2 American hostages return to Israel following release by Hamas

Hamas released two American hostages, mother and daughter Judith and Natalie Raanan, who were kidnapped during its attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said on Friday.

The women, who were taken from theNahal Oz kibbutz, near the Gaza boundary, were on their way to a military base in central Israel, a statement from Netanyahu's office said.

Media reports in the United States say they are from Evanston, Ill., a suburb of Chicago.

Theyare the first hostages to be freed since the incursion by Hamas militants into Israel two weeks ago.

"I haven't been sleeping for two weeks; tonight I'm going to sleep good," Uri Raanan, father of one of the freed hostages and ex-husband of the other, said ata news conference inIllinois on Friday night.

He thankedU.S. President Joe Biden for his efforts to free them and said he hopes to celebrate his daughter's birthday with her next week when she and her mother arrive back in the United States.

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Hamas said Friday it released them for "humanitarian reasons" and to send a message toBiden, who has staunchly backed Israel's war against the militant group in Gaza,denouncing Hamas in an address from the Oval Office on Thursday.

The two women were freed "to prove to the American people and the world that the claims made by Biden ... are false and baseless," said Abu Ubaida, a spokesperson for the armed wing of Hamas, which is designated a terrorist groupby the U.S., Canada and other Western countries.

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This Canadian Israeli man's family are being held hostage by Hamas

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Aharon Brodutch's sister-in-law and her three kids were kidnapped by Hamas during the Oct. 7 attack on Israel. The Canadian Israeli man says he's just focused on getting his family back.

In a statement,Biden thanked Qatar and Israel for their partnership in securing the pair's release.

A Qatari Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson said the release took place "after many days of continuous communication" and that dialogue on the release of other hostages would continue.

The International Committee of the Red Cross says it helped facilitate the hostages' release by transporting them from Gaza to Israel.

Israel's Kan public broadcaster reported the two women were dual Israeli-American nationals.

Netanyahusaid in a statement that while these two hostages had been returned, "we arenot giving up on the effort to return all abducted and missing people."

An Israeli army statement earlier in the day said most of the hostages were alive.

Israel has vowed to wipe outHamas, which rules Gaza, after its gunmen burst through the barrier fence surrounding the enclave and rampaged through Israeli towns and kibbutzes, killing some 1,400 people, mainly civilians. The dead included several Canadian citizens.

The Israeli military said Thursday it had notified the families of 203 captives takenby Hamas.

Since the Hamas attack, Israel has pounded Gaza with airstrikes and put the enclave's 2.3million people under a total siege, ordering a mass evacuation to the south and preventing shipmentsof food, fuel and medical supplies.

More than 1 million people made homeless

At least4,137 Palestinians have been killed, including more than 1,500 children, Palestinian officials say. The UN says more than a million have been made homeless.

Gaza's overwhelmed hospitals are rationing their dwindling medical supplies and fuel for generators, as authorities worked out logistics for a desperately needed aid delivery from Egypt that has yet to cross the border. Doctors in darkened wards across Gaza performed surgeries by the light of mobile phones and used vinegar to treat infected wounds.

WATCH | Aid delays will result inunnecessary death,UN official says:

People in Gaza are 'terrified' and need aid urgently, UNRWA says

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People in Gaza urgently need food, water and medicine but they also need fuel, says Juliette Touma, communications director for UNRWA, which provides aid on the ground in Gaza.

The deal to get aid into Gaza through Rafah, the territory's only crossing not controlled by Israel, remained fragile. Israel said the supplies could only go to civilians and that it would "thwart" any diversions by Hamas.

More than 200 trucks and some 2,700 tonnes of aid were positioned at or near Rafah,but damage tothe road on the Gaza side needs to be repaired before the crossing can open.

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres flew to Egypt's Sinai Peninsula on Friday in a push to get aid flowing into Gaza. At the Rafah border, he implored officials to clear the way for the deliveries, calling the supplies amassed in trucks nearby a "lifeline" for Gaza residents.

"It is impossible to be here and not feel a broken heart," said Guterres. "Behind these walls, we have two million that [are] suffering enormously."

He said the UN was actively engaging with Egypt, Israel and the U.S. to remove roadblocks forthe deliveries.

Israel has amassed tanks and troops near the perimeter of Gaza for an expected ground invasion.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said that achieving Israel's objectives would not be quick or easy.

"We will topple the Hamas organization. We will destroy its military and governing infrastructure. It's a phase that will not be easy. It will have a price," he told a parliamentary committee.

He added that the subsequent phase would be more drawn out, but was aimed at achieving "a completely different security situation" with no threat to Israel from Gaza. "It's not a day, it's not a week, and unfortunately it's not a month," he said.

Church hit in deadly airstrike

Inside Gaza City, the Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, the main Palestinian Christian denomination, said Israeli forces had struck the Church of Saint Porphyrius, where Christian and Muslim residents driven from their homes had sought shelter.

Gaza's Hamas-run government media office said 18 Christian Palestinians had been killed, while the Palestinianhealth ministry put the death toll at 16.

"They felt they would be safe here. They came from under the bombardment and the destruction, and they said they would be safe here but destruction chased them," a man cried out.

The Israeli military said part of the church was damaged in a strike on a militant command centreinvolved in launching rockets and mortars towards Israel, and that it was reviewing the incident.

"The IDF[Israel Defence Forces]can unequivocally state that the church was not the target of the strike," it said.

Israel has already told all civilians to evacuate the northern half of the Gaza Strip, which includes Gaza City. Many people have yet to leave saying they fear losing everything and have nowhere safe to go with southern areas also under attack.

In Zahra, a northern town in Gaza, residents said an entire district of some 25 multi-storey apartment buildings appeared to have been razed to the ground.

They received Israeli warning messages on their mobile phones at breakfast, followed 10 minutes later by a small drone strike. After another 20 minutes, F-16 warplanes brought the buildings down in huge explosions and clouds of dust.

"Everything I ever dreamt of and thought that I have achieved was gone. In that apartment was my dream, my memories with my children, and my wife, was the smell of safety and love," Ali, a resident of the district, told Reuters by phone.

The United Nations humanitarian affairs office said more than 140,000 homes nearly a third of all homes in Gaza have been damaged, with nearly 13,000 completely destroyed.

Evacuation order near Lebanon border

Meanwhile, the conflict is also spreading to two other fronts the West Bank and the northern border with Lebanon.

The defence ministry ordered residents of the largest Israeli town near the Lebanese border, Kiryat Shmona, to evacuate. Clashes at the border between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah movement have been the deadliest since a full-blown war in 2006.

WATCH | Israel trades fire with militants in Lebanon:

Israel and Hezbollah trade fire across Lebanese border

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Cross-border attacks between Israel and the militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon have been increasing and residents in the area have been told to leave. Some think Israel's northern border could turn into a second front if the war with Hamas escalates.

"This kind of evacuation, which has already been done in a number of towns on the northern border, allows the IDF to expand its operational freedom to act against the Hezbollah terrorist organization," said Daniel Hagari, spokesperson for the Israel Defence Forces (IDF).

Evacuees from Kiryat Shmona will be put up in state-subsidized guesthouses, Israel's Defence Ministry said.

Israel's military said one of its drones "struck a terrorist in Lebanese territory" overnight. It also said it targeted Hezbollah assets in response to rockets fired from Lebanon.

The Canadian government said earlier this week that it is preparing for a possible evacuation of citizens from Lebanon should the Israel-Hamas war escalate there, but encouraged Canadians in Lebanon to consider leaving before that might become necessary.

Tensions have also flared in the West Bank, where clashes between Israeli soldiers and settlers and Palestinians have already turned deadly. Israel has arrested more than 900 people in the West Bank, conducting fresh overnight and dawn raids on Friday.

The Palestinian health ministry said 13 people were killed including five children after Israeli troops raided and called in airstrikes on the Nur Shams refugee camp near Tulkarm.

The territory, where Palestinians have limited self rule under Israeli military occupation, has seen the deadliest clashes since 2005.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke on Friday with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman about the situation in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, Trudeau's office said.

Both expressed "deep concerns with the humanitarian impact"of the conflict, Trudeau's office said.

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Joe Biden calls on Americans to unite behind Israel, Ukraine

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Joe Biden, in a rare primetime TV address from the Oval Office, calls on Americans to unite behind Israel and Ukraine allies that depend on U.S. military aid.