On Tuesday, August 27th, the Israeli military announced that in a “complex operation,” Israeli forces successfully rescued Israeli hostage Qaid Farhan Alkadi who had been held captive for over ten months in a Hamas tunnel in Gaza.
Alkadi, a 52-year-old from Be’er Sheva, was kidnapped to Gaza during a Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. He had been detained in Gaza for 326 days until his rescue.
Following his rescue, Alkadi was taken to the hospital for examination, and his condition is reported to be stable.
The operation was led by the Israeli Defense Forces Southern Command, the Shin Bet security agency, and the IDF 162nd Division. Members of the Israeli Navy’s Shayetet 13 special forces and elite combat engineers from the Yahalom special forces discovered Alkadi in a tunnel.
Israeli Defense Forces spokesperson Daniel Hagari announced the rescue of Alkadi from the underground tunnel but refrained from disclosing further details of the operation for the safety of remaining hostages and IDF personnel.
Israeli leaders welcomed the successful rescue of the hostage. President Isaac Herzog described the rescue as a “joyous moment for the State of Israel and the entire Israeli society.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that he had spoken with Alkadi and praised the forces’ rescue operation. He affirmed Israel’s continuous efforts to bring all hostages home.
“We primarily achieve this goal through two means: negotiations and rescue operations. Both require us to have a military presence on the ground and apply continuous military pressure on Hamas,” Netanyahu said.
This marks the fourth successful rescue operation by the IDF from Hamas captivity and the eighth hostage rescued alive from Gaza. Previous operations had unfortunately found the bodies of hostages killed by Hamas. There are currently 108 remaining hostages in Gaza held by Hamas.