An elite Israeli military unit rescued a frail and gaunt hostage from a tunnel deep beneath the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, the eighth living captive to be freed by Israeli troops in nearly 11 months of war and the first to be found alive in the subterranean labyrinth used by Hamas.
The rescue came amid Israeli airstrikes across Gaza that Palestinian emergency services said killed at least 20 people. At one of the bombing sites in the southern city of Khan Younis, emergency crews frantically searched for survivors trapped under a collapsed building.
The rescued hostage, Farhan al-Qadi, 52, a member of Israel’s Bedouin Arab minority, was freed by commandos without a fight after being discovered in a room roughly 25 yards underground, Israeli officials said. More than 100 hostages remain in Gaza, at least 30 of whom are now presumed dead by the Israeli authorities.
The Israeli military’s chief spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, portrayed the operation to rescue Mr. al-Qadi as “complex and brave.” He said the soldiers reached him after “precise intelligence” was collected by Israel’s security services.
But that account was at odds with details provided by two senior Israeli officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss a sensitive matter.
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Mr. al-Qadi, the Israeli officials said, was found by chance during an operation to capture a Hamas tunnel network. A team led by Flotilla 13, Israel’s equivalent to the U.S. 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, the officials said.
Israeli officials have long said Hamas was holding hostages in its tunnel network, and soldiers routinely search the tunnels for signs of their presence.
Unlike the seven hostages in Gaza who were previously liberated by Israeli forces, Mr. al-Qadi was freed without a fight, the officials said. The Israeli military is still trying to understand why Mr. al-Qadi was discovered on his own, seemingly abandoned by his captors.
According to a third person briefed on his rescue, the soldiers who found him initially feared that Mr. al-Qadi was a Hamas operative, but they quickly realized that he was an Israeli citizen captured in the Hamas-led assault on Israel on Oct. 7. The officials said that Mr. al-Qadi appeared weak, undernourished and lacking enough energy to climb out of the tunnel on his own.
Roughly 250 people, both dead and alive, were kidnapped and hauled to Gaza during the Oct. 7 attack, which left about 1,200 people dead and sparked the brutal war in Gaza. More than 100 hostages were released in a deal in November, while scores more have died in captivity, including some killed by Israeli fire.
