‘No way to tell if Mengistu is alive in Gaza’

A very senior IDF officer says that Israel has “contradictory intelligence” on whether Israeli-Ethiopian Avraham Mengistu, who crossed to Gaza nearly a year ago, is still alive.

Since the existence of two Israelis in Hamas custody was made public earlier this month, security officials have insisted that one cannot liken them to IDF soldiers Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul, who were killed during Operation Protective Edge and whose remains are at the hands of Hamas. “We cannot play into Hamas’s hands in this cynical game,” the officer says.

The officer adds on a related issue that Israel wants to see a stronger Palestinian Authority in the Gaza Strip, especially in the border crossings.

“14% of Gaza Strip residents support Daesh [the Arabic acronym for Islamic State]. We would not like to see Islamic State expand in the Strip and we have an interest to restore the Strip out of an understanding that if Hamas is pushed out of the Strip, a more extreme force will take its place,” the officer tells the Walla news website.

Despite the friction between Hamas and IS in the Strip, the officer says Hamas is keeping touch with Ansar Beyt al Maqdis, a Sinai-based terror group that pledged allegiance to IS. “Hamas is giving them weapons. They are treating their wounded inside the Gaza Strip, coordinate terror attacks – all under the auspices of the senior officials in Hamas’s military wing,” the officer adds.