Hostage gave birth in Hamas captivity, Israel confirms

The woman who gave birth in Gaza was reportedly a foreign worker in one of the Israeli towns bordering the Hamas-run coastal enclave until her Oct. 7 abduction.

By The Algemeiner Staff

A woman kidnapped from Israel and brought to Gaza by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7 has given birth while in captivity, the wife of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a letter released on Wednesday by the premier’s office.

“One of the kidnapped women was pregnant. She gave birth to her baby in Hamas captivity,” Sara Netanyahu wrote in a heartfelt letter addressed to US First Lady Jill Biden.

“You can only imagine, as I do, what must be going through that young mother’s mind as she is being held with her newborn by these murderers,” Netanyahu wrote. “We must call for the immediate release of them and all those being held … The nightmare that began over a month ago must end.”

Netanyahu wrote that she was writing not only as Bibi’s [the prime minister’s] wife but first and foremost as a mother.”

“For over a month now, 32 children have been held kidnapped in Gaza, brutally torn from their parents and their homes,” she added. “These children are surely suffering from untold trauma, not only by being kidnapped but having witnessed the brutal murder of their parents and siblings on that horrific October 7th.”

Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7 invaded Israel from neighboring Gaza and massacred over 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted over 240 others, taking them back to the Palestinian enclave as hostages. The hostages included both the elderly and young children — a point highlighted by Netanyahu, who noted one of the kids in captivity was a 10-month-old child “kidnapped before he learned how to walk or talk.”

“We must speak out on behalf of these children,” who now include a newborn baby, she said. “We must call for the immediate release of them and all those being held. We must demand the Red Cross visit them immediately. They have yet to do so.”

The woman who gave birth in Gaza was reportedly a foreign worker in one of the Israeli towns bordering the Hamas-run coastal enclave until her Oct. 7 abduction.

Israel has said it would not agree to a ceasefire to fighting in Gaza unless all the hostages were released. Qatar, in coordination with the US, has been seeking to negotiate a deal between Hamas and Israel that includes the release of dozens of those being held captive.

Netanyahu’s letter was released one day after the Israeli military confirmed the death of a 19-year-old soldier as a hostage of Hamas. The Palestinian terrorist group has released videos of hostages in recent weeks, showing them under duress attacking Israel’s prime minister and saying they have been treated well. Israel has described the videos as “psychological warfare.”

So far, Hamas has released only four hostages in two separate occasions.

Netanyahu also sent additional letters to the wives of French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, and other leaders.