AfriqueCAN
Israel said Tuesday it has rescued another of the 250 hostages Hamas militants captured in their shock attack on Israel last October.
The Israel Defense Forces said they found 52-year-old Qaid Farhan Alkadi during “a complex operation in the southern Gaza Strip” as fighting rages on in the 10 ½-month war. The military said he had been rescued from a tunnel but gave no further details.
Alkadi was identified as part of Israel’s Arab Bedouin minority who was working as a guard at a packing factory in Kibbutz Magen, one of several farming communities attacked on October 7. He has two wives and is the father of 11 children.
“He is in a stable medical condition and is being transferred for medical checks at a hospital,” Israel said.
Israel’s Channel 12 showed Alkadi’s family members running through the hospital where he was brought after they received the news that he had been rescued.
A White House National Security Council spokesman said it welcomed Alkadi’s release and “remains determined to see all hostages held by Hamas, including American citizens, freed and reunited with their families.”
“We will continue to work tirelessly to finalize the cease-fire and hostage release deal through ongoing talks in Cairo and Doha,” the spokesman said in a statement sent to VOA.
Hamas-led militants abducted the hostages while killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to local health officials. Israel’s military says the death toll includes several thousand Hamas fighters.
Israel says Hamas is still holding about 110 hostages, about a third of whom are believed to be dead. Most of the rest were released in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel during a weeklong cease-fire last November.
Israel has rescued eight hostages, including in two operations that killed scores of Palestinians. Hamas says several hostages have been killed in Israeli airstrikes and failed rescue attempts.
The war is continuing as Israel and Hamas have been unable to reach a cease-fire to halt fighting and free the remaining hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians jailed by Israel. The United States, Egypt and Qatar have spent months trying to negotiate an end to the fighting and release of the hostages.
