A woman kidnapped by Hamas during the Oct. 7 attack on Israel gave birth in Gaza, the wife of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says in a letter released Wednesday by the latter’s services.
• Read also: Gaza: Israeli army enters Al-Chifa hospital
• Read also: “The deaths of women, children and babies must stop,” Trudeau exclaims
“One of the women who was kidnapped by Hamas was pregnant. She gave birth to her baby in captivity,” Sara Netanyahu wrote in an English-language letter to US first lady Jill Biden.
The prime minister’s wife asks him in this letter to act “for the release of the Israeli hostages”.
Israel estimates that 239 people were kidnapped during the October 7 attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement, which left about 1,200 people dead, mostly civilians.
Israeli authorities have not released the identities or other details of the hostages.
In her letter, Ms. Netanyahu mentions the number of 32 children detained, including a ten-month-old baby.
The Hostage Families Forum identified this baby as Kfir Bibas, a nine-month-old baby at the time of his abduction from Kibbutz Nir Oz with his brother Ariel (4) and parents Yarden and Shiri.
“We must speak on behalf of these children. We must demand their immediate release and the other hostages,” writes Sara Netanyahu.
The Prime Minister’s Office announced that Ms. Netanyahu had also written to several wives of other world leaders.
Qatar is currently conducting mediation in an attempt to secure the release of the hostages in exchange for a truce and the release of Palestinians imprisoned in Israel.
US President Joe Biden said on Tuesday he believed in the possibility of a deal that Israeli officials are cautiously talking about, recalling that the goal of the war is to “annihilate” Hamas and free all hostages.
