LAST UPDATE | 27 Aug
ISRAEL HAS RESCUED a hostage from an underground tunnel in Gaza, freeing one of the scores of people abducted during the 7 October attack by Hamas that ignited the war in Gaza.
The Israeli Defence Forces claimed Qaid Farhan Alkadi was rescued from a tunnel in a “complex operation” in the southern Gaza Strip but provided few other details. He was one of eight members of Israel’s Arab Bedouin minority who were abducted.
Alkadi 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.
The 52-year-old is one of eight hostages to be rescued alive and was the first to be rescued from underground, the Israeli military said. The Israeli military released footage showing Alkadi moments after the rescue.
Unshaven and wearing a white 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 gaunt but doctors described his condition as stable.
His large family and residents from around the Rahat area thronged the hospital in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba to welcome him home.
As his family waited to see him in the hospital, one of his brothers held his infant son, who was born while he was in captivity and had not yet met his father.
“We’re so excited to hug him and see him and tell him that we’re all here with him,” a family member told Channel 12. “I hope that every hostage will come home so the families can experience this happiness.”
Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant said Israel is “committed to taking advantage of every opportunity to return the hostages”.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to Alkadi by phone soon after he arrived at the hospital. He said that Israel would rely on rescue operations and negotiations to bring the remaining hostages home.
“Both ways together require our military presence in the field, and unceasing military pressure on Hamas,” Netanyahu said.
For just right now, our hearts are full 💙:
— Israel ישראל (@Israel) August 27, 2024
Family members of rescued hostage Qaid Farhan Alkadi run to greet him at the hospital.
pic.twitter.com/bgzAfP9ZvI
Hamas-led militants abducted some 250 people in the 7 October attack, in which some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials. The UN has said a large number of the deceased are women and children.
The conflict has displaced 90% of Gaza’s 2.3 million people from their homes and caused heavy destruction across the besieged territory. It has also disrupted ongoing aid missions in the region, including yesterday when UN aid operations were forced to halt.
Israeli air strikes continued on today across the Gaza Strip, and Palestinian officials said at least 18 people, including eight children, were killed in the attacks.
Israel believes there are still 108 hostages in Gaza and that more than 40 of them are dead. Most of the rest were freed during a weeklong ceasefire in November in exchange for the release of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.
Two previous Israeli operations to free hostages killed scores of Palestinians. Hamas says several hostages have been killed in Israeli air strikes and failed rescue attempts. Israeli troops mistakenly killed three Israelis who escaped captivity in December.
With reporting by Steven Fox, David MacRedmond and Muiris Ó Cearbhaill
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