Family of man held in Gaza gets video of him crossing the border

IDF hands over to relatives of Avraham Mengistu footage from September 2014, when he disappeared into the Palestinian enclave

By ToI Staff 18 June 2017, 9:49 am

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Avraham Avera Mengistu, undated. (Courtesy of the Mengistu family via AP)

The IDF on Saturday night handed over to the family of Avraham Avera Mengistu video footage from 2014, showing the moments when he crossed the border fence from Israel into the Gaza Strip, where he is believed to have been captured by the ruling Hamas terror group.

Mengistu, a 30-year-old Israeli of Ethiopian descent, has been held in Gaza ever since. According to his family, he suffers from a mental illness and stumbled across the border into the coastal territory by accident.

The family was first shown the video three months after Mengistu entered Gaza, on September 7, 2014, but in January this year asked the IDF for a copy. Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot personally approved the measure.

In a statement Sunday, the IDF said, “We will continue to work relentlessly to bring back the missing soldiers and civilians in Gaza to their families.”

Hamas, the Islamist terror group that runs Gaza, is thought to be holding three Israelis who entered the Strip illegally as well as the remains of two soldiers, Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul, presumed to have been killed in battle during the summer 2014 war there. The group has hinted that it is holding several Israelis, though it has so far refused to confirm their identity.

Hisham al-Sayed, who wandered into Gaza in April 2015 and has been missing and believed held by Hamas ever since. (Army Radio)

Hamas is also believed to be holding Israeli civilian Hisham al-Sayed since April 2015 after he sneaked into the blockaded Palestinian enclave. Both Sayed and Mengistu are thought to suffer from mental illness.

The Palestinian terror group has never officially confirmed it is holding Sayed and Mengistu, but videos it has published on social media have included their images.

A third man, Jumaa Abu Ghanima, entered Gaza in July 2016, but there is no further information on him and it is unclear if he was arrested or joined a militant group.

Despite never recovering their bodies, the army has established that both Goldin and Shaul were killed in separate incidents during the 2014. It maintains that the remains were seized by the terrorist group as bargaining chips.

Hamas media has claimed the other captives are soldiers, but Human Rights Watch said in a report that Mengistu was rejected by the Israel Defense Forces on medical grounds and Sayed was discharged after a few months of service.

In May HRW condemned the “illegal” detention of the Israelis.

IDF soldiers Oron Shaul (left) and Hadar Goldin (right) (Flash90)

The terror group, which took control of Gaza in 2007, has not released any details on their condition or allowed rights groups to visit them.

Hamas is demanding the release of a number of its members from Israeli jails before it will publish information about the men.

Earlier this month the International Committee of the Red Cross urged Hamas to clarify the fate of the five missing Israeli nationals it allegedly holds.