In an exclusive interview that aired Wednesday on NewsNation’s “Elizabeth Vargas Reports,” anchor Elizabeth Vargas spoke with Judith Raanan, an American mother who was kidnapped by Hamas in October and held hostage along with her teenage daughter.
NewsNation’s Elizabeth Vargas Reports
The Evanston mother who was taken hostage by Hamas last year with her daughter has for the first time publicly described details of their capture and time in captivity.
Judith Raanan, 59, and her 18-year-old daughter, Natalie Raanan, were held for nearly two weeks and became the first hostages released by Hamas following the group’s surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7. Nearly 1,200 people were killed in the attack and another 250 taken hostage.
“Two guys came in with full artillery — very frightening, very big weapons, with a big bomb,” Judith Raanan said in an interview with NewsNation’s Elizabeth Vargas. “They did say, ‘We’re not going to kill you.’”
The Oct. 7 ambush sparked a war. More than 31,000 Palestinians have been killed — mostly women and children — and an estimated 1.4 million civilians have been displaced, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
Judith Raanan and her daughter had been visiting relatives in Nahal Oz, a kibbutz about 1.5 miles from the Gaza border, when Judith Raanan received a phone call from her mother on the morning of Oct. 7 warning them to not go outside. Soon after, they heard gunshots in the distance and a rocket hit one of their rooms. Then they heard militants outside their door, she said.
“Don’t panic,” Judith Raanan told her daughter. “I knew that panic is really not suitable for this situation; if you panic, you can be shot. And the best thing is to see what’s next.”
The militants zip-tied the mother and daughter and took them at gunpoint across the desert to the Gaza border, Judith Raanan said in the interview. The mother suffered a cut to her hand when a militant sliced off her restraint with a knife.
The two were then taken to a hospital, where the mother said nurses cheered as she and her daughter arrived as hostages.
“I thought of my mother,” Judith Raanan said. “Is she OK? Is she dead? Is she alive? You had no way of knowing.”
Judith Raanan said she tried to keep her daughter occupied by singing songs to her, including Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World.” She also had militants provide her daughter with colored pencils and paper to calm her during captivity.
When asked about the overall experience, Judith Raanan told NewsNation, “It’s like Russian roulette. You don’t know if you’re gonna be dead or alive.”
Nearly two weeks after being kidnapped, the Qatari government struck a deal with Hamas to release Judith Raanan, an aesthetician, and Natalie, a recent Deerfield High School graduate.
The two were handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross and taken to Israel, where they were evaluated by medical professionals before returning home in good health.
About 100 people are estimated to still be held captive by Hamas.
“We have hostages that are going through mental, physical, emotional hardships and need to be released,” Judith Raanan said in the interview.