this week ahead of a possible ground invasion of Gaza by Israeli troops that is intended to destroy Hamas’s ability to launch terrorist attacks but risks widening the war and further harming civilians.
Biden had put the release of American hostages high on his agenda since the start of the war — and said on Friday he was “overjoyed” that they would be reunited with their families.
The president also said the US had “not ceased our efforts to secure the release of those who are still being held”, and thanked Qatar and Israel “for their partnership in this work”.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken later told reporters there remained 10 additional Americans who were “unaccounted for” in the conflict, and “some” were hostages with Hamas, along with an estimated 200 other people held in Gaza.
“They include men, women, young boys, young girls, elderly people, from many nations,” Blinken said. “Every single one of them should be released.”
Blinken had discussed the issue during talks with Qatar’s prime minister as part of a tour of the region prior to Biden’s visit. Qatar is a US ally which also hosts Hamas’s political office.
Israel has confirmed that at least 203 people were taken hostage during the raid. Hamas previously claimed that its militants were holding about 200 hostages in Gaza, and that there could be as many as 50 captives held by other factions in the coastal enclave.
A person briefed on the negotiations said Hamas had acted unilaterally, indicating no deal had been reached between the militant group and Israel.
The person said the release was an initial step as talks continue on freeing other civilians. Previously Hamas had wanted Israel to pause its bombardment of Gaza to allow for humanitarian aid to be delivered to the strip, the Financial Times has reported.
During his trip to Israel this week, Biden had helped broker a deal with Egypt to allow up to 20 trucks of humanitarian aid into Gaza — but the shipments have not started moving across the border yet, raising concerns that they could be delayed or blocked. But on Friday he said they would be arriving in Gaza in the next few days.
“The highway had to be repaved because it was very bad — in very bad shape. And I believe that within the next 24 to 48 hours, the first 20 trucks will come across with aid,” Biden said as he met with EU leaders at the White House.
Majed Al-Ansari, spokesperson for Qatar’s ministry of foreign affairs, said Hamas had handed the two hostages over to the Red Cross in the Gaza Strip, and that the breakthrough was the result of “many days of continuous communication between all the parties involved”.
“We will continue our dialogue with both the Israelis and Hamas, and we hope these efforts will lead to the release of all civilian hostages from every nationality, with the ultimate aim of de-escalating the current crisis and restoring peace,” he said.
The Israeli prime minister’s office said the pair were met at the border of the Gaza Strip by security forces and by Gal Hirsch, the Israeli official responsible for dealing with the hostage crisis; they were now on the way to a military base in the centre of Israel where they would meet their relatives.
Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, spokesman for Israel’s military, said the country would “continue to act in all ways to locate the missing and to return all of the captives back home”.
“Hamas presents itself now to the world as returning the captives for humanitarian reasons, when in reality it is a murderous terror organisation that in this hour holds babies, children, women, elderly captive in the Gaza Strip,” he said.
Asked whether the release was part of a deal to allow humanitarian aid to enter the strip, which Israel has besieged since the Hamas attack, Hagari said the return of captives remained of the utmost priority but “we are still at war with Hamas”.
He added that border crossings from Egypt and Israel into Gaza were still closed and if there was a change he would update the public.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, a group set up to represent relatives of those captured during Hamas’s attack, said it “welcomes the release of the hostages from Hamas captivity”.