Israel says its special forces have recovered an Israeli captive from a tunnel in the southern Gaza Strip in “a complex rescue operation”, as the war, now in its 11th month, shows no signs of abating.
Kaid Farhan al-Kadi, a 52-year-old Bedouin, was abducted by the Palestinian group Hamas during its October 7 attack on Israel, the military said in a statement on Tuesday.
The military said al-Kadi is in “a stable medical condition” and has been transferred to a hospital for medical checks.
Al-Kadi is a resident of Rahat, a mainly Arab town. On October 7, he had been working as a guard at a warehouse in southern Israel when he was captured by Hamas-backed fighters along with some 250 other people. Israel says more than 1,100 people, mostly civilians, were killed in the attack.
Israel’s offensive on Gaza since October 7 has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians and displaced 90 percent of its 2.3 million people from their homes, leaving hundreds of thousands in makeshift shelters.
“We are committed to seizing every opportunity to bring the hostages back to their homes,” Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said in a statement on X.
Hamas is still holding approximately 110 captives, 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 ceasefire last November.
In June, Israeli forces killed at least 274 Palestinians and wounded nearly 700 others to rescue four captives during an operation at Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp.
Hamas says several captives have been killed in Israeli air raids and failed retrieval attempts. Israeli soldiers mistakenly killed three Israelis who escaped captivity in December.
Meanwhile, Egypt, Qatar and the United States have spent months trying to negotiate an agreement in which the remaining captives would be freed in exchange for a lasting ceasefire.
Those talks are continuing in Egypt this week, but there has been no sign of any breakthrough.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has faced intense criticism from families of the captives and much of the Israeli public for not yet reaching a deal with Hamas to bring them home.
Hamas hopes to trade the captives for a lasting ceasefire, the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza and the release of a large number of Palestinian prisoners.
Al Jazeera’s Imran Khan said Tuesday’s operation took place in southern Gaza’s Rafah town on the border with Egypt.
“Israel wants control of that border crossing, so this is going to give Israel the impetus to say, ‘This is why we need more control over Rafah,’” Khan said, calling it “a sticking point” in the ceasefire negotiations.
He added that only seven or eight captives have been rescued in Israeli military operations, while 105 captives were released in November in ceasefire negotiations, “a big number”.
“It goes to prove that if you are serious, and if you want these people back, that a negotiated ceasefire is the only way forward,” said Khan.
“Yet Netanyahu and [his] coalition is dragging its feet when it comes to negotiations. In fact, they keep upping the ante … They’re now talking within the public sphere about reoccupying Gaza. That’s a real concern to Hamas and the international community.”
