Israeli Forces Rescue Hostage Alive From Gaza Tunnel

Israeli special forces have 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 Palestinian terrorists on Oct. 7.

It said 52 year-old Qaid Farhan Alkadi, a member of the Bedouin community in southern Israel, had been transferred to Soroka hospital in Beersheva and his condition was stable.

Military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said Alkadi, a father of 11, had been rescued in an underground tunnel but gave no details of the operation, citing the security of the remaining hostages and Israeli forces.

“We will not rest until we complete our mission to bring all our hostages back,” he told a briefing.

The rescue was hailed by Israeli leaders, desperate for good news almost a year into a grinding campaign that has seen pressure mounting on the government to do more to bring over 100 hostages back home.

President 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 ambulance stood by waiting to receive Alkadi.

He had been taken hostage in Kibbutz Magen, one of a string of communities around the Gaza Strip that were attacked by Hamas-led fighters on Oct. 7.

More than 250 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage in the attack, in which some 1,200 people were killed.

Alkadi’s rescue leaves 108 Israeli and foreign hostages still in Gaza but around a third of these are known to have died, with the fate of the others unknown.

The operation, following the rescue of four Israeli hostages in June, comes as talks have continued to try to agree a halt to the fighting in Gaza and the return of the hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.

Last Tuesday, the Israel Defense Forces recovered the bodies of six hostages kidnapped on Oct. 7, from a tunnel in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.