Hamas releases 2 more hostages amid intense negotiations

Two elderly women were recovered from Hamas captivity in the Gaza Strip on Monday, amid intense international negotiations to secure the release of more than 200 people who were kidnapped in the wake of the group’s terrorist attack against Israel on Oct. 7. 

The hostages — identified as Nurit Cooper, 79 and Yocheved Lifshitz, 85 — were released to the custody of the International Community of the Red Cross (ICRC), according to that organization and the Israeli government.

“​​We facilitated the release of 2 more hostages, transporting them out of Gaza this evening. Our role as a neutral intermediary makes this work possible and we are ready to facilitate any future release. We hope that they will soon be back with their loved ones,” the ICRC posted on X, formerly Twitter.

The two women were kidnapped from their homes in Israel in Kibbutz Nir Oz, the Israeli government said in a statement. It said they were handed over to the ICRC through Egypt, and transferred to custody of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). The women are being received at a medical facility in central Israel and reunited with their families.

Cooper’s husband Amiram, 85 and Lifshitz’s husband, Oded, 83, are believed to still be held by Hamas, Israel said.

Israeli officials Monday, ahead of the two women’s release, had said that Hamas was holding 222 hostages.

Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorist group, had released two hostages Friday, a dual American-Israeli mother and her 18-year-old daughter, Judith and Natalie Raanan.

The Biden administration has said that at least 10 American citizens are unaccounted for and has not confirmed that they are all being held by Hamas.

President Biden, speaking at a tech event Monday, responded to a shouted question about a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, saying, “We should have those hostages released, and then we can talk.”

Among the more than 200 hostages are children who are just a few months old, young women and men, the elderly and Holocaust survivors. Efforts to secure their release include diplomatic efforts from Israel, the U.S. and Qatar, which has open lines of communication with Hamas through the terrorist group’s political office in Doha. 

The hostages were kidnapped by Hamas as part of its rampage through southern Israel on Oct. 7, when members of the group massacred Israelis and others in their homes, on the street, at a music festival, mutilating bodies and setting homes on fire.

The Israel military said it is still battling Hamas infiltrators in Israel, and rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip into Israel have not ceased over the course of two weeks.

In response, Israel has launched an aggressive air bombing campaign on Gaza, targeting what it says is Hamas military infrastructure and its members, but has killed thousands of Palestinian civilians. Dozens of humanitarian aid convoys have only started to enter the besieged strip, where food, medicine, water and fuel are running dangerously low and exacerbating a humanitarian crisis. 

Israel’s preparations to launch a ground offensive into the Gaza Strip for what it says is the goal of eliminating Hamas is raising further concern over the safety and recovery efforts for hostages, and protection of civilians who are unable to leave Gaza or escape the zone of combat. 

The U.S. is working “hour by hour” on efforts to recover hostages, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters Monday, but he did not speak directly to reports that the White House is pressuring Israel to delay its ground incursion into Gaza to allow more time for hostage recovery and for humanitarian aid to reach Palestinians.

The U.S. is asking “tough questions” about Israel’s military objectives, Kirby said, and has sent over military officers to Israel “to share some perspectives from their own experience and to ask the hard questions,” over its military objectives. 

“We have, since the beginning of the conflict in the early hours, maintained a level of communication with our Israeli counterparts to ascertain their intentions, their strategy, their aims, to see what their answers are,” he said.   

“Have you thought through the branches? Have you thought through the sequels? Have you thought through the unintended consequences? And so we are in active conversation with them about that.” 

Israel Defense Forces spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari told reporters Monday that the number of hostages includes a not-insignificant number of foreign nationals, the Times of Israel reported.

When asked whether the ground operation is being delayed to allow more time for attempts to secure the release of hostages, the Times of Israel quoted Hagari as saying, “We are working in all ways to free the hostages and bring them home.”

Hamas, in a message posted to Telegram on Saturday, said that it had communicated to Qatar it was ready to release two hostages, whom it referred to as Nurit Yitzhak, likely referring to Cooper, and Lifshitz “due to compelling humanitarian reasons.” It accused the Israeli government of refusing to receive them.

Kirby, at the White House on Monday, said the U.S. does not take anything Hamas says at face value and called for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages. 

“You can take anything that Hamas says with a huge grain of salt,” he said at the White House podium Monday. 

“We don’t take anything that they say at face value. Here’s an idea, and it’s just an idea I’ll throw out there. They can release them all now. Just let them go now, because these people didn’t do anything wrong. They’re just innocent civilians being caught up in this conflict. Let them go now. Now I recognize that it’s not going to happen, which is why we’re going to keep working with our partners in the region to do what we can to get them released.”

Updated at 5:28 p.m. ET