The Israeli military says commandos have rescued from an underground tunnel in Gaza a Bedouin Arab hostage who was kidnapped by Hamas during the 7 October attack on Israel.
Kaid Farhan Elkadi, 52, was rescued in a “complex operation in the southern Gaza Strip” by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Shin Bet domestic security service, according to a statement.
No further details could be published “due to considerations of the safety of our hostages, the security of our forces, and national security”, it said.
Mr Elkadi – the eighth hostage rescued by Israeli forces since the start of the war in Gaza – is in a stable condition in hospital, where he is undergoing examinations.
Photographs released by the Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba showed him speaking to members of his family while sitting in a hospital armchair.
His brother, Hatam, told Israel’s Haaretz newspaper that he was “a little thin”.
“We told him that everything is fine and that everyone is waiting for him outside,” he said.
“We’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time. We hope that all hostages will get this moment, that they will all experience the same excitement and joy,” he added. “May all the hostages return, and may all the families feel this feeling.”
Mr Elkadi, a father of 11 and grandfather of one, is from a Bedouin village in the Rahat area of the Negev desert.
He worked for many years as a security guard at Kibbutz Magen, close to the Israel-Gaza border, where he was abducted 10 months ago.
IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a video announcement that he could not go into many details about the operation in which he was freed.
Credit: bbc.com
