Two newly freed American hostages, a Chicago-area woman and her teenage daughter, were reunited with family inside Israel as relatives celebrated back home in Illinois, nearly two weeks after Hamas abducted them and dozens of others near Gaza, Reuters reports.
Judith Tai Raanan, 59, and her daughter Natalie, 17, were handed over to Israeli forces at the Gaza Strip border on Friday, becoming the first captives whose release by Hamas has been confirmed by both sides since the latest round of Arab-Israeli bloodshed erupted.
The release was announced by Abu Ubaida, a spokesman for Hamas, the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, and confirmed a short time later in a statement from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
