Kidnapped Yazidi woman stuck in Gaza for years yearns to be set free

Over 100 hostages remain in the hands of Hamas’s extremist militias, yet it turns out that Hamas militants were also keen on kidnapping other nationals when the opportunity arose.

This is the unbelievable story of M., a 20-year-old Yazidi woman from Sinjar, who was abducted in August 2014 by ISIS terrorists when she was 11, and is now waiting in Gaza for her freedom.

Like myriads of other Yazidi women and children, M. was kidnapped from her home town in Kurdistan, and a long ordeal followed which included being incarcerated and “sold” in Raqqa, Syria, where she was forced to marry a Palestinian man from Gaza who was apparently affiliated with Hamas.

During her time with the ISIS/Hamas militant, M. was constantly harassed and mistreated physically and sexually, and her family has seldom heard from her since her abduction.

M. became pregnant and gave birth to her husband’s two children at a very young age, and at some point, after moving between villages around the Syrian-Iraqi border, her husband was ultimately reported dead. Later on, the husband’s family back in Gaza managed to lure M. to join them, and after a four-year journey through Turkey and Egypt, M. and her children finally arrived in the Gaza Strip around 2020.

However, there too, the young woman suffered immensely from her husband’s family. Ripped apart from her family, her community and her native tongue, M. found herself in indescribable distress with two little children, stuck at the home of her former husband’s family.

According to Steve Maman, a Canadian Jewish businessman popularly nicknamed “The Jewish Schindler” for his actions to rescue and aid thousands of Yazidis from ISIS captivity, in late 2023, one of those who held M. in their home, apparently a Hamas fighter, was killed in an Israeli air strike. M. was able to leave the family home, got hold of a cell phone, and bravely recounted her story in a video she shared on TikTok.

This video made it to Kurmanji-speaking channel Rudaw News, which managed to locate her surviving family members following long periods of estrangement, and who in turn contacted Maman. Since hearing about this story, Maman has brought this case to the National Security Council, advocating for the Israeli government to take swift action to rescue M. and reunite her with her family.

Using an array of contacts with foreign actors, Maman managed to set up a cell phone number and a safe home for M., located a walking distance from IDF forces, and she is now waiting for a green light from authorities to exit the Strip.

Speaking to The Jerusalem Post, Maman elaborated on the situation. “There is no extraction necessary that would endanger the lives of IDF forces in this situation. Since June I’ve secured a one-way laissez-passer document in absentia for her through Jordan and Iraq. She only needs to arrive at Allenby bridge crossing and make her way to Jordan. This rescue mission has turned into simply opening the door to her and putting an end to this 10-year nightmare.”

Maman is the founder of The Liberation of Christian and Yazidi Children of Iraq (CYCI), which rescued 140 Yazidi women and children from their captors and provided financially for thousands of refugees for a safe passage to Germany, also assisting over 25,000 Yazidi, Christian, and Muslim families in Kurdish camps.

MAMAN DESCRIBED an exhausting experience with bureaucracy and security matters vis a vis the Israeli security establishment. He called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to mobilize the rescue of the young woman. “This rescue mission is not only a moral imperative,” he added, “but also an opportunity for Israel to demonstrate its commitment to justice, compassion, and the protection of innocent lives. Furthermore, this action would be of great political benefit to the State of Israel in terms of public relations, especially in today’s climate of anti-Israel sentiment.”

M.’s plight - in her own words

Speaking to the Post from Gaza, M. elaborated, with broken Arabic: “My situation is very bad. The situation here is grave in many ways. I need to find a way to get out of here as fast as possible. I want to get back to my family.”

M. described terrible abuse and suffering during her time in Gaza, from her husband’s family and from Hamas authorities, which led to suicide attempts and even a month of forced hospitalization in a mental health institution.

Over time I became more and more psychologically ill and I became afraid of everything called Hamas, because they were the ones who handed me over to the hospital,” she added.

“I am exhausted here in Gaza. Every now and then Hamas would take me and my phone and torture me,” she said, adding that right now where she is located, Hamas barely operates and does not control the area, making her feel a tad bit safer and freer.

Regardless, M. quickly sank back into despair. “Is there any benefit in me talking to you about my life, or is it just tiring me out? Because many have asked me and I told them everything, but unfortunately to no avail.”

M. has not had any contact with her Hamas abductor’s family, who have been holding her children. “I hope that everyone will stand with the issue of the kidnapped Yazidi women,” she added.

“M.’s plight highlights the ongoing need for humanitarian intervention and the severe impact of terrorism on innocent lives,” said Maman. “Let us not leave this young woman to suffer any longer than she already has,” he said, adding that a prompt intervention from Netanyahu would bring an end to M.’s long ordeal and restore her hope for a brighter future. I know Israel can do this, and I know Israel must do this,” Maman concluded.