Live Updates: Israeli Forces Rescue Hostage From Gaza
The Israeli military said it had freed a 52-year-old Israeli Arab man from a tunnel in southern Gaza. He is the eighth hostage to be rescued alive of the approximately 250 abducted 10 months ago.
Israeli forces rescued an Arab citizen of Israel taken hostage in the Hamas-led attacks last Oct. 7 during an operation in southern Gaza, the Israeli military said on Tuesday, more than 10 months after he was abducted alongside roughly 250 others.
Israeli officials identified the man as Farhan al-Qadi, 52, a member of the country’s Bedouin Arab minority and the first Israeli Arab hostage to be rescued alive.
Israeli soldiers and special forces found Mr. al-Qadi by chance as they were combing through a tunnel network for Hamas fighters, according to two senior officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters.
Mr. al-Qadi was found on his own, without guards, in a room roughly 25 yards underground, and was rescued without a fight, the officials said.
The rescue comes as pressure grows on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel to make a deal to end the war in Gaza and free the more than 100 hostages remaining in Gaza, at least 30 of whom are now presumed dead by the Israeli authorities. Intensive diplomatic efforts by the Biden administration, and by Egypt and Qatar, have failed to bridge the gaps between Israel and Hamas, including disagreement over Mr. Netanyahu’s insistence that some Israeli troops remain in Gaza after the war ends.
It was not immediately clear whether the operation to free Mr. al-Qadi had resulted in any deaths. But there were no reports on Tuesday of intense bombardments in Gaza of the kind that have preceded other attempts to rescue living hostages.
Here is what else to know:
Freed hostage: Mr. al-Qadi, who the Israeli military said was from the southern city of Rahat, had worked as a security guard in Magen, a small Israeli kibbutz near the border with Gaza. He was in “stable medical condition” and was taken to a hospital, the military said. He is a member of Israel’s impoverished Bedouin Arab minority. At least 17 Bedouins died in the Oct. 7 attacks.
Past rescues: The Israeli military has rescued only eight living hostages by force since the war began, and those military operations have often killed scores of Palestinians. Israeli military officials say the hostages are being held throughout the Gaza Strip — with many believed to be in Hamas’s underground tunnel network.
Regional fears: Hezbollah and Israel appeared to de-escalate after their major confrontation over the weekend, but for many people across the Middle East, any feelings of relief were undercut by a deeper sense of deadlock. Roughly 150,000 displaced Israelis and Lebanese are still waiting to return to their homes along the countries’ border as Israeli forces and Hezbollah continue to trade strikes. The violence there is intertwined with the 10-month war in Gaza. Months of talks have yet to yield a breakthrough.
Gaza aid challenges: The United Nations has paused humanitarian operations in Gaza after the Israeli military ordered the organization to evacuate its hub of operations in the territory, a senior U.N. official said. U.N. security personnel were working with the Israeli authorities to restart aid efforts in Gaza as soon as possible, the official said.
Far-right minister: Israel’s minister of national security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, drew outrage for saying he would support the building of a synagogue at the Aqsa Mosque complex in Jerusalem, on a disputed site that is holy to Jews and Muslims. The comments, which came in response to a radio interviewer’s question, prompted denunciations from several Arab states, and led Mr. Netanyahu’s office to issue a statement saying there was no change to the status quo at the site.
Palestinian emergency services searched for survivors trapped under rubble in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, after strikes on Tuesday.
Farhan al-Qadi, the Arab Israeli hostage rescued from Gaza on Tuesday, was found by chance during an Israeli operation to capture a Hamas tunnel network beneath southern Gaza, according to two senior Israeli officials.
A team led by Flotilla 13, Israel’s version of the Navy SEALs, were combing the tunnels for signs of Hamas when, to the forces’ surprise, they found Mr. al-Qadi on his own, without guards, in a room roughly 25 yards underground, the officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief journalists.
The eighth living hostage freed in a rescue operation, Mr. al-Qadi is the first to be freed from a tunnel instead of a house. Unlike the other seven, Mr. al-Qadi was freed without a fight, the officials said. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss a sensitive matter.
The Israeli military is still trying to understand why Mr. al-Qadi was discovered on his own, seemingly abandoned by his captors, the officials said.
According to a third person briefed on his rescue, the soldiers who found him initially feared that Mr. al-Qadi, a member of Israel’s Bedouin Arab minority, was a Hamas operative but they quickly realized that he was an Israeli citizen captured on Oct. 7. The officials said that Mr. al-Qadi appeared weak and undernourished. He lacked the energy to climb out of the tunnel on his own.
Roughly 250 people were captured both dead and alive during Hamas’s raid on Israel on Oct. 7. More than 100 were released in a deal in November, while scores more have died in captivity, including from Israeli fire. Roughly 100 still remain in Gaza.
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Amelia NierenbergGabby Sobelman and Rawan Sheikh Ahmad
Amelia Nierenberg reported from London, and Gabby Sobelman and Rawan Sheikh Ahmad reported from Jerusalem.
Israel’s far-right national security minister has drawn outrage for agreeing that he would like to build a synagogue at a disputed holy site in Jerusalem that has long been a flashpoint between Jews and Muslims.
In an interview on Monday on Israeli Army Radio, Itamar Ben-Gvir, the national security minister, was asked if he would build a temple at one of the holiest sites for both Jews and Muslims, known as the Aqsa Mosque complex by Muslims and the Temple Mount by Jews. “Yes, yes, yes!” Mr. Ben-Gvir replied.
The affirmation by Mr. Ben-Gvir, who has a long history of incendiary comments and actions, came amid heightened tensions in the region, with the war between Israel and Hamas expected to grind on with no end in sight. Four days of cease-fire talks in Cairo between senior Israeli and Hamas officials concluded on Sunday with no breakthrough.
Almost immediately after the interview, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement that there was no change to the status quo at the site, where two ancient Jewish temples once stood. Some religious Jews want to build a third Jewish temple, a move seen as offensive to Muslims.
Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Qatar quickly denounced the comments. In a joint statement, Jordan and Egypt added that a cease-fire was the only way to lessen the “grave escalation” in the region.
The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it viewed Mr. Ben-Gvir’s statements as “an explicit and blatant call to demolish the mosque and construct the so-called Temple in its place.”
Moderate Israeli officials distanced themselves from Mr. Ben-Gvir’s comments. Several Israeli leaders called on Mr. Netanyahu to discipline or control Mr. Ben-Gvir.
“Challenging the status quo on the Temple Mount is a dangerous, unnecessary and irresponsible act,” Yoav Gallant, the defense secretary, wrote on X. “Ben Gvir’s actions endanger the national security of the State of Israel and its international status.”
A complex agreement governs the site. Officially, Jews may visit the site, but not pray there, though Israel has quietly allowed them to do so. Jewish worshipers are supposed to pray at the nearby Western Wall.
In one of a series of provocations, Mr. Ben-Gvir recently violated the agreement with a public demonstration, leading a group of about 2,000 supporters in prayers at the site. He claimed in the Monday interview that not allowing Jews to pray there was discrimination.
In June Mr. Ben-Gvir joined a procession of tens of thousands of Jews through the heart of Jerusalem to celebrate Israel’s capture of the eastern half of the city in 1967.
In the interview, Mr. Ben-Gvir was open about his goals — and his current limitations.
“It’s not as if I do whatever I like in the Temple Mount,” he said. “If this were the case, the Israeli flag would have hung over the Temple Mount a long time ago.’’
In a recorded statement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed al-Qadi’s freedom and said Israel was employing a two-pronged approach to liberating hostages in Gaza: negotiations and rescue operations. That requires “our military presence on the ground and unending military pressure on Hamas,” he said. “We will continue to act in that way until we return everyone home.”
Many military experts have said that while Israel may be able to free some hostages through rescue operations, the only way to bring home all the living and dead hostages in Gaza is by reaching an agreement with Hamas.
Farhan al-Qadi, seen in a cellphone photo taken at Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba, southern Israel, on Tuesday.
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SKIP ADVERTISEMENTRear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the Israeli military’s chief spokesman, said Israeli forces had rescued al-Qadi from an underground tunnel in the southern Gaza Strip in a “complex and brave operation.” He said the soldiers reached him after “precise intelligence" was collected by Israel’s security services.
Israelis on Tuesday celebrated the rescue of Farhan al-Qadi, who was taken hostage during Hamas’s attacks on Oct. 7. But none more so than his family, who raced through the hallways of the hospital complex to greet him as quickly as they could.
“I can’t explain these feelings,” Mr. al-Qadi’s brother said in a video shared by Israel’s official account on X, taken before he saw him again. “It’s better than being born again.”
The 52-year-old, a Muslim and member of Israel’s Bedouin community, is from a village near Rahat, in southern Israel. He was working as a security guard in a small Israeli kibbutz, called Magen, near the Gaza border, when he was abducted, according to Israel officials.
Israeli officials identified him variously as Qaid Farhan al-Qadi and Farhan al-Qadi; his family said his name is Farhan al-Qadi.
A member of Mr. al-Qadi’s extended family, Fayez Abu Suheiban, said in an interview that Mr. al-Qadi had over 10 children and that the entire family had been desperate to hear from him since his abduction. “We’ve been praying for him every day since,” Mr. Abu Suheiban said.
Family members had gathered at the Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba, a city about 10 miles southeast of Rahat, where Mr. al-Qadi was brought by helicopter. Israel’s official account on X shared a video of Mr. al-Qadi’s family members running through the hospital. It also shared a picture of him and his brother in what appeared to be a selfie.
Mr. al-Qadi looks at the camera, wearing a blue and yellow hospital gown, smiling. “Reunited,” the caption reads, with a heart emoji and an Israeli flag.
Mr. al-Qadi’s brother Khatem al-Qadi told Israeli television that the family planned a huge party to celebrate his return. He called for a cease-fire deal in Gaza to allow for the release of the rest of the hostages.
“They are still waiting to see their loved ones back today,” he said, speaking of other families. “We are wishing for all of the hostages to be released and for there to be a deal now.’’
For some, Mr. al-Qadi’s rescue was a reminder of the toll the attacks took on Israel’s Bedouin community. At least 17 Bedouins died. Many more who had worked on farms in southern Israel lost their livelihoods after the farms were ransacked.
Even before the attacks, the Bedouins were suffering from the tensions between Israel and Hamas. Few have access to bomb shelters and health clinics because they often live in villages that the Israeli government does not recognize. Even though Hamas does not directly target them, Bedouins are not always able to seek shelter when the group fires rockets into southern Israel.
At the hospital, Mr. al-Qadi’s brother Khatem watched his brother step off a helicopter, Haaretz reported.
“We didn’t believe he would get out of there,” he said, according to Haaretz. “We didn’t know if he was alive or dead.”
“Today we received a new human being,” he added. “He came back from the dead.”
Gabby Sobelman, Aaron Boxerman and Adam Rasgon contributed reporting.
The Israeli military’s chief spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, is speaking now. He will speak in Hebrew, then English. You can watch here.
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SKIP ADVERTISEMENTFarhan al-Qadi is just the eighth living hostage — and the first Arab — to be rescued from Gaza. At least four Arab citizens of Israel still remain captive in the Palestinian enclave. Three were abducted during the Hamas-led attacks in October, while a fourth, Hisham al-Sayed, has been held there for nearly a decade.
The Hostages Families Forum, an umbrella organization representing the families of hostages held in Gaza, hailed al-Qadi’s rescue as “nothing short of miraculous,” but warned that military missions did not obviate the need for a cease-fire agreement to free the more than 100 remaining hostages. “A negotiated deal is the only way forward,” it said in a statement.
Farhan al-Qadi, the hostage Israel said it freed Tuesday, is a member of Israel’s Bedouin Arab minority, an impoverished community. At least 17 Bedouins died in Hamas’s surprise Oct. 7 attacks, and many more lost their livelihoods. Read more about the community in this article.
The rescue of a hostage on Tuesday from southern Gaza brought to eight the number of captives the Israeli military has freed out of the approximately 250 abducted in the Hamas-led attacks last Oct. 7.
Several other hostages’ bodies have been recovered in military operations, and scores of women and children were released during a weeklong cease-fire with Hamas last November. More than 100 captives still remain in Gaza, at least 30 of whom are believed to be dead.
The operations to free hostages by force have often resulted in high death tolls in Gaza. Israeli military officials have said that only a cease-fire agreement with Hamas will allow for most of those still being held to return home.
Here is a look at some of Israel’s previous operations that freed hostages or retrieved their bodies:
Oct. 30, 2023: Less than a month after the Hamas-led attacks, the Israeli military said it had rescued an Israeli soldier who had been abducted from an army base. The soldier was identified as Pvt. Ori Megidish, 19.
Dec. 12: Two hostages were found dead and their bodies repatriated to Israel, the military said. The operation to locate them resulted in the deaths of two Israeli service members.
Dec. 15: Israeli troops shot and killed three hostages whom they mistook for Palestinian militants. The three — Yotam Haim, Samer Talalka and Alon Shamriz — had emerged shirtless from a nearby building, waving a white flag, according to the military. The shootings shocked the country and heightened fears that more captives could be unintentionally hit by Israeli fire.
Feb. 11, 2024: Israeli security forces said they had freed two hostages being held in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. The hostages were identified as Fernando Simon Marman, 60, and Louis Har, 70.
Officials in Gaza said that accompanying Israeli strikes had killed dozens of Palestinians in Rafah.
June 8: Four hostages were rescued alive from Nuseirat, in central Gaza, amid one of the most intense Israeli bombardments of the war. The hostages were identified as Noa Argamani, 26; Andrey Kozlov, 27; Almog Meir Jan, 22; and Shlomi Ziv, 41.
Palestinian health officials said 274 people were killed, including 64 children, during the rescue operation. Israel put the total number of dead at around 100. Neither toll distinguished between civilians and combatants.
The New York Times found that Israeli strikes that were part of the rescue operation had destroyed or damaged at least 42 buildings. The areas hit included apartment buildings and a crowded market, helping to explain the high death toll.
Aug. 20: Israel said it had retrieved the bodies of six hostages, five of whom were previously known to be dead.
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Isaac Herzog, Israel’s president, called the rescue “a happy moment for the state of Israel and for Israeli society as a whole.” He reiterated his call for the return of the hostages still held in Gaza.
The Israeli military said al-Qadi had been rescued by Israeli soldiers and special forces during a “complex operation” in southern Gaza. In a statement, the military said it could not go into further detail for national security reasons, as well as for the safety of the remaining hostages.
The Israeli military has just confirmed it rescued a hostage. “A living hostage has been recovered from Gaza,” the Israeli military’s chief spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said. The Israeli military identified the man as Farhan al-Qadi, 52, a member of the country’s Bedouin Arab minority.
Hezbollah and Israel appeared to de-escalate after a major confrontation over the weekend, tempering fears of a wider conflict in the Middle East. But for people across the region, any feelings of relief were undercut by a deeper sense of deadlock.
After over 10 months of war in Gaza, roughly 150,000 displaced Israelis and Lebanese are still waiting to return to their homes along the countries’ border, where Israeli forces and Hezbollah, the Lebanese militia, were trading airstrikes and rocket fire long before Sunday’s escalation.
The violence there is intertwined with the 10-month war in Gaza, where tens of thousands have been killed and nearly the entire population displaced. Many there are still waiting for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, as they huddle into makeshift shelters and streets torn up by Israeli bombardment. The families of the dozens of hostages still held by Hamas and its allies hope for a deal, too, to free their loved ones.
“The mission needs to be to get us home,” said Giora Zaltz, the head of a regional council in northern Israel whose kibbutz, Lehavot HaBashan, saw some residents leave after Hezbollah began firing at Israel last October.
Mr. Zaltz said Israel’s airstrikes on Sunday, which the Israeli military said had pre-empted a significant Hezbollah assault, had done little to change the balance between the two sides. For residents of Israeli border communities, he said, the situation remained frozen: roughly 60,000 Israelis displaced, even as those who stayed behind faced daily rocket fire by Hezbollah.
Israel’s focus in fighting Hezbollah has been “to blow up infrastructure or kill their commanders,” Mr. Zaltz said. But in terms of creating the conditions for displaced Israelis to return home, he added, “for now, the state and the military are failing at this.”
Tensions across the Middle East had been high for weeks after the assassinations in quick succession of Fuad Shukr, a senior leader in Hezbollah, and Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas. The Israeli military said it had killed Mr. Shukr in an airstrike but has not claimed responsibility for Mr. Haniyeh’s death, though Hezbollah and Iran — which backs both groups — vowed serious reprisals against Israel for the killings.
Israel’s predawn strikes on Hezbollah on Sunday were followed by a massive Hezbollah barrage of rockets and drones, though they caused little apparent damage. Both sides quickly declared victory and suggested they would return to what has become the new norm: endless rounds of tit-for-tat strikes. Iran, for its part, appears to have held back its vengeance — at least for now.
In Lebanon, many were relieved after both Israel and Hezbollah signaled that they would step back from all-out war. Zeinab Hourani, a graphic designer who lives in Beirut’s southern suburbs — a Hezbollah stronghold — said the nearly deserted streets were returning to life.
Ms. Hourani said she had put some of her plans on hold and had begun looking for an apartment outside the suburbs, known as Dahiyeh, fearing that Israel would target the area. But after Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, gave a speech Sunday afternoon suggesting that the clashes would be contained, “some people who left because of the tension are back,” she said.
But for the more than 100,000 Lebanese displaced from the country’s south, the conflict and disruption continue. Mr. Nasrallah has vowed to continue fighting until Israel ends its campaign against Hamas in Gaza, and months of cease-fire talks mediated by the United States, Egypt and Qatar have failed to bridge key differences between the two sides.
Fatima al-Srour, who had fled her hometown of Ramyeh, close to the border with Israel, said her father had wanted to pack up and return there after the clashes on Sunday quieted down. But she stopped him, knowing the village was still unsafe.
“We are connected with Gaza, and our return doesn’t appear to be happening soon,” said Ms. al-Srour, 35.
For Gazans, the sense of desperation is even greater as the war approaches the 11-month mark, with more than 40,000 people killed, according to the Gazan Health Ministry.
In Deir al Balah, an area of central Gaza crowded with hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians, Samih Saad waited at a field hospital hoping to receive the latest round of treatment for his leg, which he said was wounded months ago by shrapnel in a blast from a falling shell.
Many Gazans, he said, feared that an expansion of the war across the region could prolong Israel’s offensive in Gaza for months. Even if that prospect has dimmed for now, he said, most held out little hope that the cease-fire talks would succeed.
“Each time there’s a lull, we hope that it might be over soon,” he said. “But that always turns out to be mistaken.”
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United Nations humanitarian operations in the Gaza Strip have ground to a halt, at least temporarily, after the Israeli military ordered the organization to evacuate Deir al-Balah, its main hub in the territory, a senior U.N. official told reporters at a briefing on Monday.
U.N. security personnel were working with the Israeli authorities to resume humanitarian work in Gaza as soon as possible, said the U.N. official, who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity. The Israeli authorities were also working with the U.N. to facilitate the movement of aid, the U.N. official said.
Humanitarian work in Gaza is coordinated with the Israeli authorities, who can slow or stop such efforts depending on security concerns in the area. The Israeli authorities were able to facilitate fewer than half of the planned humanitarian missions and movements in the Gaza Strip in the first few weeks of August, the U.N. office of humanitarian affairs said in a report on Friday, with more than half of all missions and movements blocked, delayed, impeded or canceled.
“The high number of aid missions that the Israeli authorities do not facilitate means that people who barely have the means to survive — access to clean drinking water, adequate food and shelter, to name a few — are often left with nothing at all,” Georgios Petropoulos, the leader of the U.N. office’s Gaza mission, said in a statement to The New York Times.
The Gaza Coordination and Liaison Administration, an Israeli agency that coordinates humanitarian activities, did not respond to a request for comment. The Israeli military directed comments to COGAT, the Israeli body that oversees policy in the Palestinian territories and that oversees the coordination and liaison administration.
The U.N. humanitarian affairs office on Friday warned that “ongoing intense fighting, damaged roads, a breakdown of law and order and access challenges along the main humanitarian route” have led to critical food shortages in Gaza. The number of children diagnosed with acute malnutrition through arm screenings increased substantially across Gaza between May and July, it reported, noting that since January, 14,750 children ages 6 months to nearly 5 years, out of 239,580 screened, had been diagnosed with acute malnutrition.
Anushka Patil contributed reporting.
Reporting from Washington
Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III has extended the tour of the Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier in the Middle East, the Pentagon said on Monday, reflecting the tensions in the region and persistent concern that Iran will retaliate for the assassination of a senior Hamas leader in Tehran.
Mr. Austin decided over the weekend to prolong the Roosevelt’s time in the region, Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, told reporters on Monday, meaning that the United States will have two carriers and their accompanying warships there in the coming days.
The Pentagon’s decision comes after Israel and Hezbollah fired rockets, missiles and drones at each other over the weekend. Hezbollah had responded to the bombardment of southern Lebanon on Sunday by Israeli military aircraft to stop what Israel said were preparations for a major attack by the Lebanese-based militant group.
John Kirby, the White House’s national security spokesman, said, “We’re maintaining a pretty robust force posture there to be able to defend ourselves and defend Israel should it have come to that.”
He called Hezbollah’s attack on Israel over the weekend significant enough to prompt the movement of additional American forces into the region.
“What Hezbollah launched into the early morning hours Sunday was certainly a sizable attack,” Mr. Kirby said, “different in scope than what we tend to see on a daily basis between Israel and Hezbollah. Hopefully, it won’t.”
The carrier Abraham Lincoln arrived recently in the Gulf of Oman, where the Roosevelt has been operating. The Roosevelt had been scheduled to depart this week, but General Ryder declined to say how much longer the ship would remain in the region. Another Pentagon official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss operational matters, said it would be about two weeks.
The Pentagon’s move comes even as Israel and Hezbollah appeared to de-escalate after firing rockets, missiles and drones at each other over the weekend, averting a wider Middle East war, at least for now. But General Ryder said the United States must take seriously vows by Iran to avenge the killing of Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’s political leader, last month.
Israel’s military has not commented on the assassination. But Hamas and Iran have blamed Israel for the killing, and U.S. intelligence has assessed that Israel was behind it.
“We continue to assess that there is a threat of attack, and we remain well postured to be able to support Israel’s defense, as well as to protect our forces,” General Ryder said.
As part of a coordination between the U.S. and Israeli militaries, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, chief of the general staff of the Israeli military, met with the U.S. chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., during his visit to Israel this week, the Israeli military said in a statement.
The commanders discussed security, strategic issues and strengthening regional partnerships as part of the response to threats in the Middle East, the statement said.
Johnatan Reiss contributed reporting from Tel Aviv, and Michael D. Shear from Washington.
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