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This screenshot obtained from a social media video posted on October 3 shows Yazidi woman Fawzia Sido, who was kidnapped by the Islamic State in Iraq and freed from Gaza this week, meeting her relatives in a unknown location.

David Saranga

The Israeli army announced Thursday that it had rescued a 21-year-old Yazidi woman held captive by Hamas in Gaza for more than a decade after being trafficked by ISIS, as part of an “operation complex” coordinated with the United States and other international actors.

The woman, Fawzia Amin Sido, told CNN that she was kidnapped by ISIS as a child in August 2014, when the group captured the northern Iraqi town of Sinjar. ISIS has executed Yazidi men and boys and committed acts of sexual violence and rape against women and girls, among other crimes, as CNN reported.

Sido said she was then trafficked to different locations in several countries over the next few years.

She told CNN she had stayed for a year in Rafah, southern Gaza, where life was “unbearable,” moving frequently since the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas in October 2023 until Tuesday , at which time she declared that an NGO had rescued her.

“Hamas constantly harassed me because of my Yazidi origins and my contact with my family, even going so far as to format my phone during their investigations,” she said.

“Upon entering Israel, she continued to Jordan via the Allenby Bridge and from there returned to her family in Iraq. »

The Israeli military said her captor was killed, “probably during IDF strikes” in Gaza, allowing him to flee to a hiding place.

Fawzia did not mention a strike when she spoke to CNN, saying only that she had been rescued in Rafah by an NGO whose name she did not remember. “From there, American authorities took me and helped bring me back to Baghdad,” she said.

The United States and Iraq confirmed that they had coordinated to help evacuate Sido from Gaza.

“We were contacted by the Iraqi government, who were informed that she had fled, that she was alive and that she wanted to return home to her family,” the spokesperson said on Thursday. state floor, Matthew Miller.

The Iraqi Foreign Ministry said Sido was released after more than four months of efforts by Iraqi government agencies in collaboration with U.S. and Jordanian authorities.

An Israeli diplomat, David Saranga, posted a video of Sido reuniting with his family members. Saranga said his captor was “a Palestinian member of Hamas-ISIS.”