Israel rescues Bedouin held captive by Hamas in Gaza

The Israeli military says commandos have rescued from an underground tunnel in Gaza a Bedouin Arab hostage taken by Hamas during the attack on Israel on October 7.

Kaid Farhan Elkadi, 52, was rescued from “hard work in the southern Gaza Strip” by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the Shin Bet domestic security unit, according to the statement.

No other information can be published “due to considerations for the safety of our hostages, the safety of our soldiers, and the safety of the country”, he said.

Mr Elkadi – the eighth prisoner rescued by Israeli forces since the start of the war in Gaza – is in a stable condition in hospital, where he is undergoing tests.

Pictures released by Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba showed him talking to his family members while sitting in a hospital chair.

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that he managed to escape from his captors before being rescued, and that the soldiers are trying to understand if he was held with other hostages.

Mr. Elkadi’s brother, Hatam, he told Haaretz that “he was very young”.

“We told him that everything is fine and everyone is waiting for him outside,” he said.

“We have been waiting for this moment for a long time. We hope that all the hostages will experience this moment, that they will all experience the same happiness and joy,” he added. “May all the captives return, and may all families feel this feeling.”

Mr Elkadi, a father of 11 children and grandfather of one, is from the Bedouin community in the Rahat region of the Negev desert.

He worked for many years as a security guard at Kibbutz Magen, near the Israeli-Gaza border, where he was kidnapped ten months ago.

IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a video announcement that he could not explain many details about the operation he was released from.

But he added that “he can share that the Israeli commandos were saved [him] from an underground tunnel, following intuitive intelligence”.

Pictures released by the IDF show Mr. Elkadi sitting on the ground, smiling and talking to soldiersincluding the commander of the 162nd Division, shortly after his rescue.

An Israeli military official confirmed that the military was working on “a complex underground system where the hostages are suspected to be kept”.

Mr. Elkadi was alone in the tunnel when he was found by Israeli soldiers when he was rescued, said the official.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he congratulated Mr. Elkadi on the phone and told him that all Israelis are affected by this news.

“We are working tirelessly to return all our hostages,” the statement quoted Mr Netanyahu as saying.

“We do this in two main ways: negotiations and rescue operations. These two together require our military presence on the ground, and sustained military pressure.”

The Forum for Kidnappers and Missing Families described the rescue as a “miracle”.

But it stressed that “military operations alone will not free the remaining hostages who have been tortured for 326 days,” and that “a negotiated settlement is the only way forward”.

“We urge the international community to keep up the pressure on Hamas to accept the proposed agreement and release all hostages.”

The Israeli military launched an operation to destroy Hamas in response to an unprecedented attack in southern Israel on October 7, in which approximately 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were captured.

More than 40,430 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in the area.

Mediators from the US, Egypt and Qatar are trying to broker a ceasefire that would see Hamas release 104 hostages still in custody, including 34 presumed dead, in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons.

Informal talks have continued in Cairo in recent days, but so far there has been no sign of breakthrough on key sticking points. It includes Mr. Netanyahu’s request that Israel keep troops on the border between Gaza and Egypt, which Hamas has rejected.

Two other Bedouin Arabs – Yousef Zyadna and his son, Hamza – are among the remaining hostages who are still alive, while the body of a third, Mhamad el-Atrash, is still being held by Hamas.

Another Bedouin, Hisham al-SayedHe has been detained in Gaza since 2015.