1 of 4 | Members of IDF special forces rescue Farhan al-Qadim, a Muslim-Bedouin, on Tuesday. Hamas kidnapped the father of 11 on October 7 and held him captive in a tunnel for 326 days. Photo via Israel Defense Forces/UPI | License Photo
Israel Defense Forces and Shin Bet rescued an Arab-Israeli hostage of Bedouin descent from his captors in southern Gaza during an early afternoon raid Tuesday.
Qaid Farhan Alkadi, 52, was kidnapped during the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israeli civilians and rescued from a tunnel in Rafah. Advertisement
IDF and Shin Bet forces searched a tunnel system in Rafah and located Alkadi in an unguarded tunnel room that was about 22 yards deep.
Alkadi is a father of 11, in generally good health and undergoing health checks at the Soroka Medical Center in Israel, the IDF said.
Forces of IDF and Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security service, continued searching the tunnel system in which Alkadi was located but have not reported additional rescues.
Israeli military forces engaged Hamas militants during the rescue operation, but the IDF did not report how many people were encountered or the nature of the battle to free Alkadi and search the tunnel system.
The rescue is the fourth successful rescue operation performed by the Israeli military to return living hostages from their Hamas captors.
Israel has rescued eight living hostages, which lowers to 108 the number Israel says Hamas continues holding. Advertisement
The rescue operation occurred as Israel continues negotiating a cease-fire and hostage release through third parties in Egypt.
“We are doing this through two main approaches: negotiation and rescue operations,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a prepared statement. “Both method require our military presence on the ground and continuous military pressure on Hamas.”
Hamas officials have declined the latest cease-fire proposal.
An explosion Sunday near the Al-Aqsa Hospital in central Gaza forced its evacuation, but the hospital continued operating as of Monday.
The World Food Programme reported its operations to provide food and other essentials for displaced Gazans are “severely hampered” by the ongoing conflict.
The IDF on Saturday killed dozens of Hamas militants and others in a series of military raids.
Since the Oct. 7th attack on Israel, the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry has reported more than 40,000 people killed without indicating how many are Hamas militants and how many are civilians.
