Gaza’s Hamas leadership announced on Monday, October 23, that they have released two additional female hostages who were abducted from Israel during the October 7 attacks.
Gaza’s Hamas rulers on Monday said they had freed two more women hostages abducted from Israel during the October 7 attacks.
The Palestinian Islamist group’s military wing said the two elderly women, identified as Yocheved Lifshitz and Nurit Cooper, had been freed for “compelling humanitarian” reasons following mediation by Qatar and Egypt.
Their husbands were still in captivity, among more than 200 hostages still held by Hamas, according to Israeli media.
Four women have now been freed in three days.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said it had also helped with the case and the transportation of the women out of Gaza.
The pair were taken to the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt, according to Israeli media.
Images on Egyptian television station Alqahera News, which is close to the intelligence services, showed the two women getting into ambulances, one with the help of paramedics.
Each woman was then shown lying on a stretcher in separate ambulances, surrounded by first-aiders and ICRC personnel.
American mother and daughter Judith and Natalie Raanan were freed on Friday, with the militants also citing humanitarian reasons and efforts by Qatar and Egypt.
Israel on Monday increased the number of confirmed hostages to 222 people seized when Hamas gunmen crossed the border and attacked kibbutz communities, towns and military bases in southern Israel.
The hostages, among them babies, children, pregnant women, soldiers and many foreign nationals, have become a major issue for the Israeli government as it justifies its bombardment of “Hamas targets” in Gaza.
Khalil Wakim, with AFP
