‘So excited’: Israel rescues a hostage found alone in Gaza tunnel

Jerusalem: Israeli forces have rescued a hostage found alone underground in Gaza, freeing a living captive from Hamas’ vast tunnel network for the first time since the October 7 attack that ignited the Gaza war.

The 52-year-old Israeli man was taken to a hospital in Israel, where members of his large Bedouin Arab family gathered around his bedside in a joyful reunion.

Rescued: Qaid Farhan Alkadi was found in a southern Gaza tunnel.Credit: AP

The rescue brought a rare moment of relief to Israelis after 10 months of war but also served as a painful reminder that dozens of hostages are still in captivity as international mediators try to broker a cease-fire in which they would be released.

Qaid Farhan Alkadi was found in a southern Gaza tunnel where hostages were suspected to be alongside militants and explosives, according to the Israeli military, which said it applied to this rescue “lessons” learnt during other operations. Earlier in the war, Israeli troops who encountered three hostages inside Gaza accidentally shot and killed them, believing them to be militants.

Alkadi was one of eight members of Israel’s Bedouin Arab minority who were abducted on October 7. He was working as a guard at a packing factory in Kibbutz Magen, one of several farming communities that came under attack. He has two wives and is the father of 11 children.

Qaid Farhan Alkadi, 52, right, who was held hostage by Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip, with his son and his brother Ismail al-Qadi, left, at the entrance of the ‏Soroka Medical Centre in Beersheba, Israel.Credit: AP

Alkadi is one of eight hostages to be rescued alive, and was the first to be rescued from underground, the Israeli military said.

The military released footage showing Alkadi moments after the rescue. Unshaven and wearing a white tank top, he is seen sitting and smiling with soldiers before boarding a helicopter to a hospital where he was taken for medical checks. He appeared emaciated but officials described his condition as stable.

His large family and residents from around the Rahat area in Israel thronged the hospital in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba to welcome him home.

As Alkadi’s family waited to see him in the hospital, one of his brothers held Alkadi’s infant son, who was born while he was in captivity and had not yet met his father, the brother said.

“We’re so excited to hug him and see him and tell him that we’re all here with him,” a family member who gave his name as Faez told Channel 12. “I hope that every hostage will come home so the families can experience this happiness.”

Qaid Farhan Alkadi, 52, who was held hostage by Hamas militants in Gaza lies on a bed of the ‏Soroka Medical Centre in Beersheba, Israel.Credit: AP

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said the rescue operation was part of the army’s “daring and courageous activities conducted deep inside the Gaza Strip,” adding that Israel was “committed to taking advantage of every opportunity to return the hostages”.

Hamas-led militants abducted some 250 people in the October 7 attack, in which about 1200 people, mostly civilians, were killed.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, who do not say how many were militants. It has displaced 90 per cent of Gaza’s 2.3 million people from their homes and caused heavy destruction across the besieged territory.

AP

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