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Judith and Natalie Raanan were taken from Nahal Oz kibbutz on Oct. 7
Hamas released two U.S. hostages, mother and daughter Judith and Natalie Raanan, who were kidnapped during its attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said on Friday.
The women, who were taken from the Nahal Oz kibbutz, near the Gaza boundary, were on their way to a military base in central Israel, a statement from Netanyahu's office said.
Media reports in the United States say they are from Evanston, Ill., a suburb of Chicago.
They are the first hostages to be freed since the incursion by Hamas militants into Israel nearly two weeks ago.
Hamas said Friday it released them for "humanitarian reasons" and to send a message to U.S. President Joe Biden, who has staunchly backed Israel's war against the militant group in Gaza, denouncing Hamas in an address from the Oval Office on Thursday.
The two women were freed "to prove to the American people and the world that the claims made by Biden … are false and baseless," said Abu Ubaida, a spokesperson for the armed wing of Hamas, which is designated a terrorist group by the U.S., Canada and other Western countries.
American mother and daughter released by Hamas now in Israel
Featured VideoIsrael has confirmed two U.S. hostages freed by Hamas are now safely inside Israeli territory and being cared for by the military. Judith and Natalie Raanan, a mother and daughter from the Chicago area, were visiting relatives in the Nahal Oz kibbutz when militants stormed out of Gaza on Oct. 7 and took them.
Are you in the Middle East and affected by the war between Israel and Hamas? We want to hear about your experience. Send an email to ask@cbc.ca.
In a statement, Biden thanked Qatar and Israel for their partnership in securing the pair's release.
A Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesperson said the release took place "after many days of continuous communication" and that dialogue on the release of other hostages would continue.
The International Committee of the Red Cross says it helped facilitate the hostages' release by transporting them from Gaza to Israel.
Israel's Kan public broadcaster reported the two women were dual Israeli-American nationals.
Netanyahu said in a statement that while these two hostages had been returned, "we are not giving up on the effort to return all abducted and missing people."
An Israeli army statement earlier in the day said most of the hostages were alive.
Israel has vowed to wipe out Hamas, which rules Gaza, after its gunmen burst through the barrier fence surrounding the enclave and rampaged through Israeli towns and kibbutzes, killing some 1,400 people, mainly civilians. The dead included several Canadian citizens.
The Israeli military said Thursday it had notified the families of 203 captives taken by Hamas.
Since the Hamas attack, Israel has pounded Gaza with airstrikes and put the enclave's 2.3 million people under a total siege, ordering a mass evacuation to the south and preventing shipments of food, fuel and medical supplies.
More than 1 million people made homeless
At least 4,137 Palestinians have been killed, including more than 1,500 children, Palestinian officials say. The UN says more than a million have been made homeless.
Gaza's overwhelmed hospitals are rationing their dwindling medical supplies and fuel for generators, as authorities worked out logistics for a desperately needed aid delivery from Egypt that has yet to cross the border. Doctors in darkened wards across Gaza performed surgeries by the light of mobile phones and used vinegar to treat infected wounds.
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The deal to get aid into Gaza through Rafah, the territory's only crossing not controlled by Israel, remained fragile. Israel said the supplies could only go to civilians and that it would "thwart" any diversions by Hamas.
More than 200 trucks and some 2,700 tonnes of aid were positioned at or near Rafah, but damage to the road on the Gaza side needs to be repaired before the crossing can open.
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres flew to Egypt's Sinai Peninsula on Friday in a push to get aid flowing into Gaza. At the Rafah border, he implored officials to clear the way for the deliveries, calling the supplies amassed in trucks nearby a "lifeline" for Gaza residents.
"It is impossible to be here and not feel a broken heart," said Guterres. "Behind these walls, we have two million that [are] suffering enormously."
He said the UN was actively engaging with Egypt, Israel and the U.S. to remove roadblocks for the deliveries.
Israel has amassed tanks and troops near the perimeter of Gaza for an expected ground invasion.
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said that achieving Israel's objectives would not be quick or easy.
"We will topple the Hamas organization. We will destroy its military and governing infrastructure. It's a phase that will not be easy. It will have a price," he told a parliamentary committee.
He added that the subsequent phase would be more drawn out, but was aimed at achieving "a completely different security situation" with no threat to Israel from Gaza. "It's not a day, it's not a week, and unfortunately it's not a month," he said.
Church hit in deadly airstrike
Inside Gaza City, the Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, the main Palestinian Christian denomination, said Israeli forces had struck the Church of Saint Porphyrius, where Christian and Muslim residents driven from their homes had sought shelter.
Gaza's Hamas-run government media office said 18 Christian Palestinians had been killed, while the Palestinian health ministry put the death toll at 16.
"They felt they would be safe here. They came from under the bombardment and the destruction, and they said they would be safe here but destruction chased them," a man cried out.
The Israeli military said part of the church was damaged in a strike on a militant command centre involved in launching rockets and mortars towards Israel, and that it was reviewing the incident.
"The IDF [Israel Defence Forces] can unequivocally state that the church was not the target of the strike," it said.
Israel has already told all civilians to evacuate the northern half of the Gaza Strip, which includes Gaza City. Many people have yet to leave saying they fear losing everything and have nowhere safe to go with southern areas also under attack.
In Zahra, a northern town in Gaza, residents said an entire district of some 25 multi-storey apartment buildings appeared to have been razed to the ground.
They received Israeli warning messages on their mobile phones at breakfast, followed 10 minutes later by a small drone strike. After another 20 minutes, F-16 warplanes brought the buildings down in huge explosions and clouds of dust.
"Everything I ever dreamt of and thought that I have achieved was gone. In that apartment was my dream, my memories with my children, and my wife, was the smell of safety and love," Ali, a resident of the district, told Reuters by phone.
The United Nations humanitarian affairs office said more than 140,000 homes — nearly a third of all homes in Gaza — have been damaged, with nearly 13,000 completely destroyed.
Evacuation order near Lebanon border
Meanwhile, the conflict is also spreading to two other fronts — the West Bank and the northern border with Lebanon.
The defence ministry ordered residents of the largest Israeli town near the Lebanese border, Kiryat Shmona, to evacuate. Clashes at the border between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah movement have been the deadliest since a full-blown war in 2006.
Israel and Hezbollah trade fire across Lebanese border
Featured VideoCross-border attacks between Israel and the militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon have been increasing and residents in the area have been told to leave. Some think Israel's northern border could turn into a second front if the war with Hamas escalates.
"This kind of evacuation, which has already been done in a number of towns on the northern border, allows the IDF to expand its operational freedom to act against the Hezbollah terrorist organization," said Daniel Hagari, spokesperson for the Israel Defence Forces (IDF).
Evacuees from Kiryat Shmona will be put up in state-subsidized guesthouses, Israel's Defence Ministry said.
Israel's military said one of its drones "struck a terrorist in Lebanese territory" overnight. It also said it targeted Hezbollah assets in response to rockets fired from Lebanon.
The Canadian government said earlier this week that it is preparing for a possible evacuation of citizens from Lebanon should the Israel-Hamas war escalate there, but encouraged Canadians in Lebanon to consider leaving before that might become necessary.
Tensions have also flared in the West Bank, where clashes between Israeli soldiers and settlers and Palestinians have already turned deadly. Israel has arrested more than 900 people in the West Bank, conducting fresh overnight and dawn raids on Friday.
The Palestinian health ministry said 13 people were killed including five children after Israeli troops raided and called in airstrikes on the Nur Shams refugee camp near Tulkarm.
The territory, where Palestinians have limited self rule under Israeli military occupation, has seen the deadliest clashes since 2005.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke on Friday with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman about the situation in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, Trudeau's office said.
Both expressed "deep concerns with the humanitarian impact" of the conflict, Trudeau's office said.
Joe Biden calls on Americans to unite behind Israel, Ukraine
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