Live UpdateFrom the Liveblog of Monday, January 16, 2023

Avera Mengistu’s mother says ‘it’s him’ in video released by Hamas

16 January 2023, 6:33 pm 0 Edit

Avera Mengistu's mother, Agurnesh, at a protest in front of the Prime Minister's Residence in Jerusalem, September 11, 2016. (Luke Tress/Times of Israel)

Avera Mengistu's mother, Agurnesh, at a protest in front of the Prime Minister's Residence in Jerusalem, September 11, 2016. (Luke Tress/Times of Israel)

Agurnesh Mengistu, the mother of captive Avera Mengistu, says she believes video shared by Hamas today is of her son, who she hasn’t seen in eight years.

“His forehead, his face, it’s him,” she says in Amharic, according to a translation by Channel 12 news. “He’s a little fatter, but he still looks like himself.”

Israeli officials have said they could not immediately confirm the veracity of the video released earlier today by Hamas, purporting to be of Mengistu, who has been held by the terror group since he crossed into the Gaza Strip in 2014.