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

5/10/2024 6:36

        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.