Father of freed US hostage say she is ‘doing good’ following her release from Hamas captivity
The father of freed American hostage Natalie Raanan says she is doing well following her two weeks in captivity after she and her mother were abducted in Israel by Hamas.
Uri Raanan told reporters he had spoken to his 17-year-old daughter Natalie on the phone.
“She’s doing good. She’s doing very good,” he said.
“I’m in tears, and I feel very, very good.”
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(L-R) Judith and Natalie Raanan
The 71-year-old, from Evanston, Illinois, said he saw on the news that an American mother and daughter would be released by Hamas, and he spent all Friday hoping that meant his daughter Natalie and his ex-wife Judith.
Knowing Natalie may be able to celebrate her 18th birthday next week at home with family and friends feels “wonderful… the best news”, he said.
“I’m going to hug her it will be the best day of my life.”
Natalie with her father, Uri Raanan
Mr Raanan added that he believes Natalie and Judith, 59, are making their way to Tel Aviv to reunite with relatives, and that both will be back in the US early next week.
US President Joe Biden celebrated the news that the Raanans had been freed.
“I am overjoyed that they will soon be reunited with their family, who has been wracked with fear,” Mr Biden said in Washington.
The president also spoke with Judith and Natalie and “relayed that they will have the full support of the US government as they recover from this terrible ordeal”, the White House said.
Judith Raanan and her daughter Natalie speak to Joe Biden following their release. Pic: US Embassy Jerusalem
An Israeli army spokesman said the two Americans were out of the Gaza Strip and with the Israeli military.
Hamas said they released them for humanitarian reasons in an agreement with the Qatari government.
They were the first hostages to be released since Hamas militants abducted around 200 people during their rampage on 7 October.
Natalie and her dog in Chicago. Pic: AP
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The International Committee of the Red Cross, which transported the Raanans from Gaza to Israel, said their release offered “a sliver of hope” for those still being held.
Judith and Natalie had left their home in the Chicago suburb of Evanston to travel to Israel to celebrate the Jewish holidays, according to family members.
On 7 October they were in Nahal Oz, near Gaza, for the holiday Simchat Torah, when Hamas militants stormed into southern Israeli towns, killing and abducting hundreds of people.
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Two US hostages freed by Hamas
Their family had heard nothing from them since the attack and were later told by US and Israeli officials that they were being held in Gaza, Natalie’s brother Ben Raanan told the Denver Post earlier this week.
Natalie loves art, makeup, fashion, and DoorDash – “she hates eating at home”, according to Ben, who is based in Denver, Colorado.
She graduated from high school this year and was deciding between going to college to study interior or fashion design and taking an apprenticeship with a tattoo shop.
Qatar said it would continue its dialogue with Israel and Hamas in hopes of winning the release of all hostages “with the ultimate aim of de-escalating the current crisis and restoring peace”.
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Mother of hostage: ‘I miss her’
The release comes amid growing expectations of a ground offensive that Israel says is aimed at rooting out Hamas militants who rule Gaza.
In a statement issued late on Friday, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “Two of our abductees are at home. We are not giving up on the effort to return all abducted and missing people.”
“At the same time, we’ll continue to fight until victory,” he added.
US
Trump-backed North Carolina Republican Mark Robinson denies calling himself ‘black nazi’ on pornographic forum
A Republican backed by Donald Trump in his bid to be North Carolina’s governor denied reports he called himself a “black nazi” on an online message board.
CNN reported Thursday that Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson posted racial and sexual comments on a pornography website more than a decade ago.
In a video posted on social media, the Republican nominee said he would not leave the race over “salacious tabloid lies”.
“We are staying in this race. We are in it to win it. And we know that with your help, we will.”
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Mr Robinson also referenced the CNN report and said: “Let me reassure you the things that you will see in that story – those are not the words of Mark Robinson.
“You know my words. You know my character.”
The US outlet reported Mr Robson wrote of being aroused by a memory of “peeping” women in gym showers when he was 14.
He was also said to have used a racial slur when discussing civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr, referred to himself as a “black nazi,” and said: “I’d take Hitler over any of the shit that’s in Washington right now.”
CNN said it matched details of the account on the pornographic website forum to other online accounts held by Robinson by comparing usernames, a known email address and his full name.
Sky News has not verified whether the account is linked to Mr Robinson.
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Eight minutes after the report was published on Thursday, vice president Kamala Harris’ campaign started sharing videos of Donald Trump praising Mr Robinson.
One video from the campaign on X shows the former president at a March rally in Greensboro, North Carolina, where he called the lieutenant governor “Martin Luther King times two”.
“I think you’re better than Martin Luther King. I think you are Martin Luther King times two,” Mr Trump said.
Scott Lassiter, a GOP Senate candidate in a swing district in the state, called on Mr Robinson to “suspend his campaign to allow a quality candidate to finish this race”.
Mr Trump’s campaign also appeared to be distancing itself from Mr Robinson.
The ex-president did not refer to the controversy when he addressed Jewish donors on Thursday night, instead vowing to be ‘the best friend Jewish Americans ever had”.
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