Iraqi woman held captive in Gaza freed by Israeli forces
3 October 2024, 18:14
The 21-year-old was abducted by IS militants when she was 11 and at some point was trafficked to a Palestinian and brought to Gaza.
Israeli forces have rescued an Iraqi woman who was kidnapped 10 years ago by so-called Islamic State before being held captive in Gaza.
Fawzia Amin Sido, 21, arrived back in Iraq on Wednesday, Iraqi authorities said.
Israelโs military said on Thursday that the woman was freed in a rescue operation earlier this week that was coordinated with the United States.
Islamic State militants enslaved and killed thousands from the Yazidi religious minority as they seized much of northern Iraq and eastern Syria in 2014.
๐๐๐ญ๐๐ซ ๐ฆ๐จ๐ซ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ง ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ข๐ง ๐๐๐ฉ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ ๐ข๐ง ๐๐๐ณ๐, ๐ ๐๐-๐ฒ๐๐๐ซ-๐จ๐ฅ๐ ๐๐๐ณ๐ข๐๐ข ๐ฐ๐จ๐ฆ๐๐ง ๐ก๐๐ฅ๐ ๐๐ฒ ๐ ๐๐๐ฆ๐๐ฌ ๐ญ๐๐ซ๐ซ๐จ๐ซ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ ๐๐๐๐ข๐ฅ๐ข๐๐ญ๐๐ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐๐๐๐ ๐ฐ๐๐ฌ ๐ซ๐๐ฌ๐๐ฎ๐๐ ๐๐ง๐ ๐ซ๐๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ง๐๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ก๐๐ซโฆ
โ Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) October 3, 2024
According to the Israeli army, Ms Sido was abducted by the IS when she was 11 and at some point was trafficked to a Palestinian and brought to Gaza.
The military said the Palestinian belonged to Hamas and was killed, apparently by an air strike.
A spokesperson said Ms Sido was taken through the Kerem Shalom border, which connects Gaza with Israel.
From there she travelled to Jordan and then to Iraq, where she was reunited with family members.
The Iraqi government said only that she was freed โin one of the countries of the regionโ.
