Reports from international human rights organizations and major news outlets

Israeli Forces Rescue Fawzia, Yazidi Woman Kidnapped During Sinjar Massacre, from Gaza

Oct 3, 2024, 08:31 AM

Israeli forces have successfully rescued a 21-year-old Yazidi woman, identified as Fawzia, from Gaza. Fawzia was kidnapped from her home in Iraq by ISIS in 2014 when she was just 11 years old during the Sinjar massacre. She was subsequently sold to a Palestinian ISIS fighter who forced her to marry him and later moved her to Gaza. During her captivity, she endured severe abuse and was held as a sex slave by a Hamas-ISIS member. The rescue operation, which involved Israeli security forces, has reunited her with her family in Sinjar, Iraq, after over a decade of captivity. The mission was supported by Jewish-Israeli-Canadian philanthropist Steve Maman, who has been working to free Yazidi girls from captivity.