An elite Israeli military unit successfully rescued a frail and emaciated hostage from a tunnel deep beneath the Gaza Strip.
This marked the eighth living captive freed by Israeli forces in nearly 11 months of conflict and the first to be discovered alive in the complex underground network used by Hamas.
The rescue operation occurred amid ongoing Israeli airstrikes across Gaza, which Palestinian emergency services reported had resulted in at least 20 fatalities.
In the southern city of Khan Younis, emergency responders were urgently working to locate survivors trapped under rubble from a collapsed building.
The rescued individual, Farhan al-Qadi, a 52-year-old member of Israel’s Bedouin Arab community, was found in a tunnel approximately 25 yards underground.
According to Israeli officials, the rescue was executed without resistance.
Over 100 hostages are still believed to be in Gaza, with Israeli authorities presuming that at least 30 of them are dead.
Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the Israeli military’s chief spokesman, described the rescue operation as “complex and courageous,” attributing the successful outcome to “precise intelligence” gathered by Israel’s security agencies.
However, this description was contradicted by two senior Israeli officials who requested anonymity.
They revealed that al-Qadi was discovered by chance during a broader mission aimed at capturing a Hamas tunnel network.
The officials noted that al-Qadi was found alone, without any guards, by a team from Flotilla 13, Israel’s elite naval unit.
Following the publication of this report by The New York Times, the Israeli military issued a revised statement.
The updated communication avoided specifics about intelligence and instead indicated that al-Qadi was rescued during an operation within a
“Complex underground system where hostages were suspected to be held, along with the presence of terrorists and explosives.”
Israeli officials have consistently claimed that Hamas holds hostages within its tunnel network, and military personnel frequently conduct searches for evidence of their presence.
VP Kamala Harris Campaign Disputes Trump’s Claim On Debate Rules For September 10
