A Palestinian infant was snatched by an Israeli soldier from her home in Gaza in a siege, according to the Israeli Regime’s Army Radio Station. 

The soldier claimed that he abducted the baby to “Israel,” when he heard her crying and assumed that her family members were likely killed by his own comrades during a raid in a house in northern Gaza.

The harrowing story emerged after it was shared by Shahar Mendelson – a friend of the Israeli captain Haret Itach.

The Israeli army has confirmed that Itach, who was a part of the Givati Brigade, succumbed to his wounds while fighting in Gaza on Dec. 22, 2023.

The fate of the baby girl currently remains unknown. 

The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs slammed the act as a ‘heinous crime’ in a statement released on Tuesday Jan. 2, 2023.

“The kidnapping of the infant girl from the Gaza Strip is evidence that the occupation army is committing the most heinous crimes against civilians without oversight or accountability.

The Ministry calls on the occupation authorities to immediately hand over the infant to the Palestinian National Authority,” the statement read.

The Geneva-based Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor said  in a statement, “Following the news that the Israeli officer died on 22 December 2023 from injuries sustained during fighting in Gaza, a friend of Itach’s disclosed the kidnapping incident and said that the little girl’s whereabouts remain unknown,” it added, expressing “deep fear and concern,” and that the case is not an “isolated” one. 

“Numerous testimonies that the rights group has received say that the Israeli army regularly detains and transfers Palestinian children without disclosing their whereabouts,” it noted.

Reports of young Palestinian children being separated from their families by the Israeli soldiers have been surfacing, with details of acts of violence committed against Palestinians in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023. 

On Sunday, Dec. 31, the story of a Palestinian named Rushdi Al Zaza from Zeitoun in Gaza City, emerged. Rushdi was detained alongside his wife and two young sons aged 4 years old and 6 months. 

Rushdi was released 25 days later but the fate of his wife and children remain unknown. 

More than 3,000 Palestinians including women and children have been abducted from their homes and shelters by Israeli forces in the last few weeks. 

Despite human rights organizations urging the international community to take action, the IDF continues to commit crimes in the Gaza Strip.