ReutersThe Israeli military says commandos have rescued a Bedouin Arab hostage kidnapped by Hamas during an attack on Israel on October 7 from an underground tunnel in Gaza.
Kaid Farhan Elkadi, 52, was rescued in a “complex operation in the southern Gaza Strip” carried out by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the Shin Bet internal security agency, according to a statement.
No further details can be released “out of consideration for the safety of the hostages, the security of the force and national security,” the statement said.
Mr Elkadi – the eighth hostage rescued by Israeli forces since the Gaza war began – is in a stable condition in hospital and is undergoing medical checks.
Photos released by Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba show him talking to family members while sitting in a hospital armchair.
His brother, Hatam, told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz that he was “a little skinny”.
“We told him everything was fine and that everyone was waiting for him outside,” he said.
“We have been waiting for this moment for a long time. We hope that all the hostages will have this moment, that they will all experience the same excitement and joy,” he added. “May all the hostages return, and may all the families feel this feeling.”
Mr Elkadi, a father of 11 and grandfather of one, comes from a Bedouin village in the Rahat area of the Negev desert.
He worked for years as a security guard at Kibbutz Magen, near the Israel-Gaza border, where he was kidnapped 10 months ago.
IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a video statement that he could not provide many details about the rescue operation.
But he added that he could “share that Israeli commandos rescued [him] from an underground tunnel, tracking precise intelligence information”.
Footage released by the IDF shows Mr Elkadi sitting down, smiling and talking to soldiers.including the commander of the 162nd Division, shortly after being rescued.
Haaretz reported that he escaped from his captors before being rescued, and that soldiers were trying to find out if he was being held with other hostages.
ReutersIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said he congratulated Mr Elkadi by phone and said all Israelis were moved by the news.
“We are making unremitting efforts to rescue all hostages,” the statement quoted Netanyahu as saying.
“We are doing this in two main ways: negotiations and rescue operations. Both of these require our military presence on the ground and continuous military pressure.”
The Hostage and Missing Families Forum described the rescue as “miraculous”.
But the report stressed that “military operations alone cannot free the remaining hostages who have endured 326 days of abuse and terror” and that “a negotiated settlement is the only way forward”.
“We urgently call on the international community to maintain pressure on Hamas to accept the proposed deal and release all hostages.”
The Israeli military launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to an unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7, in which some 1,200 people were killed and 251 others taken hostage.
More than 40,430 people have died in Gaza since then, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
US, Egyptian and Qatari mediators are trying to broker a ceasefire deal under which Hamas would release 104 hostages still being held, including 34 believed to be dead, in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
Indirect talks have continued in Cairo in recent days, but so far there has been no sign of a breakthrough on key sticking points, including Netanyahu’s demand that Israel maintain troops along Gaza’s border with Egypt, which Hamas has rejected.
