Hamas releases two American-Israeli hostages

Two American-Israeli hostages were released by the Hamas terror outfit on Friday amid intense diplomatic efforts to ease tensions in the Middle Eastern conflict and deliver humanitarian aid to civilians. The mother and daughter duo were abducted in a terror attack on southern Israel on the 7th of October.

The Israelis said the women were being taken to an Israeli army base, and the United States said that a U.S. team was heading to meet them. US President Joe Biden thanked Qatar and Israel for their



partnership in this work. US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, also thanked the Qataris for their help.

Israeli and U.S. officials promised to continue to work to free the roughly 200 other hostages - from some 40 countries - who were also abducted. Hamas, however, said it was releasing them in an agreement with the Qatari government for humanitarian reasons. Relatives of other captives welcomed the release and appealed for others to be freed.