Israel rescues 52-year-old held hostage by Hamas from tunnel during ‘complex operation’ in Gaza

(CNN) — Israel’s military said Tuesday it had rescued a 52-year-old hostage held by Hamas since October 7, in a “complex operation” in southern Gaza.

Kaid Farhan Al-Qadi, a Bedouin Israeli citizen from Rahat in southern Israel, was rescued from a tunnel in southern Gaza by Israeli forces, an Israeli military spokesman told CNN.

“He is in a stable medical condition and is being transferred for medical checks at a hospital,” the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement. “His family has been updated with the details, and the IDF is accompanying them.”

Israeli special forces, acting on intelligence, were combing a network of tunnels in southern Gaza when they found Al-Qadi, two Israeli military officials told CNN. Al-Qadi was alone, without his Hamas captors, when Israeli forces found him, one of the officials said.

“I can’t explain these feelings. It’s better than being born again,” Al-Qadi’s brother, Khatem, said as he stood outside the Soroka Medical Center in Beer Sheva, in a video released by Israel’s Foreign Ministry. “We say thank you to everyone and we hope Farhan is good and healthy. We’re very happy.”

Al-Qadi is the eighth hostage to be rescued alive in Gaza by the Israeli military since the beginning of the war, in four separate operations. But it marks the first time a hostage has been reclaimed alive from inside Hamas’ sprawling tunnel network underneath Gaza, the IDF told CNN.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with Al-Qadi, in a conversation released on video by his office. “Farhan, I am so happy to talk to you,” Netanyahu says in the video. I want you to know that we do not forget anyone, just as we did not forget you.”

“I’m happy too. I’ve been waiting for this moment,” the former hostage told the prime minister.

The Hostages Families Forum, which campaigns for the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, celebrated the return of the father of 11.

“Kaid’s return home is nothing short of miraculous,” it said. “However, we must remember: military operations alone cannot free the remaining 108 hostages, who have suffered 326 days of abuse and terror.”

Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant said a “daring and courageous” operation led to Al-Qadi’s rescue. Israeli President Isaac Herzog said he was “overjoyed” by the development.

The Bedouin community in Israel – a Muslim, semi-nomadic, and ethnically Arab group – is considered a subset of the country’s Arab population, which makes up about 20% of the total population.

While some identify as Bedouin Israelis, others see themselves as Palestinian citizens of Israel. Unlike Jewish Israelis, Bedouins are not required to serve in the Israeli military, though some choose to volunteer, often serving in specialized units like the Gadsar 585, known as the Bedouin battalion, which operates in the Negev desert, where most Bedouins originate.

Before Israel’s founding in 1948, the Negev was home to 92,000 Bedouins, but only 11,000 remained after the Arab-Israeli war of that year, according to Minority Rights Group. Those who stayed are “treated harshly, uprooted time and again and forced to live in reservations,” the international human rights organization added.

According to the National Library of Israel, there are almost 250,000 Bedouins, many of whom live in towns that are yet to receive recognition from the state, while others live in unincorporated villages.

Some 250 people were taken hostage by Hamas during the militant group’s cross-border attack on Israel on October 7, which also left more than 1,200 Israelis dead.

Al-Qadi’s rescue means 104 hostages are being held from the October 7 attack, according to figures from the Israeli prime minister’s office and the Hostages and Missing Families Forum. Of those, 34 are presumed dead.

Last week the bodies of six Israeli hostages were retrieved from Gaza during an overnight military operation in Khan Younis, Israeli authorities said.

Hopes of a ceasefire-for-hostages deal, which would halt fighting in Gaza and see the return of people held by Hamas, have repeatedly been raised and dashed in recent months.

Negotiators are continuing to work on a deal, and have met with increasing intensity in recent weeks. Talks made progress over the weekend, according to a senior US official familiar with the discussions in Cairo, Egypt, where mediators discussed “final details” of a potential agreement.

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CNN’s Jeremy Diamond and Lauren Izso contributed reporting