‘There is a long road ahead to healing’; released hostage’s dad

The two released hostages have eight other relatives still in Gaza, cousins say

Judith Raanan and her daughter Natalie pictured speaking with US President Joe Biden after their release.

The father of American Natalie Raanan, who was kidnapped and held hostage by Hamas for two weeks along with her mother, hopes she’s home for her birthday.

The teenager from Evanston, Illinois, turns 18 on Tuesday, her father, Uri Raanan, said on Saturday (Sunday AEDT).

“Hopefully, she will be here by then,” he said. “Words cannot express how happy we are.” Natalie and her mother, Judith Raanan, 59, who both have US citizenship, were visiting family in Israel at the time of Hamas’s October 7 attack.

Uri Raanan, 71, said he learned from US and Israeli officials that the two women survived and were among the more than 200 hostages taken by Hamas. On Friday, after two weeks in captivity, they became the first to be released.

The women were received at Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip and were being transported to a military base where family members awaited them, Israel’s prime minister’s office said. Qatar helped broker their release.

“Our loved ones appear to be in good health,” Mr Raanan said. “But there is a long road ahead to healing.”

Mr Raanan told reporters on Friday that he spoke to President Joe Biden, who also spoke to the two freed Americans telling them the US government would support them in their recovery.

The family wanted to “share our message of gratitude, our hope that the remaining hostages are returned in good health, and our dream for peace for everyone,” Mr Raanan said on Saturday.

Natalie and Judith Raanan were with relatives in Nahal Oz, a kibbutz, when the Hamas onslaught that killed more than 1400 Israelis began.

Apart from Israel, citizens of more than 40 countries were killed and went missing during the attack, according to the Israeli foreign ministry. Gaza’s health ministry, which is controlled by Hamas, says that 4137 Palestinians have been killed.

Cousins of Judith and Natalie Raanan in Israel said they experienced “extraordinary relief” upon learning of their release, but said eight other relatives remain in Gaza.

“Unfortunately, we do not have the privilege of celebrating their return, or of mourning our lost loved ones,” the three relatives, Ayelet, Or and Limor Sella, said in a statement.

“We will work around the clock with the other families of those held hostage until each and every one of them is back home,” the statement said.

Rabbi Dov Hillel Klein, executive director of the Chabad of Evanston, outside Chicago, where Judith Raanan is a community member, said he gave thanks during service on Saturday that she and her daughter were safe.

The past two weeks have been “beyond horrific,” he said. The community’s joy over the Raanans’ release has been tempered by the knowledge that others are still held captive.

“A full celebration can’t come until all the hostages are free,” he said.

Shayndi Raice contributed to this article.

The Wall Street Journal