JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military said Tuesday it had rescued a hostage from an underground tunnel in the Gaza Strip, one of dozens abducted in an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas. The war in Gaza.
The rescue brought a rare moment of joy to Israelis amid a brutal 10-month war, but also served as a harsh reminder that dozens of hostages remain held despite international efforts to broker a ceasefire and free them.
The army said Kaid Farhan al-Qadi was rescued from the tunnel in a “complex operation” in the southern Gaza Strip, but gave few other details. It was not immediately clear whether the rescue took place under fire or whether there were any casualties during the operation.
The 52-year-old was one of eight members of Israel’s Arab Bedouin minority who were abducted on October 7. He worked as a security guard at a packing factory in Kibbutz Magen, one of several rural villages attacked. He is married to two wives and is the father of 11 children.
Israel’s Channel 12 showed Arkady’s family celebrating the news and running around the hospital where he had been taken.
Arkady’s brother, Hatem, told reporters he saw his son get off the helicopter, walk to an ambulance and then undergo a medical examination at a nearby hospital. Israeli media published photos of him looking gaunt but smiling with his family.
“We are so excited to hug him, see him and tell him we are all here,” a family member who identified himself as Faez told Channel 12. “We hope all the hostages come home so their families can experience this happiness.”
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said the rescue operation was part of a “bold and courageous operation deep inside the Gaza Strip” by its forces, adding that Israel was “committed to using every opportunity to return the hostages.”
Israeli military spokesman Maj. Gen. Daniel Hagari said Arkadi was “rescued from an underground tunnel based on accurate intelligence,” adding that he had been held in several locations, including an underground tunnel, during his 326 days of captivity.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who spoke by phone shortly after Arkady arrived at a hospital in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba, said Israel would rely on rescue efforts and negotiations to bring the remaining hostages home.
“Both options require the presence of our troops on the ground and constant military pressure on Hamas,” Netanyahu said.
Hamas-led militants abducted about 250 people in the October 7 attack and killed around 1,200 others, most of them civilians.
Israeli retaliatory attacks have killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, though it has not said how many of them were combatants, forced 90 percent of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents to flee their homes and caused extensive damage across the besieged territory.
Israel believes it still has 108 hostages in Gaza, more than 40 of whom are dead. Most of the rest were released during a week-long ceasefire in November in exchange for the release of Palestinians imprisoned in Israel.
Israel has rescued a total of eight hostages, including two operations that killed dozens of Palestinians. Hamas has said several hostages were killed in Israeli airstrikes and failed rescue attempts. Accidentally kills three Israelis He escaped from captivity in December.
Mazen Abu Siam, a close family friend who was waiting at the hospital, said the family was overjoyed to hear the news but were still praying for a ceasefire.
“We have been waiting for an agreement for a year,” Siam told The Associated Press.
As Arkady’s family waited to see him at the hospital, one of his brothers held his father’s young son, who was born during Arkady’s captivity and had never met his father, the brother said.
The United States, Egypt and Qatar have been working for months They are trying to negotiate a deal to release the remaining hostages. Negotiations are underway in exchange for a permanent ceasefire. Talks are taking place in Egypt this week, but there are no signs of progress.
Netanyahu faces intense criticism Many of the hostages’ families and Israelis have criticised the fact that a deal with Hamas has not yet been reached.
In exchange for the hostages, Hamas wants a permanent ceasefire, the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza and the release of numerous Palestinian prisoners, including prominent militants.
last week, Israeli forces discovered the bodies of six hostages in southern Gaza.Israeli army spokesman Hagari said the army was working to gather more information for rescue efforts, but added that “rescue efforts alone will not be able to bring everyone home.”
Julia Frankel contributed reporting from Jerusalem.
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