Israeli special forces recovered an Israeli hostage from a tunnel in the southern Gaza Strip in “a complex rescue operation”, the military said on Tuesday, more than 10 months after he was abducted by Hamas-led gunmen on 7 October.
It said 52-year-old Qaid Farhan Alkadi, a member of the Bedouin community in southern Israel, was taken to hospital and was in a stable condition.
Military spokesman Vice Admiral Daniel Haggari said Alqadi was rescued in an underground tunnel, but did not give details of the operation, citing the safety of the other hostages and Israeli forces.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said he had spoken with Al-Qadi, praised the troops for the rescue and said Israel would work “tirelessly” to return all the hostages.
“We do this in two main ways: through negotiations and rescue operations. Both ways together require our military presence on the ground and unrelenting military pressure on Hamas,” he said.
The operation was hailed by Israeli leaders desperate for good news, nearly a year after a bitter campaign led to pressure on the government to do more to bring more than 100 hostages back home.
Resident Isaac Herzog said the rescue was “a moment of joy for the State of Israel and Israeli society as a whole.”
As the rescue was confirmed, Israeli television stations showed a military helicopter landing at a hospital as medical staff and an ambulance waited to pick up Alqadi.
“He is in good condition. Now he is undergoing tests,” his brother Hathem Alkadi told Channel 12 television, saying Kaid had lost a lot of weight in captivity.
“We’re glad to see him and to see him alive, first and foremost. He asked about his family, if his kids were okay and if his mother was okay.”
Al-Qadi was taken hostage in Kibbutz Magen, one of a number of communities around the Gaza Strip attacked by Hamas militants on October 7.
More than 250 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage in the attack, which killed around 1,200 people.
Alkadi’s rescue leaves 108 Israeli and foreign hostages still in Gaza, but about a third of them are known to have died, while the fate of the rest is unknown.
The operation, following the rescue of four Israeli hostages in June, comes as little progress has been reported from talks on a deal to end fighting in Gaza and return the hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces during the campaign, which has devastated much of the Gaza Strip and displaced most of its 2.3 million population, leaving hundreds of thousands in makeshift shelters.
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