First photo of two US hostages released by Hamas emerges
FOX News senior foreign affairs correspondent Greg Palkot has the latest on the release of two American nationals held captive by Hamas on 'Your World.'
Former Israel-based NBC News correspondent Martin Fletcher reacted to the news Friday that two of his wife's relatives who had been taken hostage by Hamas were released.
"My wife has been in touch with her family directly in Israel," Fletcher said Friday on MSNBC. "And she's been told that the hostages are now with the Red Cross in Israel. And that's as much as we know."
"Obviously a huge sigh of relief," Fletcher later said, "and at the same time concerned that there's so many more hostages. And the question being, is this the beginning of a prisoner swap of some kind?"
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Former NBC News correspondent Martin Fletcher calls the release of two relatives who were being held hostage by Hamas a "huge sigh of relief." (Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty Images)
Fletcher explained that the American mother and daughter Judith and Natalie Raanan of Evanston, Ill., are distant cousins of his wife but that they are part of a "tight-knit family."
"I can tell you one thing, the family's rallied around them in an extraordinary manner hoping that this would happen. And the fact that it actually happened as a miracle," Fletcher said.
The veteran journalist, who previously served as NBC News' Tel Aviv bureau chief, speculated that Hamas "suddenly" releasing two American hostages could indicate a "calculated" decision about a potential prisoner swap.
However, Fletcher also revealed he still has a relative among the remaining hostages as his family buried another relative who was murdered in the Oct. 7 attacks.
Brigadier General Gal Hirsch seen with Judith and Natalie Raanan. (Fox News)
Fletcher previously got emotional when he revealed on MSNBC that two of the hostages were family members.
"We talk about six degrees of separation. So Israel’s a tiny country with one or two degrees of separation, so I just found out today that two of my wife’s family are among the hostages," Fletcher told MSNBC's Stephanie Ruhle on Thursday.
The Raanans were abducted from the Nahal Oz kibbutz in southern Israel near the Gaza Strip during the Oct. 7 attacks.
A source confirmed to Fox News on Friday that both of Fletcher's family members were released "on humanitarian grounds" following Qatari mediation efforts.
As of Friday, at least 11 Americans are feared to be held captive by Hamas.
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