Palestinian resistance release 2 hostages

People, whose relatives are captured by Palestinian factions, stage a demonstration, in which they demand the government take action in prisoner exchange for their relatives, in front of the Defense Ministry headquarter in Tel Aviv, Israel on 15 October 2023. [Saeed Qaq/ Anadolu Agency]

A mother and daughter have been released and handed to the Red Cross before being transported to Israel after being held for two weeks in Gaza.

The Izz Al-Din Al-Qassam Brigades said they had been released “for humanitarian reasons” in response to Qatari mediation efforts.

Spokesperson Abu Obaida said they released the citizens “for humanitarian reasons, and to prove to the American people and the world that the claims made by [President Joe] Biden and his fascist administration are false and baseless.”

Palestinian media has named the women as Judith Raanan and her daughter Naatalie.

🚨 UPDATE: According to Palestinian media, the American hostages released by Hamas are Judith Raanan and her daughter Natalie. pic.twitter.com/b9gUmCdwUb

— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) October 20, 2023

The pair had been taken as hostages when the Palestinian resistance infiltered a number of towns around the Gaza envelope. Israel says the Palestinians resistance is holding more than 200 Israelis. The resistance said at least 13 have been killed as a result of Israel’s bombing of Gaza since 7 October. At least 4,137 Palestinians have been killed in the bombing, including hundreds of children, and 13,000 wounded in Gaza, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.

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. More than a million have been made homeless.

Israeli Defence Minister, Yoav Gallant, said today that achieving Israel’s objectives would not be quick or easy.

“We will topple the Hamas organisation. 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.

Earlier today, US President Joe Biden formally asked Congress for billions of dollars in US military aid for Israel.

Gaza: Genocide in the Making

Unless otherwise stated in the article above, this work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. If the image(s) bear our credit, this license also applies to them. What does that mean? For other permissions, please contact us.