Hospital director says rescued hostage experiencing ’emotional’ reunions with family

Prof. Shlomi Codish, the director of the Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba, says rescued hostage Farhad al-Qadi is in stable condition and reuniting with his family members.

Speaking to reporters, Codish says a helicopter carrying al-Qadi arrived at the hospital around 3:30 p.m. this afternoon.

“We were witness to Farhad reuniting with his family — emotional moments,” says Codish.

Codish says that al-Qadi underwent a series of medical checks, and “he appears to be in stable and good condition, he is being hospitalized for supervision, which I hope will be short.”

Hebrew media outlets have showed a long line of relatives waiting outside the hospital to reunite with al-Qadi, who himself has 11 children and two wives. The hospital has been limiting the number of relatives able to visit at one time in order not to overwhelm al-Qadi, who spent 326 days in Hamas captivity.