Israeli troops have recovered an Israeli hostage in “a complex rescue operation” in the Gaza Strip, the military said on Tuesday, more than 10 months after he was abducted by Hamas-led gunmen.
Kaid Farhan Elkadi (52), from the Bedouin community of Rahat in Israel’s southern Negev desert, was one of more than 250 people taken hostage during the Hamas raids on October 7th in which 1,200 people were killed, according to Israeli tallies.
Elkadi has 11 children, and during his captivity a grandson was born to him.
Israel said he was being held alone in a tunnel in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip when he was rescued without a fight by troops from the elite Shayetet 13 Navy SEALs and the Israel Security Agency Shin Bet on Tuesday afternoon after his captors fled the scene. The troops had no specific intelligence over his location but were briefed that hostages may be in tunnels in the area, according to Tel Aviv.
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Hamas claimed that Elkadi was not rescued by Israeli troops but was in fact set free by his captives due to the fact that he is a Muslim Arab.
Elkadi was kidnapped from Kibbutz Magen, close to the Gaza border, on October 7th when some 60 Palestinian gunmen arrived at the agricultural packing plant where he worked as a security guard. He is the eighth hostage rescued alive by Israeli forces since the start of the war in Gaza.
Israel hopes the fact that Elkadi is an Arabic speaker and had been held at a number of locations in Gaza may provide critical intelligence that will eventually lead to whereabouts of other hostages still in captivity. He was flown by helicopter to Beersheba’s Seroka hospital, where his condition was described as ‘good and stable.’
His brother Hatem, who met him at the hospital, said he looked a little thin and he expressed the hope that all the remainingg hostages will soon be freed. “We’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time,” he said. “We hope that all hostages will get this moment, that they will all experience the same excitement and joy.”
Israel says 104 hostages remain in Gaza. Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu said he remains committed to doing everything possible to bring them home. Right-wing Israeli politicians claimed Tuesday’s rescue proved the ongoing military pressure on Hamas was the way to bring about the release of the hostages.
Efforts to free the remaining hostages as part of a wider ceasefire deal remain deadlocked but contacts are continuing.
US mediators have decided to leave the two main contentious issues until last: the Israeli military presence along the Philidelphi corridor on the Gaza-Egypt border and in the Netzarim corridor, which divides Gaza city from southern Gaza.
White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said he expects the discussions will continue at the “working-group level” for the next few days to iron out specific issues. “Whether it goes longer, or could end sooner, I think really is going to be up to those in the room,” he said.
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Clashes continued across Gaza on Tuesday, including in Gaza city, Khan Younis and Rafah, with Gaza health officials reporting at least 17 people killed in Israeli strikes.
According to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, more than 40,400 Palestinians have been killed since the war began. The crowded enclave has been laid to waste and most of its 2.3 million people have been displaced multiple times and face acute shortages of food and medicine, humanitarian agencies say.
The United Nations has warned that its operations in Gaza are being hindered by Israeli evacuation orders to the local population.
EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has called for a three day humanitarian ceasefire to facilitate a polio vaccination drive this weekend, saying the spread of the virus endangers all children in Gaza. Polio was detected in the coastal enclave this month for the first time in 25 years.
