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Israel’s military said on Tuesday that it had rescued a hostage seized by Hamas during its October 7 attack on Israel, after a “complex operation” in southern Gaza.
The military said that Qaid Farhan Al-Qadi, a 52-year-old Israeli from an Arab Bedouin community in the south of the country, was in a “stable medical condition” and was being transferred to hospital for medical checks.
Daniel Hagari, chief spokesman for the military, said Al-Qadi had been freed from a tunnel by Israeli commandos following “accurate intelligence”.
“We will not rest until we fulfil our mission to bring all our hostages back home,” he said. “We will pursue the return of our hostages through all means possible.”
The military said further details of the operation could not be released due to the risk of endangering other hostages, amid reports in the Israeli media that Al-Qadi had escaped from captivity before being rescued by the Israeli military.
Al-Qadi, who was kidnapped from a packaging warehouse in Kibbutz Magen where he was working as a security guard, is the eighth hostage to be rescued alive.
Hamas originally seized about 250 hostages during its October 7 attack. About 110 were freed in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails during a brief truce late last year, and the bodies of others have been recovered in several operations over the past 10 months.
Another 108 hostages remain in Gaza, although some of them are thought to be dead. US officials have in recent weeks led a diplomatic push for a deal to release the remaining hostages and end the fighting in Gaza, which has taken a devastating toll on the Palestinian enclave.
However, the talks remain deadlocked, with Israel and Hamas at loggerheads over key terms of a potential deal, including the presence of Israeli soldiers in Gaza, and the conditions under which Palestinians would be allowed to return to the north of the enclave.
The Hostages Families Forum welcomed Al-Qadi’s release as “nothing short of miraculous” but added that “military operations alone” would not free the remaining hostages.
“A negotiated deal 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,” said the forum.
“Every single day in captivity is one too many. The remaining hostages cannot afford to wait for another such miracle,” it added.
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