As former Hamas hostages prepare to return home, family of kidnapped man share joy, concern

CHICAGO — After 14 dark days, Uri Raanan expects the best day of his life to be about a week away.

Raanan’s daughter Natalie Raanan and her mother Judith Raanan, Uri’s ex-wife, were released into Israel Friday after two weeks spent as hostages of the terrorist group Hamas.

Natalie and Judith plan to fly back to Chicago in about a week, Uri Raanan told reporters from his home in Bannockburn, near Deerfield, Friday evening, hours after the first news reports of their release.

“I’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time,” Uri said. “I haven’t been sleeping for two weeks.”

Hamas operatives kidnapped Judith and Natalie at gunpoint from the Nahal Oz kibbutz in southern Israel, where they were visiting family, on Oct. 7. While they were held at an undisclosed location in Gaza, their family received no proof of life.

The Raanan family will celebrate Natalie’s birthday as soon as she is able to travel from Israel to Chicago, Uri said. Natalie turns 18 on Tuesday.

“I’m going to hug her and kiss her and it’s going to be the best day of my life,” Raanan said.

Natalie told family in Israel that she was not physically harmed by Hamas, a family friend close to the situation told the Tribune Saturday.

Hamas operatives confiscated Natalie’s phone, but she was provided with food, water, fresh clothes and access to a shower, according to the family friend.

Uri did not speak to Judith directly Friday, spending a minute or two on the phone with his daughter. Natalie told him Judith had a small scratch on her hand but seemed mostly unharmed, he said.

“She was very happy, and she’s waiting to come home,” Uri said.

As of Saturday, the Raanan family has raised $10,000 to help care for Natalie and Judith when they return to the Chicago area.

Uri said the two may have been together while held hostage.

“Natalie told me they treat(ed) her nice,” Uri said. “I told her I love you and I miss you very much … she knows how I feel.”

President Joe Biden, along with Gov. J.B. Pritzker and U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, were in touch with Uri and the Raanan family throughout the afternoon, as U.S. embassy officials connected with Judith and Natalie.

Biden spoke with Natalie and Judith by phone Friday evening, the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

As U.S. and Israeli media scrambled to confirm details, Israeli Defense Forces officers sent Uri pictures of the mother and daughter’s release, he said Friday.

Later, IDF officers called Raanan to let him know they were on their way to collect his daughter and ex-wife.

For the nearly two weeks Judith and Natalie were held hostage, Uri Raanan could not sleep, he said. He divided his time between praying, following the news and speaking with family.

“I’ve been glued to the TV for two weeks hoping for good news,” Uri Raanan said. “My head always was in Israel.”

Frida Alonso, 19, addressed Natalie, her stepsister, Friday: “I’m so happy you’re finally coming home. We’ve all missed you so much.”

“We hoped you were alive and safe, and we know you’re so brave, and strong, and that’s how you and your mom made it through this,” Alonso said.

Though Natalie and Judith have been released, the family’s prayers for safety are far from over, Sigal Zamir, Natalie’s aunt, said Friday evening.

“This is a small joy in our family,” Zamir said. “For all the other hostages, and all the other families, just keep praying, and hopefully good news will come.”

Chicago natives Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg, who now live in Jerusalem, hope the Raanans’ release provides further motivation for Illinois politicians to keep hostage release efforts a top priority.

Polin and Goldberg’s 23-year-old son, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, was kidnapped from the Tribe of Nova music festival in the Negev desert in southern Israel on Oct. 7.

“Do not stop reaching out to elected officials to make sure they are screaming at the top of their lungs,” Polin said. “Two Chicagoans were released last night. We need another one released.”

According to eyewitness accounts and video, Goldberg-Polin evacuated into a bomb shelter, which came under heavy gunfire.

Hamas operatives threw more than 11 grenades into the shelter before moving Hersh and three other survivors into a pickup truck. His cellphone signal was last detected around 10:20 a.m. Israel time, in Gaza, Polin said.

Polin grew up in Skokie and West Rogers Park. Goldberg grew up in Gold Coast.

The pair lived in Chicago after college before moving to Berkeley, California, where Hersh was born, relocating to Jerusalem in 2008.

“We’re really trying to get as much support as possible from our elected officials in Illinois,” Polin said. “That’s kind of the state that we’ve been leaning on the most.”

Hersh loves travel, and had planned a trip around the world starting later this month, Polin said.

“He is a fun-loving guy. He’s smart, curious and funny, with a dark sense of humor,” Polin said. “From the time he was a little kid, he could tell you every country of the world and its capital.”

Polin believes that Judith and Natalie’s status as full-time United States residents contributed to Hamas’ decision to release them first. Residents of more than 30 countries are currently among the hostages.

“I’m happy for them. I’m not surprised,” Polin said.

Judith and Natalie were released partially on humanitarian grounds, according to Hamas spokespeople. The same request is a matter of urgency for injured hostages like Goldberg-Polin, whose left arm was blown off below the elbow during his kidnapping.

“We don’t know his whereabouts,” Polin said. “We don’t know if he’s alive. What we do know is he’s critically wounded … Doctors have told us that by two weeks in, if he has not gotten medical treatment, the risk is dire.”

As the Raanans prepare to welcome Natalie and Judith back to Chicago, Polin said he and Goldberg pray for their own quiet homecoming.

“I’d bring Hersh in the house, I’d close the door to the outside,” Polin said. “We would spend time as a family and just hug and embrace and have quiet and have each other. That would be a dream.”

For friends and family in Evanston and Deerfield, Friday was a day of joy and relief, tempered by an understanding of the long healing process ahead.

“I have faith in the world, I have faith in peace, and I want to thank everybody who was involved in bringing them back safe,” Natalie’s stepmother Paola Raanan said Friday, at the Raanan’s Bannockburn home. I cannot express how happy we are.”

“We’re thrilled there was a Natalie to come home,” said Deerfield resident Gale Gand. “I never knew whether to talk in past tense. I’d correct myself and talk in present tense to kind of signal the universe that we were not giving up.”

Gand’s daughter Ruby is a close friend of Natalie, and had planned to meet her in Israel while on a Birthright trip in December.

Deerfield residents know Natalie as “a little bit shy, but beautiful inside and out,” Gand said.

Gand says she struggled to find the best way to talk to her family about the Raanans’ ordeal. Though Natalie and Judith seem safe, Gand said, friends and family know their lives have been permanently transformed.

“I fear that she will never be the same,” Gand said. “I’m wondering who is the Natalie coming back to us …. How do you heal? Do you heal from this kind of thing? Will she always be the girl who got released from Hamas? I don’t know how you get on the other side of it.”