Families of Israelis held in Gaza protest aid shipments at crossing
As ship with 11,000 tons of goods from Turkey set to dock in Ashdod Sunday, parents of three held by Hamas plan to block trucks from entering Strip
The families of three Israelis held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip staged a protest at the main commercial crossing into the Palestinian enclave Sunday morning, as an initial shipment of thousands of tons of Turkish aid was set to be transferred via the checkpoint.
The families of Oron Shaul, Hadar Goldin and Avraham Mengistu have rallied against a detente deal between Israel and Turkey inked last week, which allowed for the transfer of aid to Gaza via the port of Ashdod but did not stipulate the return of their sons.
The families voiced outrage that their sons remain in captivity while Israel provides 1,000 trucks of humanitarian aid daily to the beleaguered Palestinian territory, including the Turkish shipment.
Goldin and Shaul are believed to have been killed during the 2014 war with Hamas-led fighters in Gaza and their bodies held by the terror group. Mengistu sneaked into the Strip in 2014 and has been held by the group since, along with another Israeli man, Hisham al-Sayed, who entered Gaza in 2015, according to Israeli officials.
The 11,000 tons of aid sent by Turkey after the signing of the deal last week were set to arrive at the border crossing on Monday, ahead of Tuesday’s Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of the month of Ramadan.
The Lady Leyla, a Panama-flagged ship loaded with supplies including food and toys, set off from the southern port of Mersin, television images showed. The vessel was set to dock in Ashdod around noon on Sunday.
The parents say that the transfer of aid enabled by the deal is an abandonment of the soldiers and civilians.
“There’s nothing more humanitarian than releasing the captive sons, and in exchange bestowing benefits to Gaza,” the mother of Sgt. Oron Shaul, Zahava Shaul, said Sunday, according to Israeli news site Ynet. “It’s unacceptable to act unilaterally and it’s unacceptable that they continue to neglect the IDF soldiers held in Gaza for two years, since Operation Protective Edge. We’re not against the deal or aid to Gaza in general, but we believe that the deal is an opportunity to free our sons. In order for that to happen the government and its prime minister must ensure that this condition will be a central part of the deal.”
Last week the high-level security cabinet approved Israel’s newly inked reconciliation deal with Turkey, with seven out of its 10 members voting in favor of the agreement that officially ended years of animosity between the two countries, despite vociferous protests by the families, who have attempted to rally public opinion around their cause.
Critics have faulted the accord as a capitulation to Hamas in that it does not provide for the return to Israel of the Israelis. Some also chafed at Israel’s agreement to apologize and pay $20 million compensation over a May 2010 IDF raid on the Gaza-bound Turkish ship Mavi Marmara, which resulted in the deaths of 10 Turkish citizens after the activists on board attacked the soldiers.
“This is an agreement that the prime minister led, in an undemocratic step, which goes against the basic values of the IDF and the State of Israel since its founding,” the Goldin family said in a statement released after Wednesday’s cabinet vote. “The prime minister has made Hamas a party in the agreement by way of Turkey, which sponsors the organization. Therefore, the prime minister is encouraging terrorism and giving Hamas a prize.”
The families of Mengistu, an Ethiopian Israeli believed to be a captive in Gaza, and Shaul, the second fallen soldier whose body is held by Hamas, rallied outside the Prime Minister’s Office ahead of the vote and spoke to several ministers before Wednesday’s cabinet meeting.
On Tuesday, the families met with Netanyahu and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on the issue.
Netanyahu promised repeatedly to do everything possible for the Israelis in Gaza and appealed to Ban to intervene.
But the prime minister has also stressed that Turkey had agreed to try to assist in this matter, and that the agreement ends years of Israeli-Turkish enmity, protects Israeli soldiers from legal action over the Mavi Marmara affair, leaves the security blockade of Gaza in place, and opens the possibility of major bilateral economic cooperation.
The Times of Israel Community.