The relatives of Kaid Farhan Al-Qadi, who was rescued from Gaza on Tuesday after 326 days in captivity, said that he endured harsh conditions and was held in isolation and almost total darkness.
Alkadi’s cousin, Faiz Sana, expressed shock at the amount of weight he had lost during his captivity, saying, “He changed, he lost at least 20 kilograms.” Qadi’s brother told Reshet Bet on Wednesday morning: “He looks awful, skin and bones, it’s scary.”
The IDF soldiers who rescued him said that Qadi was so weak and malnourished that he didn’t have the strength to climb out of the tunnel on his own.
Qadi ws initially held with other captives but had been held alone since December and spent long periods of time alone with his captors.
His brother Hatem told Ynet in an interview that he was held in complete darkness and was unable to distinguish between day and night.
Qadi told Rahat Mayor Ata Abu Medigam that after eight months without sunlight, he couldn’t even tell if his eyes were still working. “He told me that captivity was brutal. Constant darkness, he didn’t see the light of day.”
Another brother, Juma’a told CNN that his brother had been shot in the leg and kidnapped on October 7, adding that his brother’s leg was not in good shape and he underwent surgery in Gaza without anesthesia “like one does with animals.”
The 11 months Al-Qadi spent in captivity would never leave him, Juma’a said. “It is hard for him to erase the things he saw there,” Juma’a said, adding that he too would never fully recover from losing his brother for nearly a year.
Juma’a told Reshet Bet about the suffering Qadi’s family experienced during his time in captivity. “On one occasion, his twenty-year-old son called me at five in the morning and told me, ‘Listen, I’m entering Gaza, even if I die, I want to know what happened to my father and bring him back.’ Another child told me: ‘I can’t eat when I don’t know where my father is. Even if he is dead, I want to know who killed him.”
Kan News reported that when Qadi was flown to Israel and saw the ruins in southern Gaza from the helicopter, he was very happy: “This is what should be done to all of Gaza,” he said. “They have another city, underground.”
“We had no life without our father; it was so hard without him,” his son, Salah said. “His return was the happiest surprise of our lives. He came back to us alive, even though we feared we might never hug him again. I feel like I’ve been reborn. Now we’ll live life to the fullest and restore the joy and good feelings that my father lost during these long months.”
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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One Response
Why is the reporting so slanted. Who cares about him kissing his mother? Did anyone see the part of his speech where he said I’m not Israeli I’m Palestinian. Should have left him there to rot. He’s as much of a problem as Hamas themselves just with less PR.