JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli forces rescued a hostage found alone underground in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, freeing a captive alive from Hamas’ vast network of tunnels for the first time since the Oct. 7 attacks that sparked the war.
The 52-year-old Israeli Arab man was taken to an Israeli hospital where his extended Bedouin family gathered at his bedside in a joyous reunion.
The rescue brought a rare moment of joy to Israelis after 10 months of war but also served as a painful reminder that dozens of hostages remain held captive as international mediators try to broker a ceasefire to free them.
The army said it had learned a “lesson” from the rescue, after Kaid Farhan al-Qadi was found during an operation in a tunnel in southern Gaza where hostages were suspected to be with militants and explosives. Early in the war, Israeli forces encountered three hostages inside Gaza and mistakenly shot them dead, mistaking them for militants.
Arkadi 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.
Associated Press correspondent Yosef Federman reports that the IDF has not said much about its plans to free the prisoner, Kaid Farhan El-Khadi, but dozens of Palestinians were killed in the most recent operation.
According to the Israeli military, Arkadi was one of eight hostages rescued alive and the first to be rescued from the basement.
The Israeli army released footage showing Arkadi moments after his rescue. Unshaven and wearing a white tank top, he is seen smiling as he sits with soldiers before being taken by helicopter to hospital for a medical examination. He looks haggard, but officials said he is in stable condition.
His extended family and residents of the surrounding Rahat district crowded into the hospital in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba to welcome him home.
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 yet to meet his father, the brother said.
“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, speaking by phone shortly after Arkadi arrived at the hospital, 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.
According to a video of the call provided by Netanyahu’s office, Arkadi called Netanyahu by his traditional Arabic nickname and thanked him for making the family reunion possible.
“There are others waiting,” Arkadi told Netanyahu, to which Netanyahu responded: “We have not forgotten anyone, just as we have not forgotten you.”
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.
Israeli airstrikes continued across the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, with Palestinian authorities saying at least 18 people, including eight children, were killed in the attacks.
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.
Two previous Israeli attempts to free the hostages have left scores of Palestinians dead, with Hamas blaming Israeli air strikes and botched rescue operations for the deaths of several hostages. Israeli forces mistakenly killed three Israelis trying to escape 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.
The United States, Egypt and Qatar have been negotiating for months to reach a deal to release the remaining hostages in exchange for a permanent ceasefire. Talks have been continuing in Egypt this week but there have been no signs of progress.
Prime Minister Netanyahu has faced fierce criticism from many of the hostages’ families and Israelis for failing to reach an agreement with Hamas to bring the hostages home.
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.
After Israeli forces found the bodies of six hostages in southern Gaza last week, Israeli army spokesman Hagari said the army was working to gather more intelligence for a rescue operation, but added that “a rescue operation alone will not be able to bring everyone home.”
Julia Frankel contributed reporting from Jerusalem.
___
Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war.
