Rescued Israeli pleads for hostage deal with Hamas

A Bedouin Arab man rescued in Gaza has urged Israel to reach a deal with Hamas to free all the remaining hostages, as details of his suffering in captivity have emerged.

Kaid Farhan Elkadi, 52, was rescued on Tuesday in a “complex operation in the southern Gaza Strip”, the Israeli military said.

After returning to his village in southern Israel on Wednesday, Mr Elkadi said his “happiness is not complete as long as there are detainees” on both sides.

Meanwhile, a former Israeli mayor said Mr Elkadi had been hardly exposed to sunlight for eight months.

Mr Elkadi was kidnapped by Hamas during the 7 October attack on Israel, and is the eighth hostage rescued by Israeli forces since the start of the war in Gaza.

On Wednesday, he returned to his home village of Karkur in the Negev desert after being discharged from hospital.

Surrounded by reporters and members of his Bedouin community, Mr Elkadi pleaded for all the hostages to be released.

“It does not matter if they are Arab or Jewish, all have a family waiting for them. They also want to feel the joy.

“I hope, I pray for an end to this,” he said, revealing that he had the same message during Tuesday’s phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“I told Bibi Netanyahu yesterday, ‘Work to bring an end to this.’”

US, Egyptian and Qatari mediators are trying to broker a ceasefire deal that would see Hamas release the 104 hostages still being held, including 34 who are presumed dead, in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

Mr Elkadi was allowed to go home after undergoing hospital examinations.

The father of 11 earlier told his relatives “about difficult days, a very cruel captivity”, Ata Abu Medigam, ex-mayor of the southern Israeli town of Rahat, told Israel’s Haaretz newspaper.

“He spoke about one of the hostages who was held captive with him for two months and died next to him,” Mr Medigam said.

Mr Elkadi had also started worrying about losing his eyesight, Mr Medigam added.

“He would check his eyes to see if they were still working and functioning – he would put his fingers on his eyes to check his reflexes.”

Mr Elkadi also told his relatives that one of his fellow detainees had died next to him during his time in captivity, Mr Medigam said.

The Israeli military said forces had found Mr Elkadi in an underground tunnel “when he was alone”.

In a statement, the military said no further details about the rescue could be published “due to considerations of the safety of our hostages, the security of our forces, and national security”.

But some details have been emerging about Mr Elkadi’s time in captivity.

His cousin, Fadi Abu Sahiban, said Mr Elkadi did not get preferential treatment due to being a Muslim.

“They didn’t give him concessions because he’s a Muslim. He says they let him pray, that’s the only thing they allowed him to do,” he told Haaretz.

Mr Elkadi had no way of communicating with the outside world and was in constant fear of bombs overhead, his cousin said.

He “would hear the shelling of the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] endlessly, he said his body was shaking”, said Mr Abu Sahiban.

“Every day he was sure was his last day, and not only because of his captors, but also because of the shelling of the army. He said that every day is a life-threatening situation.”

Mr Elkadi, a grandfather of one, worked for many years as a security guard at Kibbutz Magen, close to the Israel-Gaza border, where he was abducted.

The Israeli military launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to the unprecedented attack on southern Israel on 7 October, during which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

More than 40,530 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.

Indirect talks to broker a ceasefire and the release of hostages have continued in Cairo in recent days, but so far there has been no sign of a breakthrough over key sticking points. They include Mr Netanyahu’s demand that Israel keep troops along Gaza’s border with Egypt, which Hamas has rejected.

Two other Bedouin Arabs – Yousef Zyadna and his son, Hamza – are among the remaining hostages who are still alive, while the body of a third, Mhamad el-Atrash, is still being held by Hamas.

Another Bedouin, Hisham al-Sayed, has been held captive in Gaza since 2015.