Mengistu family rallies in Tel Aviv for son Abera’s release from Hamas

Dozens of people gather in support of Abera Mengistu, an Israeli citizen who has been held in Gaza by the Hamas terrorist group for three years, in central Tel Aviv’s Habima Square.

Many of the people attending come from Mengistu’s Ethiopian Jewish community, and others come from various Israeli youth groups.

“Unfortunately, today we are commemorating three years that Abera has been in captivity,” one of Mengistu’s brothers tells the crowd.

“There isn’t one day that mom doesn’t pray for you to come home. We’ll continue to yell, to fight, until you come home, healthy and whole.”

Mengistu’s father addresses the crowd in Amharic. “We only see darkness. We don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel.”

Mengistu’s mother says she can’t understand how Hamas can keep her son, who has been diagnosed with mental illness, locked up for this long. “Are their hearts made of stone? Do they not have children?” she says through tears.

— Judah Ari Gross