Two Israeli Occupation officials revealed that the forces found the captive Kaid Farhan Al-Qadi by chance, according to The New York Times (NYT).

A third official claimed that the soldiers who found him initially "feared he might be a Hamas operative," as reported by NYT.

"In a joint operation by the army and the Shin Bet, the 53-year-old [captive] Farhan Al-Qadi from Rahat, who was captured by Hamas on October 7th, was freed today," officials announced in a joint statement.