Hamas’s armed wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, has released two American hostages — a mother and her daughter — “for humanitarian reasons” in response to Qatar’s mediation efforts, its spokesman Abu Ubaydah said on Friday, Reuters reported.

Abu Ubaydah said they released the citizens “for humanitarian reasons and to prove to the American people and the world that the claims of (President Joe) Biden and his fascist administration are false and baseless.”

Israel responded to the hostage crisis and a raid by Hamas militants on October 7, which killed 1,400 Israelis, with airstrikes in Gaza that killed more than 4,000, saying it would act to free the hostages while destroying Hamas.

It has massed tanks and troops around the enclave’s perimeter for an expected ground invasion, urging Palestinians to evacuate the northern Gaza Strip, where it says Hamas is based.

Israel also said it would not end its total blockade of the enclave unless the Israeli hostages were released.

Hamas says it has 200 hostages and another 50 are being held by other armed groups in the enclave. It said more than 20 hostages were killed in Israeli airstrikes, but gave no further details.