CNN
–
The family of the first Israeli hostage to be pulled alive from inside Hamas's vast tunnel network under Gaza have hailed his “incredible” rescue, saying it was as if he had been brought back to life. be
Farhan al-Qadi, 52, a Bedouin Israeli national from Rahat in southern Israel who has been held hostage since October 7, is in “stable medical condition” after being rescued from a tunnel in southern Gaza in a “complex operation.” An Israeli military spokesman told CNN on Tuesday.
Two Israeli military officials told CNN that Israeli special forces, acting on intelligence, were exploring a network of tunnels in southern Gaza when they found al-Qadi. Al-Qadi was alone, without his Hamas captors, when Israeli forces found him, an official said.
Al-Qadi is the eighth hostage rescued alive by Israeli forces in Gaza since the start of the war in four separate operations – but the first to be pulled alive from inside Hamas's tunnel network under Gaza. The IDF told CNN.
“He was dead and now he has been brought back to life,” al-Qadi's brother, Juma, told CNN Friday, adding that al-Qadi met with family members at the Soroka Medical Center in Beer Sheva, where he was being treated after his rescue. Care is being taken. He added that his brother was not expected to return alive.
“It was all tears. Tears of joy. The important thing is that we saw it,” Juma 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 he had one wish “to meet you (the family) and then die.”
Shlomi Kodesh, director general of the Soroka Medical Center, said Tuesday that the former hostage “will need another day or two of medical tests to make sure he is still OK.” Meanwhile, Mazen Abu Sayyam, a friend of al-Qadi, described happy scenes and a “big celebration” at the hospital, where “hundreds of friends and relatives” had arrived to meet the former hostage.
Family members told CNN that al-Qadi was expected to return to Turabin on Wednesday. On Tuesday evening, her brother and 11 children, along with cousins and neighbours, were busy setting up tents, chairs and lights before returning to her village.
In the village's closed women's quarters, al-Qadi's mother awaited her son's return. Alia Althana said that at first her family hid the painful truth behind her son's disappearance and told her that he was travelling. A few months after the October 7 attacks, she was told that her son was being held by Hamas in Gaza. Today, the news of his release felt “unbelievable”.
“My heart just jumped,” Alsana told CNN.
Juma said his brother was shot in the leg and kidnapped during the October 7 attack by Hamas, which Israeli officials said killed 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages. Juma added that his brother's leg appeared to be poorly treated and was operated on without anesthesia, as is done with animals.
Al-Qadi's 11 months in prison will never leave him, Juma said.
“It's hard for him to erase the things he saw there,” Juma said, adding that he, too, will never fully recover from losing his brother for nearly a year.
Atta Abu Mudghiim, the former mayor of the Arab Bedouin city of Rahat in southern Israel, where al-Qadi is close to, said he had visited al-Qadi in hospital. He said that al-Qadi had told him that another hostage had died with him at the beginning of his captivity.
“He told me the captivity was brutal. Constant darkness, no daylight. He was treated like the rest of the hostages, like an Israeli in every way,” she said.
Another of al-Qadi's brothers, Abu Muhammad, told CNN that his captors fled when they heard Israeli soldiers approaching the tunnels, adding that his brother had heard Hebrew voices and was aware of their whereabouts. Screamed to do.
Asked by CNN's Jim Sciuto on Tuesday if he believed al-Qadi's captors had released him, IDF spokesman Nadav Shoshani said “that's one of the options being considered.” ”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with al-Qadi in a video call released by his office. “Farhan, I'm very happy to talk to you,” Netanyahu said in the video. I want you to know that just as we have not forgotten you, we do not forget anyone.
“I am happy too. I am waiting for this moment,” the former hostage told the prime minister.
The Hostage Families Forum, which campaigns for the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, celebrated the return of a father of 11 children.
“(Their) homecoming is nothing short of a miracle,” he said. “However, we must remember: military operations alone cannot free the remaining 108 hostages, who have endured 326 days of abuse and terror.”
Demonstrations demanding more action from the Israeli government to free the remaining hostages have been ongoing for months. Al-Qadi's friend, Abu Sayyam, said he had participated in some of these protests and asked Al-Qadi when he visited him in the hospital if he was aware of the protests.
“I asked him if he saw me in the streets and alleys calling for him to be released from prison and he told me that he was out of touch with the Israeli news,” Abu Sayyam told CNN's Jim Sciuto. .
Israeli Defense Minister Yves Gallant said a “brave and daring” operation led to al-Qadi's rescue. Israeli President Isaac Herzog said he was “very happy” with 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, making up about 20 percent 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 army, although some choose to volunteer, often serving in specialized units such as the Goodsor 585, known as the Bedouin Battalion, which Works in the Negev desert, where most Bedouins are born.
Al-Qadi's brother, Juma, said the Bedouin community in Tarabeen village was proud that “not a single drop of blood was shed” during Al-Qadi's rescue.
He said that no child, no Palestinian, no Jew or anyone shed my brother's blood.
Before Israel was established in 1948, the Negev was home to 92,000 Bedouins, but only 11,000 remained after that year's Arab-Israeli war, according to the minority rights group. The international human rights organization added that those who stay are “harshly treated, repeatedly uprooted and forced to live in reservations”.
According to the National Library of Israel, there are approximately 250,000 Bedouin, many of whom live in towns not yet recognized by the state, while others live in unincorporated villages.
According to figures from the Israeli Prime Minister's Office and the Forum for Hostages and Missing Families, al-Qadi's recovery means that 104 have been taken hostage since the October 7 attack. 34 of them are feared dead.
The bodies of six Israeli hostages were recovered from Gaza during an overnight military operation in Khan Yunis last week, Israeli officials said.
Hopes for a ceasefire deal for the hostages, which would halt fighting in Gaza and see the return of those held by Hamas, have risen and faded repeatedly in recent months.
Negotiators continue to work on a deal, and the intensity has increased in recent weeks. Talks made progress over the weekend, with negotiators discussing the “final details” of a potential deal, according to a senior US official familiar with the talks in Cairo, Egypt.
An Israeli official told CNN that an Israeli delegation will travel to Doha on Wednesday for ceasefire talks.