“Our fellow citizens have endured a terrible ordeal these past 14 days, and I am overjoyed that they will soon be reunited with their family, who has been wracked with fear,” Biden said in a statement.
The president said Qatar and Israel helped secure their release. While Biden did not name them, the Israeli government confirmed them as Judith Raanan and her teenage daughter Natalie Raanan.
The Israeli government released a photo of the pair being escorted by Israeli soldiers and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s special coordinator for returning hostages.
There are 10 Americans who remain unaccounted for after Hamas’s initial attack, while the terror group is believed to be holding 200 people hostage.
Biden said U.S. officials “have been working around-the-clock to free American citizens who were taken hostage by Hamas, and we have not ceased our efforts to secure the release of those who are still being held.”
Israel had previously said that the hostages were in its custody.
“The person in charge of the abductees and the missing, Brigadier General Gal Hirsch, together with the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] and the security forces, received them at the border of the Gaza Strip and at this moment they are 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,” a spokesperson for Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.
“The Government of Israel, the IDF and the entire security establishment will continue to operate with the best of their abilities and efforts in order to locate all of the missing and return all of the abductees home,” according to the statement.
Read the full report at TheHill.com.
