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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 an operation in southern Gaza.
The military said 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 had been transferred to hospital for checks.
A military official said Israeli forces had found Al-Qadi alone in a tunnel that was part of a complex underground system where hostages, as well as militants and explosives, were suspected to be located.
It was not immediately clear how Al-Qadi came to be on his own in the tunnel.
The Israel Defense Forces said further details of the operation could not be released due to the risk of endangering other hostages, and security concerns.
Daniel Hagari, chief spokesman for the IDF, hailed the rescue, and said Israel’s armed forces would “not rest until we fulfil our mission to bring all our hostages back home”. “We will pursue the return of our hostages through all means possible.”
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 the Palestinian militant group’s October 7 attack on Israel.
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.
A further 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 are deadlocked, with Israel and Hamas at odds over important 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 “military operations alone” would not free the remaining hostages.
“A negotiated deal is the only way forward,” said the forum. “We urgently call on the international community to maintain pressure on Hamas to accept the proposed deal and release all hostages.”
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