Hostage gave birth in Gaza captivity, Netanyahu’s office confirms
Mother said to have been foreign worker in border town; Sara Netanyahu makes revelation in letter to Jill Biden, urging her to call for immediate release of those held in Strip
A woman abducted into Gaza by Hamas terrorists on October 7 has given birth in captivity, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s wife Sara said in a letter released by the premier’s office Wednesday.
“One of the kidnapped women was pregnant. She gave birth to her baby in Hamas captivity,” Sara Netanyahu said in a 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,” she 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.”
Reports Wednesday said that the woman who gave birth in Gaza was a foreign worker in one of the Israeli towns bordering the enclave until she was kidnapped on October 7.
Hamas-led terrorists launched a devastating onslaught on October 7, rampaging through southern communities, killing over 1,200 people, mostly civilians butchered in their homes and at a music festival, and kidnapping some 240 people. Israel then declared war with the aim of toppling the terror group’s regime in Gaza, which it has ruled since 2007.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry said Tuesday that 11,240 people had been killed in Gaza since the start of the war, in figures that cannot be independently verified, do not distinguish between civilians and terror operatives, and also include those killed in hundreds of failed Palestinian rocket launches.
Sara Netanyahu also wrote that among the hostages was a 10-month-old baby.
“He was kidnapped even before he learned how to walk or talk,” she said.
A baby boy of that age was one of 206 people AFP identified, based on interviews with relatives and Israeli media reports, who are believed to be held by Hamas or other groups inside the Gaza Strip.
On Tuesday, US President Joe Biden said he believed a deal with Hamas to free the hostages was “going to happen,” but did not offer specifics.
Qatar, which is leading negotiations for the release of hostages, has called on Israel and Hamas to reach an agreement to facilitate the freeing of the captives.
