Woman rescued from Gaza after she was kidnapped as a girl

A Yazidi woman kidnapped by the terrorist organization Islamic State (IS) in Iraq has been rescued from the Gaza Strip, according to Israeli reports. The woman was abducted ten years ago as an eleven-year-old and ultimately held by a Palestinian in the Gaza Strip, said the head of the digital department of the Israeli Foreign Ministry, David Saranga, on X. She has now been reunited with her family.

Footage distributed in Israeli media and by Saranga is said to show the woman hugging her relatives after returning home.

The Israeli army said it had freed the woman from the Gaza Strip under the direction of the Israeli agency responsible for Palestinian affairs, Cogat, and in cooperation with the US Embassy in Israel. The Hamas terrorist who held her was allegedly killed during an Israeli attack. He had connections to IS. The Yazidi woman then fled to a hiding place in the Gaza Strip.

The woman has now returned from Gaza to her Iraqi homeland

She was recently brought to Israel via the Kerem Shalom border crossing in an internationally coordinated, complex and secret operation and finally traveled via the West Bank to Jordan. From there she returned home to Iraq.

The Iraqi Foreign Ministry confirmed the 21-year-old’s release. She was freed after more than four months of efforts and in close coordination with the US embassies in Baghdad and Amman as well as Jordanian authorities. The abductee was transported “through several countries” before she was freed. The Iraqi Foreign Ministry initially did not provide further details or Israel’s role.

Iraq does not have diplomatic relations with Israel. Iraqis are forbidden from having any contact with Israelis.

According to Israeli media, the diplomatic procedures that led to the young woman being able to leave the Gaza Strip and travel to Iraq were complicated and lengthy.

The Israeli newspaper Jerusalem Post had already reported on the woman’s fate in September. She was forced to marry a Palestinian IS fighter in Raqqa, Syria, who is also said to have connections to Hamas. The woman was, among other things, sexually abused during her years of captivity. According to the report, her husband is already dead.

The Yazidi woman was held by a Palestinian in her husband’s family home until he died in an Israeli airstrike. The Yazidi woman then got a cell phone and posted her story online. Since then, helpers have been working on organizing their departure. According to the paper, the woman is said to have two children. It was initially unclear what became of both of them.

In August 2014, IS attacked the Sinjar region and captured thousands of Yazidi women to abuse them as sex slaves. Although the Iraqi government announced victory over ISIS, many women are still missing, according to activists.