Nurit Cooper (left) and Yocheved Lifshitz. (Courtesy).
Yocheved Lifshitz in an ambulance after her release from Hamas captivity on October 23, 2023. (screen capture).
Israel rejects taking part in ‘selection’ process as reports indicate 50 dual-citizens could be freed. Hamas claims move ‘humanitarian’.
Egyptian station says 2 hostages released
Egyptian TV station Al Qahera News says that two Israeli hostages have been released at the Rafah crossing with Egypt.
The station claims the release is the result of intense Egyptian efforts.
Hamas says the release was for “humanitarian reasons.”
There is no Israeli comment.
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Hamas claims it released two hostages; no confirmation.
The spokesperson for Hamas’s military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, who goes by the nom de guerre Abu Obeida, claims to have released two Israeli hostages who were being held in the Gaza Strip.
Abu Obeida names the two hostages, and says they are being released for “humanitarian reasons,” following Egyptian and Qatari mediation.
On Saturday, Abu Obeida claimed that the terror group wanted to release the same two hostages, but that Israel declined to accept them. Following the claim, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office says it would not respond to “Hamas’s propaganda lies.”
There is no immediate comment from Israeli officials about Hamas’s latest claim.
Channel 12 news reports that the families of Nurit Cooper, 79, and Yocheved Lifshitz, 85, have been notified of their release from Hamas captivity.
Both were abducted from their homes in Kibbutz Nir Oz. Their husbands remain in Gaza.
The two are yet to be seen at the crossing, where they have apparently been handed over to Red Cross custody.
