IDF Rescues Hostage from Tunnel in South Gaza
Farhan al-Qadi was rescued after 10 months of Hamas captivity.
Farhan al-Qadi, 52, Bedouin father of 11, was found by special forces in ‘brave and complex’ operation, army says, declining to reveal further details of the raid.
Israeli hostage Farhan al-Qadi was safely rescued by IDF special forces from Hamas captivity in one of the terror group’s tunnels in the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday after more than 10 months in captivity, the military announced.
Al-Qadi, 52, was found inside a tunnel by commandos of the Israeli Navy’s Shayetet 13 unit and troops of the elite Yahalom combat engineering unit, the military said. The operation was led by the Israel Defense Forces’ Southern Command, the Shin Bet security agency, and the IDF’s 162nd Division.
The IDF said that further details could not immediately be published, “due to issues of the security of our hostages, the security of our forces, and the security of the state.”
IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari described the operation as “brave and complex,” and based on precise intelligence.
“This morning, Shayetet 13 troops, the Yahalom unit, and the Shin Bet, rescued Farhan alive from a tunnel in southern Gaza,” he said in a press conference.
Hagari denied rumors that al-Qadi managed to escape the tunnel in which he was held, saying that troops “rescued Farhan from underground, he met our forces underground.”
Al-Qadi was not discovered by Israeli special forces “by chance” as some reports described, although there was no pre-planned operation to specifically rescue him, military sources said.
The IDF had been operating in an area of the southern Gaza Strip for several days, with the assumption that hostages could be held in the area. The Shayetet 13 commandos and Shin Bet agents began to slowly search a tunnel complex in the area, where they then discovered al-Qadi.
Al-Qadi was alone in the tunnel where the special forces located him. No other hostages or Hamas terrorists were alongside him, and troops did not face any resistance.
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