Man held hostage by Hamas for more than 10 months rescued by Israeli forces

A man abducted by Hamas during the Oct. 7 attack on Israel was rescued on Tuesday, according to the IsraelDefence Forces.

The rescue comes as the most recent evacuation order from Israelforces Palestiniansinto an ever-shrinking humanitarian zone.

The military said it rescued 52-year-old Kaid Farhan AlQadiin a "complex operation in the southern Gaza strip," but did not provide further details. A spokesperson later stated that he was rescued from an underground tunnel "following accurate intelligence."

AlQadi is in stable medical condition, the IDF said.

The Bedouin man had been working as a guard at a packing factory in Kibbutz Magen, one of several farming communities targeted in the attack more than 10 months ago that sparked the ongoing war in Gaza.

Israel's Channel 12 showed AlQadi's family members sprinting through the Soroka Medical Center where he had been taken. Dr. Shlomi Codish, the hospital's CEO,told reporters that AlQadi "appears to be in general good condition" and that it was "a heartwarming moment" to see him reunited with his family.

WATCH | More on the rescue:

Israeli hostage taken by Hamas reunited with family

13 days ago

Duration 2:00

Kaid Farhan AlQadi, a hostage taken by Hamas during the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, was reunited with his family after 326 days in captivity. While celebrating his rescue, he urged Israels prime minister to increase efforts to save the remaining hostages in Gaza.

AlQadi has two wives and is the father of 11 children.

Hamas-led militants abducted some 250 people in the Oct. 7 attack, in which some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed.

Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed over 40,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. It has displaced 90 per cent of Gaza's 2.3 million people from their homes and caused heavy destruction across the besieged territory.

Increasing evacuation orders have shrunk the humanitarian zone declared by Israel to about 11 per cent of the entire Gaza Strip, the United Nations said Monday.

A total of eight hostages have been rescued directly by Israeli forces, including in two operations that killed scores of Palestinians. Hamas says several hostages have been killed in Israeli airstrikes and failed rescue attempts.

Hamas is still holding around 110 hostages, about a third of whom are believed to be dead. Most of the rest were released in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel during a ceasefire last November.

Airstrikes continue inGaza

Meanwhile, Israeli airstrikes are continuing to cause devastation across the Gaza Strip. Palestinian officials said Tuesday that airstrikes killed at least 18 people, including eight children,in the last 24 hours.

The civil defence agency, first responders who operate under the Hamas-run government, said three children and their mother were killed in an airstrike late Monday in the Tufah neighbourhood of Gaza City. It said three other people were missing after the strike.

Another strike late Monday hit a building in downtown Gaza City, killing a child, three women and a man, according to the health ministry.

A home west of Khan Younis was flattened in another airstrike early Tuesday, killing at least four people, including a child, according to Nasser Hospital. Footage shared online showed residents digging through the rubble. A man carried a wounded child to an ambulance, while two others carried a dead body wrapped in a blanket.

WATCH |Residents search for survivors after homes levelled by airstrikes:

Israeli strike leaves Khan Younis buildings in rubble

13 days ago

Duration 0:53

Initial reports on the death toll from Tuesdays strike varied, but an eyewitness said it destroyed several homes.

In southern Gaza, a strike on a home early Tuesday killed five people, including a man, his three childrenand a woman, according to a casualty list provided by Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, where the bodies were taken.

Palestinian health officials do not say whether those killed in Israeli strikes are civilians or fighters.

Israel says it tries to avoid harming civilians and blames their deaths on the Hamas militant group, saying it puts them in danger by fighting in residential areas. But the military rarely comments on individual strikes, which often kill women and children.

The United States, Egypt and Qatar have spent months trying to negotiate an agreement in which the remaining hostages would be freed in exchange for a lasting ceasefire. A round of high-level talks in Cairo concluded on Sunday without a deal.

A sticking point in talks has been Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's refusal to include a guarantee to end the war as part of the ceasefire agreement.

Netanyahu has faced intense criticism from families of the hostages and much of the Israeli public for not yet reaching a deal with Hamas to bring them home.

Flow of much-needed aid disrupted

Sam Rose, the senior deputy field director for the UN agency helping Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, told reporters Monday that Israel's latest evacuation order has shut the UN humanitarian operations centre.

As a result of the order, several hundred thousand already displaced Palestinians have been forced to move again.

Rose said in a briefing from Gaza that an estimated one million Palestinians a month aren't getting the food they desperately need because of obstacles at crossing points.Only about 100 trucks with aid are getting into Gaza every day instead of the 500 needed, he said.

The small regionwhere civilians have been relegated isn't "fit for habitation, fit for services, fit for life, really," Rose said, adding that the lack of aid, water and health care in the areais why polio has recently re-emerged in Gaza.