Two Israeli women who were released by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas on Monday have been handed over to the Israeli military and are on their way to a medical facility in Israel, according to a statement from the Israeli prime ministers' office.

The statement named the two women as Nurit Cooper, 79, and Yocheved Lifshitz, 85. It said the two women were kidnapped along with their husbands from Kibbutz Nir Oz, near the Gaza border. Their husbands were still being held by Hamas, it added.

(Reporting by Rami Ayyub; Editing by Leslie Adler and Chris Reese)