Hamas counters abduction claim, says Yazidi woman's Gaza departure was voluntary

Hamas counters abduction claim, says Yazidi woman's Gaza departure was voluntary

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

The Islamist group Hamas rejected what it called "a false narrative and fabricated story" about a Yazidi woman Israel said was freed in Gaza in a secret operation involving Israel, the United States and Iraq.

The woman, whom Israeli officials have said was taken captive when she was 11 years old and sold to a Hamas member, had never been abducted or sold, and was able to leave Gaza with the knowledge of the Hamas authorities, the Hamas-run Gaza government media office said on Friday.

It said the 25-year old woman, identified as Fawzia Sido, was married to a Palestinian who fought alongside the Syrian opposition forces before he was killed. She later moved to live with his mother in Turkey before traveling to Egypt, where she continued to live with her mother-in-law and later crossed into Gaza legally.

Years after she moved to live in Gaza, she married her husband's brother before he was killed during the ongoing Israeli military offensive, Hamas said.

"She requested to contact her family because she felt increasingly unsafe in Gaza amid the intense bombing and brutal attacks by the Israeli occupation. She asked for evacuation, especially after her husband was martyred," the Gaza government media office said.

"The Yazidi woman left the government facility to the crossing on her own, with the knowledge of her deceased husband’s family and the Palestinian government. The occupation did not 'rescue' her, as falsely claimed in its statement aimed at misleading public opinion," it added.

Reuters could not reach the woman directly for comment on Thursday, with Iraqi officials saying she was resting after having been reunited with her family in northern Iraq.

On Thursday, the Israeli military said it had coordinated with the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem and "other international actors" in the operation to free Sido.

It said in a statement her captor had been killed during the Gaza war, presumably by an Israeli strike, and she then fled to a hideout inside the Gaza Strip.

"In a complex operation coordinated between Israel, the United States, and other international actors, she was recently rescued in a secret mission from the Gaza Strip through the Kerem Shalom Crossing," it said.

A U.S. defense official said on Thursday the American military did not have a role in the evacuation.

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 on Thursday.

Iraq and Israel do not have any diplomatic ties.

"The narrative the occupation attempted to promote is entirely false. The woman traveled to Gaza through multiple airports and official border crossings," the Hamas statement said.

"How could she pass through all these checkpoints without security noticing, only for the occupation to later claim she was kidnapped?" it added.