Hamas releases two US hostages, Rockets continue to hit Israel

Hamas on Friday night released two hostages — Judith Raanan and her teenage daughter Natalie — who were kidnapped from Kibbutz Nahal Oz during the terror group’s October 7 assault on Israel.

It was the first release out of at least 203 hostages held by Hamas since its infiltration and massacre of Israeli southern communities that started the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

The two, who have US citizenship, were handed over to the Red Cross, which then handed them over to Israel. The exact mechanism of the transfer was not immediately clear. Hamas cited that the release was made “for humanitarian reasons.”

The Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement that Gal Hirsch, recently appointed as coordinator of hostages and missing persons, joined military forces that met the two at the border. From there they were taken to a military base in the country’s center, where they were to be reunited with family members.

The step was widely viewed in Israel as a public relations gambit, with Hamas interested in somewhat rehabilitating its image since its gunmen conducted brutal massacres of Israeli civilians in the terror group’s unprecedented attack on southern communities.

Following Hamas’s release of two hostages from Gaza, the US and several governments in Europe are quietly pushing Israel to hold off on launching a ground invasion of Gaza, fearing that the incursion will all but scuttle efforts to secure additional hostage releases for the foreseeable future, a senior diplomatic official tells The Times of Israel.

The Western governments currently pressuring Israel each have citizens among those unaccounted for and believe that the more time that passes, the harder it will be to secure the hostages’ release, the official says.

The governments recognize that a ground invasion is very likely and are not telling Israel not to launch one at all, rather hold off to try and see if additional diplomatic efforts can succeed, says the senior diplomatic official.

Palestinian terrorists in Gaza continued to rain down rockets on Israel’s south and the Israeli Air Force pounded Hamas targets in the Strip on Friday night amid Israel’s ongoing war with the Islamist terror group.

The Israel Defense Forces said it struck multiple Hamas command centers and underground infrastructure throughout the day, while also eliminating a senior Hamas engineer. It said Mahmoud Sabih headed a unit that developed weapons for Hamas, including drones, and had “exchanged knowledge with other terror groups throughout the Middle East.”

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant made an evening visit to an IDF assembly area near the border with Gaza and “closely monitored the readiness of the forces for the expansion of the campaign,” his office said.