New details have emerged about the rescue of Kaid Farhan Al-Qadi from Gaza on Tuesday after 326 days in captivity

According to reports, the IDF did not have specific intelligence information about Qadi but did not find him by “chance,” as some outlets reported. IDF forces were operating in the area for days and were on the outlook for hostages. As the forces were searching a tunnel network, they unexpectedly found Qadi, in a tunnel 65 feet underground, alone and unguarded. Channel 12 News reported that when Qadi heard people talking Hebrew, he called: “It’s me, Farhan, don’t shoot!”

Even after the soldiers realized that there was an Israeli hostage in the tunnel, it wasn’t a simple operation to extricate him from the tunnel. His captors had fled the area so they didn’t encounter resistance but reaching him was complex as he was located inside a network comprised of several tunnels, in a side room. The soldiers feared that it was a terror trap and proceeded with great caution.

The first person to speak to Qadi after he was extricated from the tunnel was Lt. Col. Ahsan Deksa, a Druze commander who speaks Arabic.

Army Radio reported on Wednesday that from what Qadi said after he was rescued, he has been held alone for months, estimating that he was separated from the other hostages toward the end of December. He was left alone in the last week, with food in the tunnel, after his captors fled the area due to the presence of IDF soldiers.

“I never stopped believing that I would get out of there alive,” he said after he was rescued.”The IDF soldiers called to me before they entered. I was afraid that the tunnel was booby-trapped so I walked slowly.”

Qadi also repeatedly said: “You don’t understand, there’s the Gaza above ground and then there’s the underground Gaza.”

Former Rahat Mayor Ata Abu Madighem told Israeli media outlets on Tuesday that Qadi told him that a Jewish fellow captive died next to him in Gaza. The information has not yet been confirmed by an official source.

“It broke his heart,” Abut Madighen said. “He has many horrific memories.”

Abu Madighem added that Qadi did not have better conditions due to his status as a Muslim and he was treated “just like an Israeli.”

On Wednesday evening, Kan News reported that Qadi told security sources that the terrorists left the tunnel two weeks earlier, when they heard the IDF’s bulldozers at work near the tunnel. But before they fled, they booby-trapped the tunnel to turn it into a death trap for IDF soldiers.

When the soldiers reached the tunnel and heard Qadi, they ordered him to identify himself and undress [to ensure he wasn’t a terrorist carrying weapons or an explosive belt]. When they were convinced he was an Israeli captive, they instructed him how to leave the tunnel without detonating the explosives.

The huge celebration awaiting Qadi in his hometown:

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)