The Israeli military said Tuesday that it has rescued one of the scores of people abducted in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, which ignited the ongoing war in Gaza.
The military said Qaid Farhan Alkadi was rescued “in a complex operation in the southern Gaza Strip.” It did not provide further details.
The 52-year-old is from Israel’s Arab Bedouin minority and was working as a guard at a packing factory in Kibbutz Magen, one of several farming communities that were attacked on Oct. 7. He has two wives and is the father of 11 children.
According to the IDF, Qaid Farhan Alkadi is in a stable medical condition and is being transferred for medical checks at an hospital.
The Hostages Families Forum said in a statement his “return home is nothing short of miraculous”. It said he “endured 326 days in captivity”.
Israel’s Channel 12 TV showed Alkadi’s family members trooping through the hospital where he was brought after they received the news.
Hamas-led militants abducted some 250 people in the Oct. 7 attack, in which some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed over 40,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, who do not say how many were fighters. It has displaced 90% of Gaza’s 2.3 million people from their homes and caused heavy destruction across the besieged territory.
