NEW YORK (1O1O WINS) -- Two American nationals -- a mother and daughter from the Chicago area -- kidnapped during Hamas' Oct. 7 terror attack in southern Israel have been released and are back in Israel, the Israeli government has confirmed.
Fox was first to report their identities as Judith Raanan and her daughter Natalie, 18, of Evanstan, Illinois. The pair went to Israel to visit Judith’s mother to celebrate her 85th birthday. Natalie had recently graduated from Deerfield High School.
The women were transferred to the Red Cross, according to Fox, and then exited Gaza across the Egypt border, before entering Israel.
The Israeli government said the women headed to an army based in southern Israel, before heading to meet with their family.
President Biden said in a statement, "I am overjoyed that they will soon be reunited with their family, who has been wracked with fear. These individuals and their family will have the full support of the United States government as they recover and heal, and we should all respect their privacy in this moment."
He added, "From the earliest moments of this attack, we 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. I thank the government of Qatar and the government of Israel for their partnership in this work."
"I want them to come back alive because they're innocent and loving, and they didn't do anything, just innocent," Natalie's aunt Sigal Zamir told Chicago's ABC7 last week.
On Thursday the Israel Defense Forces said the number of missing has increased to 203.
"In response to Qatari efforts, Al-Qassam Brigades released two American citizens (a mother and her daughter) for humanitarian reasons, and to prove to the American people and the world that the claims made by Biden and his fascist administration are false and baseless," Al-Qassam Brigades spokesman Abu Obaida said in a statement, according to Fox.