Hamas releases two more female captives on humanitarian grounds

Hamas has released two more female captives – both Israelis – on humanitarian grounds despite the Netanyahu government’s refusal to accept them since last Friday.

A Hamas spokesman has confirmed the earlier al-Qassam Brigades statement, saying that two Israeli captives – both women – have been released.

“Netanyahu rejected [the release on Friday]. Now he has accepted, maybe under the pressure of the [Israeli] street,” Al Jazeera quoted Osama Hamdan.

“We got nothing [in return for their release]. We released them for humanitarian issues,” he added.

Hamdan said that the release took place even though Israel violated the terms of an agreement that would have guaranteed the safety of the captives.

“We asked to stop bombing Gaza at least for the time to release them, sending them to the Red Cross and then turning them to the authorities. The Israelis did not follow that. It shows you cannot trust the Israeli side,” he said.

A Reuters report said that Hamas released two female civilian captives in response to Egyptian-Qatari mediation efforts.

It quoted Abu Ubaida from Hamas’ al-Qassam Brigades that it had secured the release of the detainees “despite the enemy’s refusal to accept them since last Friday and their neglect of the issue of our prisoners”.

“We decided to release them for humanitarian and poor health grounds … Despite that, the enemy refused to receive them last Friday,” the Telegram statement added.

Egyptian state-affiliated media reported that the two hostages freed by Hamas arrived late Monday at the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt.

“Two women who were held in Gaza arrived at the Rafah crossing,” Extra News TV reported after the group said they had been freed with Egyptian and Qatari mediation for “compelling humanitarian” reasons.

A few days ago, Gaza’s Hamas rulers released two Americans on Friday among some 200 hostages they abducted in October 7 attacks in Israel and indicated that more could follow.

Judith Tai Raanan, 59, and her daughter Natalie, 17, were handed over to Israeli forces at the Gaza Strip border on Friday, becoming the first captives whose release by Hamas has been confirmed by both sides since the latest round of Arab-Israeli bloodshed erupted.

The release was announced by Abu Ubaida, a spokesman of Hamas, the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, and confirmed a short time later in a statement from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Israeli leader said the mother and daughter, from the Chicago suburb of Evanston, Illinois, were “on their way to a meeting point at a military base in the center of the country, where their family members are waiting for them.”

No details were given on their condition, but US President Joe Biden said he was “overjoyed” at the news. Biden spoke by phone to the two women after they were freed.

And Hamas said it was working with Qatar and Egypt to free its “civilian” hostages, in a sign that more releases could follow.

The pair were met at the Gaza border by an Israeli envoy and taken to a military base in central Israel “where their families are waiting to meet them”.