Fawzia Amin Sido, kidnapped by ISIS at the age of 11 and held by Hamas for nearly a decade, has been rescued by Israeli forces in Gaza following a months-long US-led operation, officials reported Thursday. The 21-year-old, who was freed earlier this week, reunited with her family upon her return to Iraq. The video of the emotional moment went viral.
Regarding the incident, David Saranga, the director of the digital diplomacy bureau at Israel’s foreign ministry, posted on X, “Fawzia, a Yazidi girl kidnapped by ISIS from Iraq and brought to Gaza at just 11 years old, has finally been rescued by the Israeli security forces”
“For years, she was held captive by a Palestinian Hamas-ISIS member. She has now been reunited with her family.”
“Her story is a reminder of the brutality faced by Yazidi children, taken without a choice,” he wrote .
The freed hostage was in good physical condition — but traumatized by her lengthy time in captivity, Iraqi officials said.
Sido is a member of the ancient Yazidi religious minority mostly found in Iraq and Syria which saw more than 5,000 members killed and thousands more kidnapped in an IS campaign in 2014 that the U.N. has said constituted genocide.
She had been snatched from her home back in 2014 when Islamic State jihadists were carrying out terror attacks on Yazidi communities across the country. The young girl was quickly sold off and trafficked to Gaza, where she was held captive for the next 10 years.
She was freed after more than four months of efforts that involved several attempts that failed due to the difficult security situation resulting from Israel's military offensive in Gaza, Silwan Sinjaree, chief of staff of Iraq's foreign minister, told Reuters.
