JERUSALEM – Qaid Farhan Alkadi was alone underground Tuesday after 326 days of captivity in Gaza when Israeli forces scouring Hamas’ vast tunnel network found and freed him.
“Suddenly, I heard someone speaking Hebrew outside the door, I couldn’t believe it, I couldn’t believe it,” Alkadi, 52, recounted from an Israeli hospital during a phone call with Israel’s president as his large Bedouin Arab family gathered around his bedside in a joyful reunion.
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He was the eighth hostage to be rescued by Israeli forces since about 250 were kidnapped during the Oct. 7 attack that ignited the war, and the first to be found alive underground. The rescue brought a rare moment of relief to Israelis after 10 months of war but also served as a painful reminder that dozens of hostages are still in captivity as international mediators try to broker a cease-fire in which they would be released.
Alkadi expressed gratitude during the call with Israeli President Isaac Herzog and urged his country's leaders to do everything possible to free the dozens still in captivity. "Work 24 hours, don’t sleep until they return. People are really suffering, you can’t imagine,” he said, according to a transcript of the call provided by Herzog’s office.
Alkadi was found in a southern Gaza tunnel where hostages were suspected to be alongside militants and explosives, according to the military. He was held in a number of locations during his captivity, according to Israel’s military spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said the rescue was part of the army’s “daring and courageous activities conducted deep inside the Gaza Strip.”
The military said it applied “lessons” learned during previous operations while rescuing Alkadi. Earlier in the war, Israeli troops who encountered three hostages inside Gaza accidentally shot and killed them, believing them to be militants.
Alkadi was one of eight members of Israel’s Bedouin Arab minority abducted on Oct. 7. He was working as a guard at a packing factory in Kibbutz Magen, one of several farming communities that came under attack. He has two wives and is the father of 11 children.
Israel believes there are still 108 hostages in Gaza and that about one-third of them are dead. Most of the rest were freed during a weeklong cease-fire in November in exchange for the release of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.
Footage released by the Israeli military showed Alkadi moments after the rescue. Unshaven and wearing a white tank top, he is seen sitting and smiling with soldiers before boarding a helicopter to a hospital. He appeared emaciated but officials described his condition as stable.
His large family gathered at the hospital in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba to welcome him home.
One of his brothers held Alkadi’s infant son, who was born while he was in captivity and had not yet met his father, the brother said.
“We’re so excited to hug him and see him and tell him that we’re all here with him,” a family member who gave his name as Faez told Channel 12. “I hope that every hostage will come home so the families can experience this happiness.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also spoke with Alkadi by phone soon after he arrived at the hospital. He said that Israel would rely on rescue operations and negotiations to bring the remaining hostages home.
“Both ways together require our military presence in the field, and unceasing military pressure on Hamas,” Netanyahu said.
Referring to Netanyahu by a traditional Arabic nickname, Alkadi thanked the prime minister for enabling him to see his family again, according to a video of the call provided by Netanyahu’s office.
Alkadi reminded Netanyahu that “there are others waiting.” To which Netanyahu replied, “we haven’t forgotten anyone, just as we haven’t forgotten you.”
Hamas-led militants abducted some 250 people during their Oct. 7 attack in Israel in which some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed over 40,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials, who do not say how many were militants. It has displaced 90% of Gaza’s 2.3 million people from their homes and caused heavy destruction across the besieged territory.
Israeli airstrikes continued on Tuesday across the Gaza Strip, and Palestinian officials said at least 18 people, including eight children, were killed in the attacks.
Two previous Israeli operations to free hostages killed scores of Palestinians. Hamas says several hostages have been killed in Israeli airstrikes and failed rescue attempts. Israeli troops mistakenly killed three Israelis who escaped captivity in December.
Mazen Abu Siam, a close family friend waiting at the hospital, said the family was overjoyed to hear the news, but they were still praying for a cease-fire.
“We are waiting for a deal for one year," Siam told The Associated Press.
The United States, Egypt and Qatar have spent months trying to negotiate an agreement in which the remaining hostages would be freed in exchange for a lasting cease-fire. Those talks are ongoing, but there has been no sign of any breakthrough.
Netanyahu has faced intense criticism from families of the hostages and much of the Israeli public for not yet reaching a deal with Hamas to bring them home.
Hamas hopes to trade the hostages for a lasting cease-fire, the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza and the release of a large number of Palestinian prisoners, including high-profile militants.
Last week, after the Israeli military recovered the bodies of six hostages in southern Gaza, Israel’s military spokesperson, Hagari, said the army was working to gather more intelligence for rescue operations. But he added that “we cannot bring everyone back through rescue operations alone.”
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Lidman reported from Jerusalem. Julia Frankel contributed reporting from Jerusalem.
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Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war