Hostage held by Hamas in Gaza rescued by Israeli forces, IDF says
A Bedouin man who was held hostage in Gaza for more than 10 months was rescued by Israeli forces on Tuesday, Israeli officials announced.
Qaid Farhan Alkadi, 52, was rescued from an underground tunnel in a "complex mission" by Israeli commandos acting on intelligence, Israel Defense Forces spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said in a news briefing Tuesday.
"He is alive and back home in Israel," Hagari said.
Alkadi, a father of 11 from south of Rahat, an Arab Bedouin city in the Southern District of Israel, was taken hostage during Hamas' Oct. 7 attacks while working in security at a packing factory in Kibbutz Magen in southern Israel, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement Tuesday.
The full details of Alkadi's rescue were not immediately clear, with the IDF and Israel Security Agency, or the Shin Bet, saying in a statement Tuesday that further details could not be published "due to considerations of the safety of our hostages, the security of our forces, and national security."
They said Alkadi was in stable medical condition and was being transferred for medical checks at a hospital. In a video shared by the IDF, Alkadi can be seen wearing a tank top and smiling as he shakes hands with the commanding officer of the Shayetet 13, Israel's naval commando unit.
In a separate video shared on X by Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, family members of Alkadi could be seen running to greet him at a medical facility.
Read more NBC News
The Soroka University Medical Center said he was airlifted to the hospital Tuesday afternoon.
"He is fully conscious, and his overall condition is good. He has already met with a family member in a very emotional reunion," the medical center said in a statement, adding: "We ask to