Captions by vitac www. Vitac. Com cnns coverage continues from israel. The source with Kaitlan Collins starts now. Im Kaitlan Collins live from tel aviv. And tonight, they are free. Two american hostages have just been released by hamas into the custody of the Israel Defense forces. An israeli source providing cnn with this photo of Judith Raanan and her 17yearold daughter, natalie. Two americans who were abducted by hamas two weeks ago in that Surprise Attack that killed more than 1,400 people here in israel. And here they are just moments President Biden, all smiles, all around. The u. S. Embassy released a photo from their end of the call, thats here in israel. And as the president was leaving the white house tonight, he spoke briefly about that conversation. [ Inaudible Question ] it went well. He said it went well. I should note we are standing by right now to hear from Natalie Raanans father, who is going to held a Press Conference just moments after getting that news. Natalie and her mom, judith, are the first hostages to be released since this war began. All this comes as the Secretary Of StateAntony Blinken says ten additional americans are still unaccounted for tonight. In an update, israel said the majority of the hostages, they do believe, are still alive, offering hope to other families who are desperately awaiting l word of their loved ones. Judith and natalie were visiting a kibbutz near gaza when that kibbutz came under attack on october 7th. My father got a chance to talk with natalie, and i know judiths family got a chance to talk with judith. At least from my father, natalie is doing well, is composed. I just want to thank the Biden Administration for their wonderful work, as well as the qatari government. I also want to thank everyone throughout the country who has been praying for our family. I should note, weve been covering this story. Judith was here to celebrate her moms 85th debirthday. He was living in illinois with her daughter, who had just graduated high school. She is set to turn 18 in a matter of days. The Secretary Of State says they are meeting with a team of the u. S. Embassy, getting checkups, undergoing that medical care. I do want to note, earlier tonight a reporter asked President Biden, as he was boarding that Plane Whether or not israel should hold off going into gaez until more hostages are released. He said yes at the time time. The white house later clarified he was just talking about hostages being released. I spoke to my daughter earlier today. She sounds very good. She looks very good. She is very happy. And shes waiting to come home. Her mother has a little scratch on her hand, but she told me its nothing. Shes okay. I spoke earlier with President Biden. I thank him for his concern, for his helping with the release of them. And he was very, very nice. I spoke with Governor Pritzker and he was very nice. And hopefully i will see them next week. Were going to celebrate her birthday here in my home. Tell us about the emotions at this moment, the phone call you got and what you felt in that moment. I did not get a phone call. First of all, i got lots of pictures from the tv in israel. They showed the release of them. And later i got a phone call from the idf. They told me theyre going to meet them and then theyre going to call me. After they met them, they called me, and i spoke with my daughter. Uri, on that phone call with your daughter, was she able to tell you anything about the ordeal, what shes endured the past two weeks . No, she didnt tell me anything. She told me she was very good. What are you looking forward to most when you first see your daughter . Im going to hug her and kiss her and its going to be the best day of my life. Can you describe what its been like to wait and not know . It was it was situation. I did not sleep at night. My head is always in israel. Lots of phone calls in israel. Lots of tvs. Ive been glued to the tv for two weeks, hoping for good news. Did your exwife say the same thing, that they were treated well . I did not speak with my exwife. But as far as you know, they werent mistreated . They did not talk about it, but they look good. They look good and sound very good. Did you think this moment would happen . I did not lose hope. What kept you going . Praying and just waiting for this moment. Can you tell us about natalie and what makes her special . Shes an 18yearold teenager, typical american teenager, care about her nails, about her hair, about her fashion. But she sounds very, very, very good. And youre hearing from uri raanan there. That is the father of Natalie Raanan, who, of course, is one of Two American Hostages released by hamas earlier today. Anderson cooper is here with me. Just being able to hear the great its incredible. He said hes been glued to the tv, hasnt been sleeping. Its her birthday the next couple of days. Next tuesday. Its incredible, incredible. I know a number of families who have loved ones who are still being held or they are missing. They dont know their whereabouts. And obviously they are overjoyed for this family, and they are desperate for news of their loved ones. You know, it is worth pointing out hamas is, you know, released americans, which is clearly trying to send some sort of message whether its to the American Public or the american government, trying to weaken support for israel or make themselves look good, that was part of the reason they released this, them saying, you know, were not essentially the monsters that were being portrayed by your fascist government. I believe fascist was the term. They also indicated that more could be released if, you know, the situation warranted. I dont have the exact wording. But they could release all the hostages now. I mean, there are hostages with serious medical issues, who have serious wounds, that they caused in the capture. And they took these people. They are the ones holding them. They could be released all now. Theres Nothing Holding them back from releasing all the hostages. One of the families, they talked about their son who was at the Music Festival. He had his arm shorn off in the video. You see its the first photo of them. Theyre being brought in by idf soldiers. Its hard to think about what the last two weeks have been like for them. Yeah. More details will be learned. You know, were they kept in Underground Tunnel . Were they kept underground . I mean, the theres no telling, you know . I talked to a former Assad Officer involved in high level negotiations in the past. He said in general that hostages are often kept relatively well, so to speak, because they are bargaining tools. And thats how hamas views them. So, they want to keep them alive in order to use them to gain leverage and get many, many palestinian prisoners out of jails. And you make a good point that these are Two American Hostages who are being released. Its not a coincidence. Earlier this week we were talking about the french israeli citizen, mia schem. They released a video of a french citizen, french israeli citizen, showing that she that they had given her an operation, they were bandaging her wounds. They are sending messages to other countries to try to weaken support. And of course that comes right after President Biden was here. Anderson cooper, thank you. For more now i want to bring in alex marquardt, who of course has been following all of this. We were breaking this story earlier today, as these two hostages were being released. Alex, when you look at what is being said about why these two th hostages, you heard israels ambassador the United Nations say its part of a pr campaign because they are trying to generate good will before israels next Military Move . How much do you think hamas is trying to influence global perception . I think they absolutely are. I think you and anderson are completely correct. Here you have an American Family on tv saying, were getting our daughter and our wife home. So, youve got the families, all these 200 hostages, who now have greater hope that their families that their prisoners will be coming home. So, theres obviously a hope by hamas now that the pressure will grow on israel to perhaps back down a little bit, to lessen that pressure, that there will be more support, perhaps, for what hamas is asking for. We did hear the from a hamas spokesman saying they are willing to release the foreign prisoners if they are able to get aid into the gaza strip and able to get a ceasefire. Of course those are terms that israel certainly has rejected. Theyre not talking about peace. Theyre not talking about a ceasefire. So, the official reason that hamas gave earlier today for releasing these two women was humanitarian reasons. And it was to send a message, they said, to americans, to counter what they called the fascist claims by the Biden Administration. So, whether that this definitely puts israel in a tougher spot. But israel has said that these women were only released because of the Military Pressure and that Military Pressure, they say, is only going to grow. Kaitlan . Yeah, and as anderson noted, of course hamas could release all the hostages tonight if it happened to. As far as how this went down, you heard Antony Blinken thanking the government of qatar for its important assistance here. But they also house hamas leaders in their country. How does the u. S. Balance the influence they have with hamas but also with their ties to the group that just conducted this horrific attack . It is exactly that balance, kaitlan, that allows qatar to do what they do. Israel and the u. S. Do not talk to hamas. Theyre considered a terrorist organization. So, what qatar does is essentially do the things that countries like the u. S. Doesnt want to do. They are a very small country in a very powerful, very rich region. Theyre squeezed between iran and saudi arabia. So, how do they punch above their weight . They do things that other countries dont want to do. They engage with groups like hamas. They, in fact, house leaders from hamas in doha. They host meetings between the u. S. And the taliban on their territory. They engage with the taliban when the u. S. Doesnt want to. When those prisoners from iran were coming home, where did they go through . They came through doha. The qataris were engage being the iranians the entire time. Its through talking to people the u. S. And others dont want to talk to and having enormous amounts of wealth that they get this stature they have in the world. Yeah. The other thing that really stood out tonight, as were just looking at The Big Picture of all of this, is hearing from President Biden on why he believes hamas launched this attack in the first place. What did the president say, alex . The president confirmed a theory that has essentially been out there since this attack took place. Lets remind our viewers that hamas is backed by iran. They are the biggest funders and supporters of hamas. And irans main rival in the region is saudi arabia. Now, saudi arabia has been on a path to recognizing israel, to normalizing ties with israel, which would completely upend the middle east as we know it, and many would argue certainly here in the United States make the middle east safer and better and more prosperous place. So, President Biden said essentially that hamas carried out this attack to derail those normalization efforts. This is the quote from President Biden. He said, one of the reasons hamas moved on israel is they know i was about to sit down with the saudis. Now, one of the holdups in this Normalization Conversation is the treatment of palestinians. The saudis have been worried about the way that israel has been treating palestinians, particularly with this new extreme far right government. So, there is a sense and were hearing this from President Biden here that if there is a conflict between israelis and palestinians that that really could derail these conversations further, kaitlan. Yeah. And we had spoken to Prime Minister netanyahu about that just a month ago, and he was so hopeful about it. And now it seems like theres a little hope. Alex marquardt, thank you for that great reporting. Up next, of course the release of these two hostages is bittersweet news for so many other families tonight, who are still desperately waiting for word on their loved ones. I was with those families today at a ceremony here in tel aviv, where a chabot dinner table was set that had 200 empty chairs, each one representing a Hostage Being held by hamas. I spoke with the incredible parents of 21yearold amir shim, kidnapped at the nova Music Festival. They are shooting all over and he said they he even sees dying people and i love you, i love you. He told me was panicked. He was afraid. He said that they got into the car and theyre trying to escape from there. More of that interview right after this quick break. There is breaking news tonight about two hostages being freed from hamas by hamas, other families are watching this news tonight with hope. It has been two weeks since omere shim toes parents have seen their son. The 21yearold was with his friends at the nova Music Festival when hamas attacked that day. Amir was handcuffed, placed in the back of a pickup truck, and k kidnapped. That morning was the last time his family heard his voice, as he called them frantic and terrified. From a phone call to another phone call, it sounded much more panic, much more hiss teric. And one of the phone call, they say that theyre running away. They start to run, so they lost some of his friends. And while he was running, he say that they are shooting all over. And he say that he even sees some dying people and i love you, i love you. You must have been so panicked to hear your 21yearold son telling you, its not just rockets. Theres gunfire and people are running and being killed. Yes, yes. It was, like, we could understand from his voice that this is something that we cannot understand even what hes experienced over there. He told me he was panicked. He was afraid. He said that they got into the car and theyre trying to escape from there. My daughter told him, send us a live location. He sent a live location, and then the phone was stopped. And then we started to see that the point is moving, like, not in the right way. Not coming home. Not coming home at all. Its moving to the border. And my daughter start to cry, and she told us, listen, its not the way. Its not the way. And i called him to say, omer, its not the way. And he didnt answer. The phone was ringing, and he didnt answer. And then we saw that hes getting into gaza. He was behind the border. He was behind the border. And then in the evening, we got a video that was published by the hamas that omer is hes a hostage over there. We saw omer in the back of pickup. Handcuffed in a truck . Yes, with his friends. They were alive. There was no blood or something on his clothes. And that was the only single signal that we got from him. And its been almost two weeks. Tomorrow will have been two weeks. I mean, what have these two weeks been like for both of you . We didnt we are not sleeping. We are not eating. All of the things that we are doing now, its to shout over the world our pain that no mother all over to world needs to feel mother and father needs to feel like we are feeling now. Imagine that your son is going to a party and the next day people murderers kidnapped him and you dont know if hes eating, sleeping, if they are beating him. The basic thing of a mother is to protect. To protect her son. And i cannot protect my son. And its driving me crazy. And its im talking not only for myself. Im talking for a lot of families. You must understand that people were in the safe place at their home. They were sitting eating breakfast. Some of them were sleeping. And then these terrorists came in through their house and murdered and took them from their house, from the place that is the most safe place. And they took them, babies, children, teenage, mothers, fathers, grandmothers. And hes 21, but hes your baby. I mean, whats he like . Whats his personality . You were saying he kisses you three times on the cheek all the time. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hes an amazing guy. Hes a party guy. Hes a deejay, and he likes very much all these kinds of festivals, Music Festivals. So, thats omer, very, very happy guy, very happy guy. Funny. Funny, very funny. We call him sunshine because, like the sunshine, everybody wants to be next to him. The last name omers family saw him was at chabot dinner two weeks ago. He was there like he always is. Hes the life of the party. That night was the night he went to the nova Music Festival. The next time his parents heard from him was in a series of panicked phone calls the next day when they realized the festival was being attacked by hamas. The ceremony tonight and this huge table is for all the families for loved ones who are being held hostage tonight. And omers family is hoping he will be back at their chabot table very soon. Can you show me the video you were showing a moment ago . Yes. Amazing. And that was a picture of your family. Yes. How many times have you watched tha