Itongadol.- Avera Mengistu, a 28-year-old Ethiopian-Israeli resident of Ashkelon, was held by Hamas in Gaza, though his current whereabouts are unclear. He was captured by Hamas 10 months ago after crossing the border into the Gaza Strip, the IDF announced Thursday.
The defense minister also disclosed in a statement that in another incident, a Beduin Israeli citizen from the Negev is also in Gaza territory, his name is being withheld. The state added that this young person has crossed the border into Gaza several times in the past.
Until Thursday, the story was under a gag order in Israel, but was published in the media in the Arab world and the United States. Mengistu\’s family was scheduled to hold a press conference Thursday afternoon.
According to a senior security source, Hamas claims that the Israeli in their custody was interrogated and released. The Israeli defense establishment rejects this claim as an attempt by Hamas to dodge responsibility for the man\’s welfare. The security source said Hamas\’ claim is either an attempt to negotiate for the release of Hamas prisoners, or an attempt to cover up an incident that may have threatened Mengistu\’s life.
"Although we have no sign of life, the working assumption is that the man is alive," the source said.
Since Mengistu crossed into Gaza in September 2014, the Israeli defense establishment has carried out numerous efforts to secure his release, all of which have failed. The man was never drafted into the IDF due to medical reasons.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and senior defense officials have met with the man\’s family and his relatives have visited the Gaza division where they received the missing man\’s bag.
According to the security source, Mengistu crossed Gaza via the coast. During his crossing, the man ignored calls from soldiers to turn back.
In light of the situation, Israel has reached out to regional and international bodies in order to gather more information on Mengistu\’s condition and has demanded his immediate release. The statement added that Israel will continue in all efforts to end this situation with the return of the citizen back to Israel.
Hamas is also holding the bodies of two soldiers who were killed in Operation Protective Edge last year, Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin.
Shaul, 20, was unaccounted for after an attack on his armored personnel carrier in Shejaia, Gaza City, which killed six other soldiers, and was declared dead by the IDF’s chief rabbi last summer.
Lt. Hadar Goldin, 23, from the Givati Brigade’s Reconnaissance Company, was killed in the Battle of Rafah on August 1, 2014.
A senior Hamas official said on Wednesday that Israel had begun back channel negotiations to return the bodies of the two soldiers who were killed in last summer’s Gaza war.
“The European mediator sent a message from the government of Israel, who wants to open a channel of communication to bring back the bodies of its soldiers being held by Hamas since the last war in Gaza,” the official said.
The source added that Hamas refuses to discuss this issue until Israel releases all the detainees who were traded for tank gunner Gilad Schalit and were rearrested last summer after Hamas terrorists abducted and murdered three Israeli teenagers near Hebron.