An Israeli hostage who has been in the hands of Hamas militants since the deadly October 7 attack has been rescued by Israel‘s military.
The brother of the freed hostage Qaid Farhan Alkadi appeared jubilant as he showed a picture on his phone of himself standing next to his sibling.
Mr Alkadi was reunited with his family at Soroka Medical Center in Beersheva, southern Israel, on Tuesday, August 27. Israel‘s military said its forces had rescued an Israeli hostage in southern Gaza after what it described as a “complex operation”.
It came as the 11-month-long war between Israel and Hamas showed no signs of abating. The military said Mr Alkadi was rescued from a tunnel without providing further details.
It was not immediately clear if the rescue was made under fire or if anyone was killed or wounded in the operation.
Mr Alkadi, 52, was one of eight members of Israel‘s Arab Bedouin minority abducted on October 7. He was working as a guard at a packing factory in Kibbutz Magen, one of several farming communities to come under attack.
He has two wives and is the father of 11 children. Israel’s Channel 12 showed Mr Alkadi’s family sprinting through the hospital where he was brought after they heard the news.
His brother, Hatem, told reporters they saw him get off a helicopter and walk to the ambulance which took him to a nearby hospital for medical checks. Israeli media ran a photo of Mr Alkadi appearing gaunt, but smiling with his family.
A family member who gave his name as Faez told Channel 12: “We’re so excited to hug him and see him and tell him that we’re all here with him. I hope that every hostage will come home so the families can experience this happiness.”
Scores of hostages remain in captivity despite international efforts to broker a cease-fire deal to end the fighting between Israel and Hamas and to secure their release.
Israel‘s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said the rescue operation was part of the army’s daring and courageous activities conducted deep inside the Gaza Strip. He added Israel is “committed to taking advantage of every opportunity to return the hostages”.
Hamas-led militants abducted some 250 people in the October 7 attack. Some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed over 40,000 Palestinians, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza controlled by Hamas, which does not say how many were fighters.
The offensive has displaced 90 percent of Gaza’s 2.3 million people from their homes and caused heavy destruction across the besieged territory.
Israel believes there are still 108 hostages inside Gaza and that more than 40 of them are dead. Most of the rest were freed during a week-long cease-fire in November in exchange for the release of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.
Israel has rescued eight hostages, including in two operations which killed scores of Palestinians. Hamas says several hostages have been killed in Israeli airstrikes and failed rescue attempts. Israeli troops mistakenly killed three Israelis who escaped captivity in December.
The US, Egypt and Qatar have spent months trying to negotiate an agreement in which the remaining hostages would be freed in exchange for a lasting cease-fire. Those talks are ongoing in Egypt this week, but there has been no sign of a breakthrough.
Israel‘s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has faced intense criticism from families of the hostages and much of the Israeli public for not yet reaching a deal with Hamas to bring them home.
Hamas hopes to trade the hostages for a lasting ceasefire, the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza and the release of a large number of Palestinian prisoners, including high-profile militants.