Girl Kidnapped By ISIS At Age 11 Rescued By Israeli Forces In Gaza After A Decade In Captivity

A girl kidnapped by ISIS terrorists in Iraq around 10 years ago was rescued in a secret operation coordinated between Israeli forces and the U.S. in Gaza, officials said on Thursday.

Fawzia Amin Sido, a now 21-year-old Yazidi girl, was taken from her family by ISIS terrorists when she was just 11 years old and held hostage by a “Palestinian Hamas-ISIS member,” according to David Saranga, the director of the digital diplomacy bureau at Israel’s foreign ministry. Sido was reunited with her family in norther Iraq. The Yazidis are a Kurdish-speaking group in parts of Iraq, Syria, Turkey, and Iran.

“Her story is a reminder of the brutality faced by Yazidi children, taken without a choice,” Saranga said. “Remember, there are still 101 Israelis being held hostage in Gaza.”

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… pic.twitter.com/nkVotqYdov

— David Saranga (@DavidSaranga) October 3, 2024

The young woman was in good condition physically, but was traumatized from her decade-long captivity, according to Iraqi officials, Reuters reported. After being kidnapped in 2014 by ISIS terrorists who were ravaging Yazidi communities, Sido was trafficked to Gaza where she was held hostage until her rescue. Over 6,000 Yazidis were kidnapped by ISIS in 2014 alone with many of them sold into sexual slavery.

“This is further proof of the connection between Hamas and ISIS, as well as the crimes against humanity committed by the terrorist organization in Gaza,” the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement. “We will continue to act to dismantle the Hamas-ISIS terrorist organization and free all hostages in Hamas captivity.”

The IDF added that the Hamas member who was holding Sido hostage was recently killed in an Israeli airstrike, which freed the woman to get in contact with Iraqi authorities. The Iraqis then passed her information to U.S. officials, Reuters reported. After multiple attempts to get Sido failed over the past four months, she was finally rescued “in a complex operation coordinated between Israel, the United States, and other international actors,” the Israeli military said in a statement.

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Along with the 101 Israeli hostages still in Gaza, Israeli officials believe that four Americans are still alive and in Hamas captivity. Hamas leaders are known to place hostages near themselves as human shields as Israel seeks to take out the terrorists in Gaza.

The war in Gaza is approaching its one-year mark after Hamas terrorists launched a brutal attack against Israel on October 7, 2023, killing over 1,200 people and taking hundreds hostage back into the Gaza Strip.