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Hamas releases 2 Israeli hostages from Gaza as war continues
Hamas released two more hostages on Monday, identified by Israeli officials as Nurit Cooper and Yocheved Lifshitz, just days after releasing two American women on Friday.
Cooper and Lifshitz were abducted from their homes in Kibbutz Nir Oz, a small Israeli community near the Gaza border that came under attack on Oct. 7. Cooper, 80, was taken with her husband, 85-year-old Amiram Cooper, their daughter-in-law Noa told the BBC.
Lifshitz, 85, was also abducted along with her husband, 83-year-old Oded Lifshitz, according to the Times of Israel. The outlet reported that the couple were peace activists and regularly transported patients from Gaza to hospitals across Israel for medical treatments.
The women’s husbands were not released.
According to a message posted to a Hamas-affiliated Telegram channel, the two hostages released Monday were let go for humanitarian reasons after mediation by Qatar and Egypt.
The International Committee of the Red Cross also facilitated the release, the agency said on social media. “Our role as a neutral intermediary makes this work possible & we are ready to facilitate any future release,” ICRC tweeted. “We hope that they will soon be back with their loved ones.”
Israel has said 222 hostages were taken during Hamas’ deadly Oct. 7 rampage into Israel. Israel Defense Forces said Friday that more than 20 of the hostages taken to Gaza were under the age of 18, and between 10 and 20 of the hostages were over the age of 80.
The first two hostages released on Friday were Judith and Natalie Raanan, dual U.S.-Israeli citizens who live in Evanston, Illinois, and were visiting relatives in Israel. The Raanans were taken from Gaza by the International Committee of the Red Cross and reunited with family in Israel.
During his visit to Tel Aviv last week, President Biden said there was “no higher priority” for him than securing the release of the hostages held by Hamas.
Two sources told CBS News the U.S. has sought to slow Israel’s plans for a ground invasion of Gaza in order to prioritize the release of hostages and the distribution of aid. The message is said to have been conveyed primarily through defense channels.
At a White House briefing on Monday, John Kirby, the National Security Council’s coordinator for strategic communications, discussed ongoing efforts to secure the hostages’ release.
“It is literally an hour-by-hour effort here at the White House and at the State Department to find out where these folks are and to try to make the effort to to get them out and get them back,” Kirby said.
He added, “We still have about 10 unaccounted-for Americans and it’s not exactly clear to us where those 10 people are.”
Asked about the negotiations at a State Department briefing Monday, spokesman Matt Miller said, “As far as I’m aware, Hamas is not getting anything in return for the release of these hostages. … We have not released any prisoners, the government of Israel has not released any prisoners, I’m not aware of any release of any prisoners. We have called on Hamas to do this because it should not be holding innocent civilians hostage.”
CBS News spoke with family members of released hostages Judith and Natalie Raanan about how they are doing. Watch that interview in the video below:
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Paul Whelan, freed in prisoner swap with Russia, tells other American detainees: “We’re coming for you”
Washington — Nearly seven weeks after the Russians handed over Paul Whelan on a tarmac in Ankara, Turkey, the Marine veteran stood on the steps of the U.S. Capitol with a message for other Americans who are held abroad.
“We’re coming for you,” he told reporters Tuesday night after he met with lawmakers. “It might take time, but we’re coming.”
Whelan said he spoke with lawmakers about how the government can better support detainees after they’re released.
“We spoke about how the next person’s experience could be better,” he said. “What the government could do for the next person that’s held hostage and comes home — the care and support that other people might need, especially people that are in a worse situation. There are people coming back that lived in the dirt without shoes for three years, people that were locked up in hideous conditions for 20 years. They need support.”
The U.S. secured Whelan’s release in August in one of the largest prisoner swaps since the end of the Cold War. The complex deal came after months of sensitive negotiations between the U.S., Russia, Germany, Slovenia, Poland and Norway.
As part of the deal, Russia released 16 prisoners while the Western countries released eight Russians. Whelan was released alongside Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, Russian-American radio journalist Alsu Kurmasheva and Vladimir Kara-Murza, a U.S. green card holder and Kremlin critic.
Whelan, who had been the longest-held American detainee in Russia, was arrested in December 2018 when he traveled to the country to attend a friend’s wedding. He was convicted of espionage in a secret trial and sentenced to 16 years in prison in 2020.
Whelan, his family and the U.S. government vehemently denied that he was a spy and accused Russia of using him as a political pawn. The U.S. government considered him to be wrongfully detained, a rare designation that put more government resources toward securing his release.
But a deal to secure his freedom was long elusive. He remained behind bars as Russia freed Marine veteran Trevor Reed and women’s basketball star Brittney Griner — both of whom were detained after Whelan’s arrest — in prisoner swaps with the U.S.
The U.S. said it pushed for his inclusion in both exchanges, but Russia refused. It led to Whelan advocating for his own release from a remote prison camp, calling government officials and journalists to make sure that he wasn’t forgotten.
When the plane carrying Whelan, Gershkovish and Kurmasheva landed in Maryland on Aug. 1, Whelan was the first to disembark. He was greeted by President Biden, who gave Whelan his American flag pin, and Vice President Kamala Harris.
“Whether he likes it or not, he changed the world,” Rep. Haley Stevens, a Michigan Democrat, told reporters Tuesday.
Whelan’s case and his family’s constant pressure on the U.S. government brought more attention to the cases of Americans who are wrongfully detained by foreign governments.
Haley said Whelan is a reminder to other Americans considering traveling to Russia that “you have a target on your back.”
Whelan said it’s been an adjustment acclimating to life back in the U.S., especially learning the latest technology like his iPhone 15.
“I was in a really remote part of Russia,” he said. “We really didn’t have much. The conditions were poor. The Russians said the poor conditions were part of the punishment. And coming back to see this sort of thing now is a bit of a shock, but it’s a good shock.”
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