Israel Rescues Hamas Hostage, Father of 11, From Gaza Tunnel

Israeli security forces freed a male hostage held in Gaza since Oct. 7 from an underground tunnel used by Hamas.
Qaid Farhan Alkadi, a 52-year-old Bedouin Arab Israeli from the town of Rahat, was found by special forces in a tunnel in the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday, according to the Israel Defense Forces and Shin Bet, the country’s internal intelligence agency.
Alkadi, a father of 11, was in a stable condition and transferred to a hospital, they said. He was working as a security guard at a kibbutz, Magen, when he was captured, according to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.
According to a senior military official, Alkadi was found alone by Israeli forces while they were operating in a complex underground system where it was suspected hostages were being held. An Army Radio reporter said on X that the soldiers found Alkadi by chance. 
The official added that lessons from previous encounters with hostages had been implemented for the operation, without providing details but possibly referring to the accidental killing of three hostages by the IDF in December while they tried to escape. It’s the first time Israel has rescued a live hostage from the tunnels under Gaza, state broadcaster Kan News reported.
“Suddenly, I heard someone speaking Hebrew outside the door, I couldn’t believe it,” Alkadi told President Isaac Herzog, according to a statement released by his office.
Hamas built a massive tunnel network that it’s used as weapons caches, bunkers, command centers, and a concealed transportation route. It has also used it to hide the hostages taken on Oct. 7 and to thwart Israel’s attacks.
The war in Gaza started after Hamas, designated a terrorist organization by the US and European Union, sent fighters into southern Israel. They killed 1,200 and took around 250 hostage. Israel’s subsequent offensive has killed more than 40,000 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry there, which doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants.
IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said 108 hostages are still held in Gaza. Israeli officials have said that that 40 or so of those are probably dead.
Israeli forces have rescued seven hostages on three separate occasions, including an operation in June amid heavy fighting. More than 100 were released during a week-long cease-fire — the only one so far — that ended on Dec. 1.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is under increasing pressure from families of hostages and Israelis generally to ensure the remaining captives are released. 
Indirect talks between Israel and Hamas over a phased cessation of hostilities have been ongoing for months. 
An Israeli team will travel to Doha, Qatar, on Wednesday following negotiations in Cairo over the weekend, an Israeli official said. The delegation is expected to meet with representatives from Egypt and Qatar, which have been mediating the talks, as well as the US.
The two sides are divided over several issues. They are yet to agree how many hostages will be released from Gaza in the first stage of a deal, as well as which Palestinians can be freed from Israeli jails.
In addition, Hamas wants any truce to end the war, while Israel says it must retain the right to restart fighting and achieve its aim of destroying the group.
In recent weeks, a new sticking point’s emerged over the so-called Philadelphi corridor. Israel wants to retain troops in that strip, which runs along the Egypt-Gaza border, to prevent weapons smuggling from the Arab state. Hamas says Israeli forces must retreat from the corridor.
Senior Israeli negotiators, including David Barnea, the head of the Mossad intelligence agency, were in Cairo in recent days, along with US President Joe Biden’s main envoy for the Middle East, Brett McGurk, to try to move the negotiations forward.
“We are working relentlessly to return all of our hostages,” Netanyahu said on Tuesday after speaking with Alkadi, the free hostage. “We are doing this in two main ways: through negotiations and rescue operations. Both ways require our military presence in the field, and unceasing military pressure on Hamas.”
Biden is using his last months in office to try to end the conflict, which has caused huge political divisions globally, including in the US. It’s also roiled the wider Middle East.
On Sunday, Israel launched preemptive strikes that took out thousands of missile launchers belonging to Hezbollah, a Lebanese militant group that’s been exchanging fire with Israel since October in solidarity with Hamas. Hezbollah still fired more than 200 projectiles at Israel, though they caused limited damage. One Israeli soldier was killed and at least three people were reported as being killed in Lebanon.
Tensions have deescalated since then, but Israel remains on high alert for another major attack from Hezbollah and its main sponsor, Iran.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.