The Israeli military announced on Tuesday that it had rescued an Israeli hostage in Gaza, more than 10 months after his abduction during the Hamas attacks that triggered a devastating war.
Kaid Farhan Alkadi, a 52-year-old Israeli Bedouin, was taken by Palestinian militants during the Hamas attack on October 7, the military said in a statement.
“Alkadi was rescued… in a complex operation in the southern Gaza Strip,” the statement said, noting that he was in stable condition and being transferred to a hospital for a medical check-up.
Alkadi, from Rahat, a predominantly Arab town, was working as a guard at a warehouse in southern Israel on October 7 when he was seized by militants.
The Israeli campaign group Hostages and Missing Families Forum described his rescue as “miraculous.”
“However, we must remember that military operations alone cannot free the remaining hostages who have endured 326 days of abuse and terror,” the group said, emphasizing that only a ceasefire could ensure the return of other captives. “A negotiated deal is the only way forward.”
“We urgently call on the international community to maintain pressure on Hamas to accept the proposed deal and release all hostages,” the group added.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that Israel was “working tirelessly to bring all our hostages back,” in a video released shortly after he spoke with Alkadi.
“We are pursuing this in two main ways: through negotiations and through rescue operations. Both approaches require our military presence on the ground and continuous military pressure on Hamas.”
US Claims Progress in Talks
Negotiations on a ceasefire to end the war in Gaza are continuing in Qatar, a US official said, after an earlier round of talks wrapped up in Cairo amid growing regional tensions.
US President Joe Biden’s Middle East point man Brett McGurk is in Doha for the talks aimed at halting the 10-month conflict between Israel and Hamas, the official said on condition of anonymity.
The United States expressed cautious optimism regarding efforts to secure a Gaza ceasefire and the release of the remaining hostages.
Their fate is central to ongoing truce talks in Cairo, with relatives and supporters pressuring the Israeli government through weekly protests demanding their return.
In Washington, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters that “there continues to be progress” and that the talks would continue, involving “working groups” for several days.
A key issue in the talks has been Israel’s insistence on maintaining control of the so-called Philadelphi Corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border to prevent Hamas from rearming, a condition the militant group has refused to accept.
Cairo, which has been mediating the talks alongside Qatar and the United States, insisted on Monday that “it will not accept any Israeli presence” along the corridor, according to Egyptian state-linked Al-Qahera news, citing a high-level source.
With AFP
