Netanyahu says ‘no effort is being spared’ to return Avraham Mengistu, unnamed Bedouin held by Gaza rulers
Hamas is responsible for the safety of the two Israelis held captive in the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday, and urged the international community to intervene to secure their release.
Netanyahu said “no effort is being spared” to return 28-year-old Avraham Mengistu and an unnamed Bedouin man who have been held in captivity by Hamas for months.
“We are working to secure the release of both Israelis who crossed the border fence into Gaza. We see Hamas as responsible for their well-being,” Netanyahu said in his first public remarks on the issue. A gag order on the two hostages was lifted earlier Thursday, following a court petition by two Israeli media outlets.
The prime minister said he has appointed a special envoy to coordinate negotiation efforts.
“Yesterday, I spoke with the parents and siblings of Avraham Mengistu and I told them that from as soon as the incident became known we have spared no effort to return him to Israel,” the prime minister said.
“I expect the international community, which expresses its concern over the humanitarian situation in Gaza, to issue a clear call for these citizens to be released and to see to their return,” he said, adding that he and the family have agreed to meet “soon.”
Hamas has previously used captives as leverage to urge the Israeli government to release Palestinian security prisoners held in Israeli jails. In 2011, Israel released 1,027 Palestinian prisoners, in four waves, in return for the release of kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit.
Netanyahu’s remarks Thursday echoed those by Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon who issued a statement earlier in the day confirming that the two Israelis were being held in Gaza and demanding their release.
The defense minister said Israel was “investing great efforts” to return the two men. “We see Hamas as responsible for their fate and demand their return,” Ya’alon said.
Little is known of the whereabouts of Mengistu who climbed over the Gaza security fence in September of last year. Family members have described Mengistu as “unwell” and urged Hamas to consider his condition and return him to Israel immediately.
A senior Palestinian official based in the Gaza Strip denied reports that Hamas was holding Mengistu, and said he was released soon after the group’s interrogators determined that he was not a soldier. According to the official, Mengistu left the coastal strip via a tunnel to Sinai, apparently in an attempt to reach Ethiopia.
The second hostage, an Israeli from the Bedouin village of Hura, reportedly entered Gaza via the Erez Crossing in April. According to an Israeli official, the man has mild psychological issues and has a history of entering Jordan, Egypt and Gaza.
The official said that since Hamas refuses to admit that it is holding the men, no negotiations are currently taking place.
As reported by The Times of Israel