Israeli soldiers free a man held captive by Hamas for ten months
Hamas is still holding around 110 hostages, with about a third believed to be deceased. Most of the remaining hostages were released during a ceasefire last November in exchange for Palestinians held by Israel.
A man abducted by Hamas during the October 7 attack on Israel was rescued on Tuesday, according to the Israel Defence Forces (IDF).
The military reported rescuing 52-year-old Qaid Farhan Alkadi in a "complex operation in the southern Gaza Strip," though it did not provide additional details. Alkadi is currently in stable medical condition, the IDF stated.
Alkadi, a Bedouin, was working as a guard at a packing factory in Kibbutz Magen, one of several farming communities targeted in the attack over 10 months ago, which triggered the ongoing conflict in Gaza.
He has two wives and eleven children. Israel's Channel 12 broadcast footage of Alkadi's family members running through the hospital where he was taken after hearing the news of his rescue.
Hamas militants had abducted approximately 250 people during the October 7 assault, which resulted in around 1,200 deaths, predominantly civilians.
In response, Israel's military actions have resulted in over 40,000 Palestinian deaths, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. The offensive has displaced 90 percent of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents and caused extensive damage throughout the territory.
The UN reported that the humanitarian zone declared by Israel has reduced to about 11 percent of the Gaza Strip due to increasing evacuation orders.
Hamas is still holding around 110 hostages, with about a third believed to be deceased. Most of the remaining hostages were released during a ceasefire last November in exchange for Palestinians held by Israel.
To date, Israeli forces have directly rescued eight hostages, including in two operations that resulted in significant Palestinian casualties. Hamas claims that several hostages have been killed in Israeli airstrikes and unsuccessful rescue attempts.
Meanwhile, Israeli airstrikes continue to wreak havoc across Gaza. Palestinian officials reported that airstrikes killed at least 18 people, including eight children, in the past 24 hours.
The civil defense agency, operating under the Hamas-run government, reported that three children and their mother were killed in an airstrike late Monday in Gaza City's Tufah neighborhood.
Three others were reported missing after the strike. Another airstrike on a building in downtown Gaza City late Monday resulted in the deaths of a child, three women, and a man, according to the health ministry.
Early Tuesday, an airstrike flattened a home west of Khan Younis, killing at least four people, including a child, according to Nasser Hospital.
Online footage showed residents digging through the rubble, with a man carrying a wounded child to an ambulance and two others transporting a deceased body wrapped in a blanket.
In southern Gaza, an early Tuesday strike on a home resulted in the deaths of five people, including a man, his three children, and a woman, as reported by Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.
Palestinian health officials have not specified whether those killed in the airstrikes were civilians or militants.
Israel asserts that it strives to avoid civilian casualties and attributes such deaths to Hamas, which it claims endangers civilians by operating in residential areas. However, the military seldom comments on individual strikes, which frequently result in the deaths of women and children.
Efforts by the United States, Egypt, and Qatar to negotiate an agreement for the release of remaining hostages in exchange for a lasting ceasefire have been ongoing for months.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has faced significant criticism from hostage families and the broader Israeli public for not yet securing a deal with Hamas to bring the hostages home.
