Click to see full-size image. (The Israeli Defense Forces)
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) announced on August 27 that it had rescued another Israeli hostage, Farhan al-Qadi, from the southern Gaza Strip.
In a statement, the IDF said that 52-year-old al-Qadi was found inside a tunnel by commandos of the Israeli Navy’s Shayetet 13 unit and troops of the elite Yahalom combat engineering unit. The operation was led by the Southern Command, the Shin Bet security agency, and the 162nd Division.
Al-Qadi was alone in the tunnel where the special forces located him. No other hostages or Hamas fighters were alongside him and Israeli troops did not face any resistance.
According to the IDF al-Qadi was not inside this tunnel for the entire ten months of captivity, and he was believed to have been moved around several times.
Al-Qadi, from a Bedouin community near the southern city of Rahat, was working as a guard at a packing factory in the settlement of Magen, close to Gaza when he was captured by fighters from the Hamas Movement during the October 7 attack.
IDF Spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari described the operation as “brave and complex,” and based on precise intelligence.
The spokesman also denied rumors that al-Qadi managed to escape the tunnel in which he was held, saying that troops “rescued Farhan from underground, he met our forces underground.”
This was the fourth successful rescue operation by the IDF since the outbreak of the war in Gaza. The first was the rescue of soldier Ori Megidish in late October. In February, Fernando Marman and Louis Har were rescued. In June, Noa Argamani, Almog Meir Jan, Andrey Kozlov and Shlomi Ziv were rescued. More than 270 Palestinians were killed in that operation.
The IDF believes that 104 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of 34 confirmed dead. A temporary ceasefire in late November saw 105 civilian hostages released from Hamas captivity and four hostages were released before that.
Eight hostages have been rescued by the IDF alive, and the bodies of 30 hostages have also been recovered. Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015. In addition, the bodies of two Israeli soldiers who were killed in 2014 remain in the hands of the group.
It’s worth noting that IDF operations in Gaza have so far claimed the lives of more than 40,500 Palestinains mostly women and children.
Despite the heavy death toll, Israel appears to be determined to go on with the war, endangering the lives of remaining hostages.
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