Dawn
Active member
CNN —
The family of the first Israeli hostage to have been reclaimed alive from inside Hamas’ sprawling tunnel network underneath Gaza have hailed his “unbelievable” rescue, saying it is as if he has been “brought back to life.”
Farhan Al-Qadi, 52, a Bedouin Israeli citizen from Rahat in southern Israel who had been held hostage since October 7, is “in a stable medical condition” after being rescued from a tunnel in southern Gaza in a “complex operation,” an Israeli military spokesman told CNN Tuesday.
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.
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 he is the first to have been reclaimed alive from inside Hamas’ tunnel network underneath Gaza, the IDF told CNN.
“He was dead and is now brought back to life,” Al-Qadi’s brother, Juma’a, told CNN after Al-Qadi met family members at the Soroka Medical Center in Beer Sheva, where he is being cared for following his rescue. He added that his brother had not expected to come back alive.
“It was all tears. Tears of joy. What matters is that we saw him,” Juma’a said during an interview in the Bedouin village of Tarabin, in Israel’s Negev desert. He added that his brother had told him earlier today that his one wish was to “see you (the family) and then die.”
The family of the first Israeli hostage to have been reclaimed alive from inside Hamas’ sprawling tunnel network underneath Gaza have hailed his “unbelievable” rescue, saying it is as if he has been “brought back to life.”
Farhan Al-Qadi, 52, a Bedouin Israeli citizen from Rahat in southern Israel who had been held hostage since October 7, is “in a stable medical condition” after being rescued from a tunnel in southern Gaza in a “complex operation,” an Israeli military spokesman told CNN Tuesday.
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.
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 he is the first to have been reclaimed alive from inside Hamas’ tunnel network underneath Gaza, the IDF told CNN.
“He was dead and is now brought back to life,” Al-Qadi’s brother, Juma’a, told CNN after Al-Qadi met family members at the Soroka Medical Center in Beer Sheva, where he is being cared for following his rescue. He added that his brother had not expected to come back alive.
“It was all tears. Tears of joy. What matters is that we saw him,” Juma’a said during an interview in the Bedouin village of Tarabin, in Israel’s Negev desert. He added that his brother had told him earlier today that his one wish was to “see you (the family) and then die.”
