Judith Raanan and her daughter, Natalie, were in Israel celebrating the Jewish holidays and their grandmother’s birthday when the unimaginable happened.
“I had minutes to prepare my beautiful daughter for what was about to happen," Judith Raanan said. "I said to her, in about two minutes, men are going to enter this room."
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WATCH HEREOn Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas launched its virtual attack on Israel, killing 1,200 Israelis and taking 250 people hostage.
Judith and Natalie were among those hostages, kidnapped from the kibbutz Nahal Oz and taken into Gaza.
Two weeks later, on Oct. 20, the mother and daughter were the first to be freed.
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Fifteen months later, on Wednesday, Judith told her story to residents in Cooper City just hours after a ceasefire deal was announced between Israel and Hamas.
The deal will take place in three phases, with the first phase lasting six weeks.
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According to the deal, fighting will pause and Hamas will release some of the hostages, though it is unclear how many of those hostages will be alive.
In return, hundreds of Palestinian prisoners will be released from Israeli jails and Israel will withdraw troops from populated areas in Gaza.
After the announcement, people in Gaza could be seen cheering in the street.
In Israel, the people had mixed emotions.
“I’ll believe it when I see it,” Raanan said.
A permanent end to the war and the release of the rest of the hostages still needs to be negotiated.
