IDF did not discover al-Qadi ‘by chance,’ but did not have exact info on whereabouts

Rescued hostage Farhan al-Qadi was not discovered by Israeli special forces “by chance” as some reports have described, although there was no pre-planned operation to specifically rescue him.

The IDF has been operating in an area of the southern Gaza Strip for several days, with the assumption that hostages could be held in the area.

Members of the Navy’s Shayetet 13 commando unit and Shin Bet security agency began to slowly search a tunnel complex in the area, where they discovered al-Qadi, who was alone after apparently being abandoned by his captors. He was then extracted from the tunnel and brought back to Israel.

The fact that the operation was carried out by special forces from the beginning, indicates that the military was looking for hostages in the area. Still, the army did not have exact information on al-Qadi.

The IDF says it learned lessons from the last time troops encountered abductees in the Gaza Strip outside of a specific hostage rescue mission, during which soldiers mistakenly shot dead three hostages who escaped their captors.