The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) on Tuesday rescued a 52-year-old hostage from a tunnel in Southern Gaza 326 days after he was kidnapped by Hamas militants. The hostage, identified as Farhan al-Qadi, is said to be healthy and in a stable medical condition.
The rescue occurred when Israeli special forces were raiding the network of tunnels in Gaza after receiving a tip-off. Al-Qadi was reportedly alone, with no sight of other hostages of Hamas militants. Though Al-Qadi is the eighth hostage to be rescued alive in Gaza by the Israeli military, he is the first one to be saved from inside the Hamas’s tunnel network underneath Gaza, the IDF told CNN.
Though the IDF did not publish details regarding the hostage rescue, citing security, IDF spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari described the operation as "brave and complex" and based on precise intelligence.
Israeli media reported that either Hamas guards fled the area after getting a hint of an Israeli operation or al-Qadi managed to escape the captors but remained inside the tunnel. However, Al-Qadi’s brother Abu Mohammad told CNN that his captors had fled when they heard Israeli troops approaching the tunnels, saying his brother had heard Hebrew voices and shouted out to communicate his whereabouts.
The IDF also said that they believe al-Qadi was not inside this tunnel for the entire ten months of captivity and was moved around several times.
Meanwhile, another close relative of the rescued hostage said his brother had been shot in the leg before being kidnapped. Al-Qadi’s leg appeared poorly treated and was operated on without anaesthesia, he added.
Ata Abu Madighem, the former mayor of the Arab Bedouin city of Rahat in southern Israel, close to where Al-Qadi is from, told CNN he had visited Al-Qadi in hospital. He said Al-Qadi had told him another hostage died next to him at the beginning of his captivity. "He told me that captivity was brutal. Constant darkness, did not see the light of day. He was treated like the rest of the hostages, like an Israeli in every way," he said.
It was the fourth successful operation of its kind since October 7, but the first to have taken place underground.
