Two U.S. hostages, a mother and a daughter, have been released by Hamas, officials announced Friday. The freed hostages were identified as Judith Tai Raanan and Natalie Shoshana Raanan, according to a spokesperson for the Israeli prime minister’s office.
Additional details about the release weren’t immediately available. The pair are with the Red Cross, “Face the Nation” moderator Margaret Brennan reported.
A message posted to a Hamas-affiliated Telegram channel said the release was made for “humanitarian reasons.”
The developments come nearly two weeks after Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, carried out a brutal terror attack in southern Israel, igniting a war.
According to CBS News Chicago, the pair were visiting family in Israel, near the Gaza border, in a community called Nahal Oz, a kibbutz that was attacked by Hamas. Natalie Raanan just graduated from Deerfield High School in north suburban Chicago.
Her uncle, Avi Zamir, told CBS News Chicago she had texted the family shortly after the bombing began on Oct. 7, saying, “We’re all fine, yes indeed. Mommy’s room that she was sleeping in got bombed, but we are now transferring to another guest house where there is a shelter.”
Israel’s military has accused Hamas of taking over 200 people hostage.
Israel’s ongoing airstrikes on Gaza continued Friday, but stopped in the early afternoon, catching some people in the Palestinian territory off guard and prompting some to wonder if there was a cease-fire, according to CBS News reporting from inside Gaza.
CBS News will air a one-hour special, “Israel-Hamas War: The World on Edge,” on Friday, Oct. 20 at 10 p.m. ET on CBS and on CBS News Streaming. Download the CBS News app on your cellphone or connected TV to watch.
