Israeli army finds abandoned Hamas hostage

The Israeli army last managed to free hostages from Hamas in the Gaza Strip in June. Now another of the abducted people can return home to his family.

The Israeli army has once again freed a hostage from the Islamist terrorist organization Hamas. A 52-year-old Bedouin was rescued in a difficult operation in the south of the Gaza Strip, the military said.

Kaid Farhan Alkadi, who was kidnapped in the terrorist attack on October 7, is in a stable condition and is being taken to a hospital for examinations. His family has been informed.

“The Israeli security forces will continue to use all means possible to bring the hostages home,” the statement said. This is the eighth hostage to be freed alive by the military.

The army said special forces had freed him from a tunnel in which they suspected hostages and terrorists were hiding. The man, who according to Israeli media has eleven children, is the first hostage to be rescued alive from a tunnel.

According to the Israeli military, he was unguarded during the rescue. Why this was the case remained unclear, as did the question of whether other hostages were being held in the tunnel, which the military described as a “complex underground system.” The Israeli newspaper “Haaretz” reported, citing the military, that Alkadi heard the Israeli forces during the operation and called out to them.

The hostage families’ forum welcomed the rescue operation and said that the 52-year-old had worked as a security guard in Kibbutz Magen on the border with the Gaza Strip. He had been held hostage for a total of 326 days.

His return home was “nothing less than a miracle”. At the same time, relatives stressed that military operations alone could not free the remaining hostages. An agreement on a ceasefire in the Gaza war was “the only way forward”.

They called on the international community to put pressure on Hamas to agree to an agreement and release all hostages. “Every day in captivity is one too many. The remaining hostages cannot afford to wait for another miracle.”

Many relatives rushed to the hospital to greet their relative. One of the liberated man’s relatives told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz that the family could hardly believe that he had now returned home. “We have been waiting for almost twelve months,” he said. “We are very excited to see him and to hold him in our arms.”

The Israeli Kan broadcaster reported that the 52-year-old was one of six Bedouins who were kidnapped by Hamas on October 7. The Bedouins belong to the Arab minority in Israel, which often has to deal with discrimination. Some of them serve in the Israeli army. The number of Bedouins nationwide is estimated at around 250,000. Many of them live in the Negev desert in southern Israel. A relative told the news site ynet after the rescue operation: “The whole Negev is celebrating!”

According to his office, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to the rescued man on the phone. His release touches the entire Israeli people, Netanyahu said in the conversation.

Most recently, in June, the young woman Noa Argamani and three other hostages were rescued in a dramatic military operation. According to the army, there were heavy clashes with armed Palestinians. According to the Hamas-controlled health authority, 274 Palestinians were killed at the time.