A Bedouin Arab hostage rescued from an underground tunnel in Gaza said a fellow inmate died alongside him during his captivity, a former Israeli official said.
Kaid Farhan Elkadi was rescued on Tuesday during a “complex operation in the southern Gaza Strip,” the Israeli army said.
Mr Elkadi has not yet spoken publicly, but the former mayor of a southern Israeli town said the 52-year-old had had virtually no sun exposure for eight months.
His cousin also said Mr Elkadi was not treated differently in captivity despite being a Muslim.
Mr Elkadi was kidnapped by Hamas during the October 7 attack on Israel and is the eighth hostage rescued by Israeli forces since the start of the Gaza war.
The father of 11 is in stable condition in hospital, where he is undergoing tests.
Mr Elkadi told his relatives of “difficult days, a very cruel captivity,” Ata Abu Medigam, a former mayor of the southern Israeli city of Rahat, told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
“He spoke about one of the hostages who was held captive with him for two months and died alongside him,” Mr Medigam said.
Mr. Elkadi had also begun to fear that he was losing his sight, Mr. Medigam added.
“He would check his eyes to see if they were still working, he would put his fingers over his eyes to check his reflexes.”
The Israeli military said its forces found Mr Elkadi in a tunnel “while he was alone”.
In a statement, the military said no further details about the rescue could be released “due to considerations related to the safety of our hostages, the safety of our forces and national security.”
But some details have emerged about Mr. Elkadi’s time in captivity.
His cousin, Fadi Abu Sahiban, said Mr Elkadi had not received preferential treatment because of his Muslim faith.
“They didn’t make any concessions to him because he’s a Muslim. He says they let him pray, that’s the only thing they allowed him to do,” he told Haaretz.
Mr. Elkadi had no way of communicating with the outside world and was in constant fear of bombs overhead, his cousin said.
He “kept hearing the Israeli army shelling, he said his body was shaking,” Mr Abu Sahiban said.
“Every day he was convinced that it was his last day, and not only because of his captors, but also because of the army’s bombings. He said that every day was a situation where his life was in danger.”
In a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from the hospital, Mr Elkadi said: “I have been waiting for this moment. I swear to you,” adding that “there are other people waiting.”
Mr. Elkadi, a grandfather of one, comes from a Bedouin village in the Rahat region of the Negev desert.
He worked for many years as a security guard at Kibbutz Magen, near the Israel-Gaza border, where he was abducted 10 months ago.
The Israeli military launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to the unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7, in which some 1,200 people were killed and 251 others taken hostage.
More than 40,530 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
American, Egyptian and Qatari mediators are trying to negotiate a ceasefire deal that would see Hamas release the 104 hostages still being held, including 34 presumed dead, in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
Indirect talks have been ongoing in Cairo for several days, but nothing has yet led to a solution on the main sticking points, notably Mr Netanyahu’s demand to keep Israeli troops along the Gaza-Egypt border, a demand rejected by Hamas.
Two other Bedouin Arabs – Yousef Zyadna and his son, Hamza – are among the hostages still alive, while the body of a third, Mhamad el-Atrash, is still being held by Hamas.
Another Bedouin, Hisham al-Sayedhas been held captive in Gaza since 2015.
