Israeli Forces Rescue Hostage in Gaza as Strikes Kill at Least 20 Palestinians

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.

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.

After The New York Times published an online version of this article, the military released a more ambiguous statement that did not refer to precise intelligence and instead said Mr. al-Qadi was rescued during an operation “in a complex underground system where hostages were suspected to be held, alongside with presence of terrorists and explosives.”

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.

After rounds of Israeli airstrikes on Tuesday, images from Deir al Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, showed family members peering into a hospital morgue filled with the bodies of Palestinians. Gazan health authorities say that more than 40,000 people have been killed in the territory since the start of the war.

Fighting in Deir al Balah has prompted the United Nations to pause humanitarian operations at a time when hunger is stalking the enclave. 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 badly malnourished children increased substantially across Gaza between May and July, the office reported, noting that since January, out of 239,580 children ages 6 months to nearly 5 years who were screened, 14,750 — about one in every 16 — had been diagnosed with acute malnutrition.

Talks are continuing this week for a cease-fire in Gaza after a round of high-level negotiations in Cairo last week ended without agreement, though each side accuses the other of negotiating in bad faith. Those talks included William Burns, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, and David Barnea, the head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency.

In a recorded statement on Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was pursuing a two-pronged approach to the war and the liberation of hostages: 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.”

Mr. al-Qadi, the freed hostage, is from a village near Rahat, a city in southern Israel. He was working in a small Israeli kibbutz called Magen, near the Gaza border, when he was abducted, according to a post on X from President Isaac Herzog of Israel.

His brother, Hatem al-Qadi, told Israeli television that the family planned a huge party to celebrate his return. Calling for a cease-fire deal, he wished the same for other hostages still in captivity: “They are still waiting to see their loved ones back today,” he said. “We are wishing for all of the hostages to be released and for there to be a deal now.’’

Fayez al-Sana, a cousin who sat with Mr. al-Qadi after his release, said he was shocked by how much weight the former hostage had lost. “He came out different; he must have lost at least 20 kilograms,” about 44 pounds, said Mr. Al-Sana. He said that Mr. al-Qadi hadn’t spoken extensively about his time in the tunnels, but that a significant amount of it had been spent in the dark, with only his guards for company.

Mr. al-Qadi’s rescue was a reminder of the toll the Hamas attacks took on Israel’s impoverished Bedouin community. At least 17 Bedouins died in the Oct. 7 assault. Many more who had worked on Jewish farms in southern Israel lost their livelihoods after the farms were ransacked.

Even before the attacks, the Bedouins were suffering. Few have access to bomb shelters and health clinics because they live in villages that the Israeli government does not recognize.

Reporting was contributed by Adam Rasgon, Laurence Tan, Ephrat Livni and Amelia Nierenberg.