Israel says it rescued hostage kidnapped in Hamas attack on Oct. 7

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel said it rescued a hostage from an underground tunnel in Gaza on Tuesday, freeing one of dozens of people abducted during the Oct. 7 Hamas attack that sparked Israel’s civil war. War in Gaza.

The rescue brought a rare moment of joy to Israelis after 10 months of war but was also a painful reminder that dozens of hostages remain in captivity as the United Nations calls for a ceasefire. Mediators are trying to broker a ceasefire. Where they will be released.

The Israeli military said Qaed Farhan al-Qadi was rescued from a tunnel in a “complex operation” in the southern Gaza Strip, but provided few other details. It was not immediately known whether the rescue took place under enemy fire or whether anyone was killed or wounded in the operation.

Al-Qadi was one of eight members of Israel’s Arab Bedouin minority who were kidnapped on October 7. He worked as a guard at a packaging factory in Kibbutz Magen, one of several agricultural communities that came under attack. He is married to two women and has 11 children.

The 52-year-old was one of eight hostages rescued alive, and was the first to be rescued from underground, the Israeli military said.

The Israeli military released footage showing the judge moments after the rescue. He was sitting smiling with soldiers, unshaven and wearing a white shirt, before being flown by helicopter to a hospital for medical tests. He appeared frail but doctors described his condition as stable.

His extended family and residents of the Rahat area gathered at the hospital in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba to welcome him home.

While the judge’s family waited to see him in the hospital, one of his brothers held his infant son, who was born while he was in captivity and had not yet met his father, according to his brother.

“We are so excited to hug him and see him and tell him that we are all here with him,” a family member who gave his name as Faiz told Channel 12. “I hope that every hostage comes home so that the families can experience this happiness.”

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant said the rescue operation was part of the “daring and courageous activities the army is carrying out deep inside the Gaza Strip,” adding that Israel was “committed to exploiting every opportunity to return the hostages.”

“The judge was rescued from an underground tunnel following accurate intelligence,” Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said. Hagari added that the judge had been held in a number of locations, including underground tunnels, during his 326 days in captivity.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to the judge by phone shortly after he arrived at the hospital, saying Israel would rely on rescue operations and negotiations to bring the remaining hostages home.

Netanyahu added: “Both paths require our military presence on the ground, and continued military pressure on Hamas.”

Hamas militants kidnapped about 250 people in the October 7 attack, which killed about 1,200 people, most of them civilians.

The Israeli retaliatory assault has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, who have not specified how many of them were militants. It has also displaced 90 percent of Gaza’s 2.3 million people from their homes and caused widespread destruction across the besieged territory.

Israeli air strikes continued on the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, with Palestinian officials saying at least 18 people, including eight children, were killed in the attacks.

Israel believes there are 108 hostages still being held in Gaza and that more than 40 of them have died. Most of the rest were released during a week-long ceasefire in November in exchange for Palestinians held by Israel.

Two previous Israeli hostage rescues killed dozens of Palestinians. Hamas says many of the hostages were killed in Israeli airstrikes and failed rescue attempts. Three Israelis killed by mistake Who escaped from captivity in December.

Mazen Abu Siam, a close family friend who was waiting at the hospital, said the family was overjoyed when they heard the news, but they were still praying for a ceasefire.

“We have been waiting for a year for an agreement,” Siam told The Associated Press.

The United States, Egypt and Qatar have spent months Attempting to negotiate a deal to release the remaining hostages. In exchange for a permanent ceasefire. These talks are taking place in Egypt this week, but there has been no sign of any progress.

Netanyahu faced severe criticism. On the part of the hostages’ families and a large part of the Israeli public, they are disappointed that no agreement has yet been reached with Hamas to return them home.

Hamas hopes to exchange the hostages for a permanent ceasefire, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, and the release of a large number of Palestinian prisoners, including prominent militants.

Last week, after Israeli army finds bodies of six hostages in southern GazaIsraeli military spokesman Hagari said the military was working to gather more intelligence for rescue operations, but added: “We cannot bring everyone back through rescue operations alone.”

Julia Frankel contributed reporting from Jerusalem.

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