A Bedouin man who was held hostage in Gaza for more than 10 months was rescued by Israeli forces on Tuesday, Israeli officials announced.
Qaid Farhan Alkadi, 52, was rescued from an underground tunnel in a “complex mission” by Israeli commandos acting on intelligence, Israel Defense Forces spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said in a news briefing Tuesday.
“He is alive and back home in Israel,” Hagari said.
Alkadi, a father of 11 from south of Rahat, an Arab Bedouin city in the Southern District of Israel, was taken hostage during Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks while working in security at a packing factory in Kibbutz Magen in southern Israel, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement Tuesday.
The full details of Alkadi’s rescue were not immediately clear, with the IDF and Israel Security Agency, or the Shin Bet, saying in a statement Tuesday that further details could not be published “due to considerations of the safety of our hostages, the security of our forces, and national security.”
They said Alkadi was in stable medical condition and was being transferred for medical checks at a hospital.
In a video shared on X by Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, family members of Alkadi could be seen running to greet him at a medical facility.
The Soroka University Medical Center said he was airlifted to the hospital Tuesday afternoon.
“He is fully conscious, and his overall condition is good. He has already met with a family member in a very emotional reunion,” the medical center said in a statement, adding: “We ask to respect their privacy and dignity.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also spoke with Alkadi over the phone following his rescue, his office said in a statement Tuesday.
“The Prime Minister congratulated Farhan and told him that the entire Israeli people are excited by his release,” the statement said, adding that Netanyahu “clarified in the conversation that he will continue to do everything to return all our abductees home.”
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Tuesday’s operation “joins a series of actions taken by the IDF that bring us closer to achieving the goals of this war.” He added that “Israel is committed to taking advantage of every opportunity to return the hostages home.”
The rescue comes as Netanyahu faces mounting pressure in Israel and on the international stage to strike a cease-fire deal with Hamas that would bring fighting in Gaza to an end and secure the release of hostages who remain held there.
In a statement on Tuesday, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which represents families of those held hostage in Gaza, said Alkadi’s rescue was “nothing short of miraculous.”
But, the forum said, “we must remember: military operations alone cannot free the remaining 108 hostages, who have suffered 326 days of abuse and terror.” The group called for a cease-fire deal that would see hostages released.
Ramped up efforts to negotiate a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas have been underway, but have so far failed to yield any results.
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