Hamas announced this Friday, October 20, 2023, having released two hostages for “humanitarian reasons”.
Hamas said that she released an American and her daughter kidnapped during her attack on Israeli territory on October 7, and detained since in Gaza.
Hamas’ military spokesman said in a statement that the two hostages had been released “for humanitarian reasons, following” Qatar mediation “.
The two hostages arrived in Israel, confirmed the Zionist entity while the Israeli army estimated that the majority of hostages in Gaza, in number, are alive ”.
For its part, the International Committee of the Red Cross says it has contributed to the release of the two American hostages “by transporting the hostages of Gaza to Israel,” the president of the ICRC said on Friday.
The President of the United States, Joe Biden, said he was “at the height of joy” on the sidelines of this first release of hostages under the mediation of Qatar but also of the United States, as confirmed by the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
“The efforts continue to release all the prisoners and we thank the government of the state of Qatar for its very important help,” he said tonight.
In Doha, the spokesperson for the Qatari Foreign Ministry, Majid Al-Ansari, confirmed that “two American civil hostages were released by Hamas and returned to the Red Cross in the Gaza Strip”.
“Today’s progress comes after several days of continuous communication between all the parties involved. We will continue our dialogue with the Israelis and Hamas, and we hope that these efforts will lead to the release of all civil hostages of all nationalities, in order to defuse the current crisis and restore peace, “he added.
