The hostage rescued from a Hamas tunnel by Israeli special forces this week spent most of his 11-month ordeal alone, in total darkness, underground – and so isolated that he had virtually no idea of the war going on in the outside world.
Qaid Farhan Alkadi, 52, was found alone without guards in a room 25 meters below Mahrat in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday.
He was evacuated to Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba, where he told family and friends he was held in the tunnels for long periods, often in the dark and alone except for occasional guards, The New York Times reported.
“He talked about the darkness, the inability to see,” Alkadi’s cousin, Fayez al-Sana, told the Times of the father of 11, who was abducted in southern Israel in the Oct. 7 attack.
Alkadi was also cut off from radio and television and had virtually no idea about the war between Israel and Hamas, added his friend, Dr. Mazen Abu Siam.
Alkadi, who is from the Arab Bedouin community, lost a lot of weight during his captivity but managed to hold on thanks to his “strong personality and convictions,” al-Sana said.
“He has a lot of resilience and his faith in God was strong – those two things helped him carry everything,” he noted.
“But, thanks to God, he is back among us, alive. That made us all happy.”
Alkadi was also visited at the hospital by Ata Abu Madighem, the former mayor of the Arab Bedouin town of Rahat in southern Israel, CNN reported.
Another hostage next to Alkadi died early in his captivity, Madighem told the outlet.
“He told me that the captivity was brutal. The constant darkness made it impossible to see the light of day. He was treated like the other hostages, like an Israeli in every way,” he said.
Alkadi was released from the hospital on Wednesday and returned to his village of Tarabin in the Negev desert, CNN reported.
He is the first hostage to be rescued alive from the Hamas tunnel network.
“He was dead and now he is brought back to life,” Alkadi’s brother, Juma’a, told the outlet about his return home.
Alkadi’s mother, Alya El-Sanae, was waiting for her son in the village’s closed-off women’s area.
The family initially hid the truth about Alkadi’s disappearance from his elderly mother and told her he was simply traveling, she told CNN.
“My heart was filled with joy,” El-Sanae said when she learned her son had been found alive.
Despite their happiness and relief, Alkadi’s family also realized that “it is difficult for him to erase the things he saw (in Gaza),” Juma’a added.
Tarabin villagers are proud that “not a single drop of blood was shed” in Alkadi’s rescue, the relieved brother said.
“Not a child, not a Palestinian, not a Jew or anyone else shed blood for my brother,” he told the outlet.
Alkadi was abducted by Hamas in Mivtahim, near where he worked as a guard at a packaging plant in Kibbutz Magen, during the October 7 attack, according to The Times of Israel.
It was found by chance as the Israeli military continued its efforts to clear Hamas’ tunnel network under Gaza, officials said.
The elite 13th Fleet carried out a “complex rescue operation” to bring him safely back to Israel, the Israeli military said.
The terrorists guarding Alkadi may have fled because they heard Israeli forces approaching, one of his brothers, Abu Mohammad, suggested to CNN.
Alkadi heard Hebrew voices coming closer and shouted to communicate his location, Abu Mohammad added.
Israeli officials are still trying to determine exactly why Alkadi was alone when he was found, but the idea that he was abandoned is “one of the options being considered,” IDF spokesman Nadav Shoshani told the outlet.
In their own relief, Alkadi’s relatives called on the Israeli government to prioritize the rescue of the remaining 104 hostages still in the hands of the terrorists.
“We have been praying for 10 months for the release of all the hostages, including Farhan,” Fayez Abu Suheiban told the New York Times.
“We call on the government to reach an agreement as soon as possible to release all the captives and put an end to this crazy war which has caused many victims on both sides.”
