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with the IDF and Israel Security Agency, or the Shin Bet, saying in a statement Tuesday that further details could not be published “due to considerations of the safety of our hostages, the security of our forces, and national security.” Alkadi was alone when the troops found him, according to a senior military official.
They said Alkadi was in stable medical condition and was being transferred for medical checks at a hospital. In a video shared by the IDF, Alkadi can be seen wearing a tank top and smiling as he shakes hands with the commanding officer of the Shayetet 13, Israel’s naval commando unit.
In a separate 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.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the U.S. National Security Council said it welcomed Alkadi’s release.
“The United States remains determined to see all hostages held by Hamas, including American citizens, freed and reunited with their families,” the spokesperson said. “We will continue to work tirelessly to finalize the ceasefire and hostage release deal through ongoing talks in Cairo and Doha.”
More than 100 hostages are believed to remain in Hamas’ captivity following the Oct. 7 attacks in which some 1,200 people were killed and around 250 others taken hostage into Gaza, according to Israeli officials. At least third of those who remain held in Gaza are believed to be dead.
Of the 108 hostages the forum mentioned, at least four are people who are believed to have been held in Gaza since 2014. The rest are believed to have been taken hostage on Oct. 7.
Dozens of hostages were released by Hamas during a temporary cease-fire in November, while four hostages, including 26-year-old Noa Argamani, were freed by Israeli forces in a daring rescue operation in June that left a trail of death and destruction in its wake.
Three Israeli hostages, Alon Shamriz, Yotam Haim and Samer Talalka, were mistakenly shot and killed by IDF troops in December during combat with Hamas in the Gaza district of Shijaiyah.
