Israel rescues 52-year-old held hostage by Hamas from tunnel during ‘complex operation’ in Gaza

Israel’s military said Tuesday it had rescued a 52-year-old hostage held by Hamas since October 7, in a “complex operation” in southern Gaza.

Israel’s military said Tuesday it had rescued a 52-year-old hostage held by Hamas since October 7, in a “complex operation” in southern Gaza. Kaid Farhan Al-Qadi, a Bedouin Israeli citizen from Rahat in southern Israel, was rescued from a tunnel in southern Gaza by Israeli forces, an Israeli military spokesman told CNN. “He is in a stable medical condition and is being transferred for medical checks at a hospital,” the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement. “His family has been updated with the details, and the IDF is accompanying them.” Israeli special forces, acting on intelligence, were combing a network of tunnels in southern Gaza when they found Al-Qadi, two Israeli military officials told CNN. Al-Qadi was alone, without his Hamas captors, when Israeli forces found him, one of the officials said. “I can’t explain these feelings. It’s better than being born again,” Al-Qadi’s brother, Khatem, said as he stood outside the Soroka Medical Center in Beer Sheva, in a video released by Israel’s Foreign Ministry. “We say thank you to everyone and we hope Farhan is good and healthy. We’re very happy.” Al-Qadi is the eighth hostage to be rescued alive in Gaza by the Israeli military since the beginning of the war, in four separate operations. But it marks the first time a hostage has been reclaimed alive from inside Hamas’ sprawling tunnel network underneath Gaza, the IDF told CNN.