Two captives out of the 222 hostages Hamas abducted on October 7 were released from Gaza to Egypt on Monday night.
Nurit Cooper, 79, and Yocheved Lifshitz, 85, both from Kibbutz Nir Oz, were released to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which took them to the Rafah crossing where they were met by Israeli officials who transported back to Israel. They were then seen at Sourasky Medical Center in Tel Aviv before reuniting with their families.
Their spouses - Oded Lifshitz, 83, and Amiram Cooper, 84, remain in Hamas custody.
Over a quarter of the community of Nir Oz are either missing, abducted, or were murdered during the attack on October 7, the kibbutz said in a statement.
The women had been freed after 20 trucks of humanitarian aid entered Gaza, and amid reports that Qatar separately had secured the release of some 50 hostages with foreign passports. These two women were both Israeli and were not part of that deal.
“We decided to release them for compelling humanitarian and health reasons,” Hamas spokesman Abu Ubaida said.
Hamas did this “despite the occupation committing more than eight violations of the procedures that were agreed upon with the mediating brothers for the occupation to adhere to during this day to complete the handover process,” Ubaida said.
The Hamas announcement came shortly after i24News reported Monday evening that representatives of the ICRC were on their way to Gaza to redeem the hostages and against the backdrop of a report by The New York Times on Monday that said Hamas was exploring the possibility of releasing hostages who hold foreign passports.
The Times cited an Israeli military official who mentioned that Qatar is actively engaged in mediating negotiations for the release of these hostages, separate from those who are exclusively Israeli citizens. The Israeli official cited in the Times reportedly made this claim based on discussions between the United States and Qatar.
The Wall Street Journal later said that negotiations for the release of a group of 50 captives in Gaza failed because Hamas conditioned their release on the supply of fuel to the Gaza Strip, which Israel has refused to allow because it said Hamas uses the fuel to launch rockets at Israel.
Efforts on multiple fronts
According to KAN News, conversations are occurring on multiple fronts, including via several intermediaries, from former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen to Ronen Levi, who served for almost 30 years in the intelligence and defense communities and has connections in Qatar and other Gulf countries.
Several media new sites speculated that Israel has held off from embarking on a military ground campaign in Gaza to allow for further negotiations for the release of the hostages.
In Washington, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said US President Joe Biden and his administration were committed to ensuring that all the hostages would be freed.
“We’re going to [work] with our partners to do everything we can to get hostages out,” he told reporters at the Foreign Press Center. “They should be released immediately; there’s no reason for them to be held in the first place.”
In a briefing at the White House, Kirby dismissed questions about the possibility of a ceasefire in exchange for the hostages. Hamas could at any moment simply release all of them, he said.
“Here’s an idea: They [Hamas] can release them all now,” Kirby said. “They can let them go now, because they can release them all now. Just let them go now, because these people did not do anything wrong. They are just innocent civilians caught up in this conflict. Let them go now.
“Now, I recognize that is not going to happen, which is why we are going to keep working with our partners in the region to do what we can to get them released.”
At the Foreign Press Center briefing, Kirby also appeared to dismiss reports linking the absence of an Israeli ground campaign with the hostages, noting that he "won’t speak for the Israelis and what they will or won’t do on the ground. All I can tell you is that we have been working – and I don’t mean – and this is not an exaggeration – we’ve been working by the hour since the moment we found out that Americans were being held hostage to get them released."
During an evening briefing, IDF Spokesman R.-Adm. Daniel Hagari said that the IDF's delay in entering Gaza was due to "strategic considerations" and that Israel was "looking at the situation in the entire Middle East."
Kirby reiterated the Biden administration’s strong support for Israel’s campaign against Hamas in light of the October 7 attack, in which more than 1,400 civilians and soldiers were killed. An estimated 5,000 Palestinians have been killed in IAF airstrikes on Gaza and failed Palestinian rocket launches.
First hostages released last week
Last Friday, Hamas released two American-Israeli hostages, Judith Raanan, 59, and her daughter Natalie, 17.
The terror organization said they were released on humanitarian grounds. The mother and daughter were transferred from Hamas to the Red Cross, then to the Israeli border and into Israeli hands. They were met by Brig.-Gen. (res.) Gal Hirsch, the country's coordinator for hostages and missing persons and a team of security officials.
Until now, the Red Cross has not been allowed to meet with the hostages nor deliver the medications earmarked for them, the organization said. However, on Monday, the Red Cross confirmed it had assisted in the release of the captives.
"Our role as a neutral intermediary between the parties to the conflict makes our work possible," the organization said. "We are prepared to visit the remaining captives in captivity and assist in any future releases. We are pleased that those who have been released will soon be reunited with their families and loved ones."