Incoming Defense Minister Benny Gantz spoke this morning with the families of two Israeli men and two fallen IDF soldiers who are being held by the Hamas terror group in Gaza, promising to return them to Israel, his office says.
These conversations with the families of Hisham al-Sayed, Abera Mengistu, Staff Sgt. Oron Shaul and Lt. Hadar Goldin were Gantz’s first meetings with people outside his ministry since he informally entered his position yesterday.
Leah Goldin, right, and her husband Simcha Goldin and other family members and supporters gather outside the state memorial ceremony for Operation Protective Edge at Mount Herzl on July 23, 2019. (Noam Revkin Fenton/Flash90)
“During the conversations, Gantz expressed his dedication to bringing them home,” his office says.
Gantz served as IDF chief of staff when the remains of Shaul and Goldin were taken captive by Hamas during the 2014 Gaza war and when Mengistu, who suffered from mental health issues, crossed the border from Israel into Gaza in September 2014 and was captured by the terror group. Al-Sayed, who also had mental health problems, crossed the border into Gaza in April 2015, two months after Gantz’s tenure ended.
This evening, Gantz — who also serves as alternate prime minister — will officially take over as defense minister from Naftali Bennett in a small ceremony in the military’s Kirya headquarters in Tel Aviv.
— Judah Ari Gross
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