Brother of Avera Mengistu: He’s still not sharing, he has a long recovery ahead

24 February 2025, 9:31 am

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Avera Mengistu (left) embraces his brother, Ilan, at a military facility near Re'im on February 22, 2025. (IDF)

Ilan Mengistu, the bother of Avera Mengistu who was released on Saturday from more than a decade of Hamas captivity, says that he has a long period of recovery ahead of him.

“He is still not sharing [what he went through], we are trying not to pressure him,” Ilan tells Ynet. “He has a long period of rehabilitation ahead of him.”

Mengistu entered the Gaza Strip of his own accord in 2014, with mental distress.

He was freed on Saturday along with Hisham al-Sayed, who also entered Gaza in 2015 and alongside Omer Shem Tov, Omer Wenkert, Eliya Cohen and Tal Shoham, all of whom were abducted on October 7, 2023.

“Meeting him gave us chills,” says Ilan. “I immediately saw that he realized that something good had happened.”