Released by Hamas, American mother, daughter reunited with family in Israel

GAZA/EVANSTON, Illinois — 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 first 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.” Natalie Raanan’s uncle, Avraham Zamir, said by telephone from his home in Illinois, that 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. 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 Read more at: inquirer

Tags : released hamas american mother daughter reunited family israel

Disclaimer : We make no assurance about the completeness and accuracy of the content of this website. All news on this website is collected from various sources hence information may or may not be true. Bollywood charcha does not verify the reliability of the content published. We do not accept any accountability for loss or damage occurred as a result of reliability on the content of this website.