Faulty indications early in the war that a Hamas-held hostage was pregnant and had given birth in captivity were “impossible to ignore” at the time, an Israel Defense Forces intelligence official involved in hostage negotiations said Sunday.

Speaking to Kan public radio, the unnamed colonel on Israel’s hostage negotiating team — who goes by the alias “K” — said that she had spent weeks focused solely on the worrying case, which turned out to have been an unfounded rumor.

“As a woman and a human being, it was very difficult to even imagine this situation,” she said. “We received a few indications that it happened, and they were indications that were impossible to ignore. Thankfully, when we jump to the end of the incident it becomes clear that this never happened.”

K said that the case was “the only thing I focused on” for two entire weeks. “My goal was to understand who she was, where she was located and what immediate solution we could provide for the situation,” she said.

In November 2023, Israeli officials

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