Netanyahu set to visit family of Israeli hostage
PM heads to Ashkelon amid uproar over his negotiator's conduct; father of 2nd Israeli captive says no one contacted him
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was set to visit the family of Ethiopian-Israeli Avraham Mengistu, 28, who is held captive in the Gaza Strip, on Friday afternoon.
Meanwhile, the father of the second Israeli hostage captive in the coastal enclave maintained that he had not received formal notice from the Israeli government that his son was in Gaza.
The prime minister was headed to the southern city of Ashkelon after an earlier invitation extended to the family to meet him in his Jerusalem office was postponed to next week, due to Mengistu’s mother’s fragile emotional state. Netanyahu’s office later announced he would visit the Mengistu family on Friday.
No mention was made of the second captive, a Bedouin from southern Israel, whose name has not been released for publication. The father of the second captive on Thursday night told Haaretz that he had not been alerted by the authorities that his son was in Gaza, and had tried in vain to track him down several weeks ago through the Palestinian Authority.
“I have no idea where my son is, nobody told me he’s in Gaza and I don’t know if he’s there or not,” he said. The father said his son was “not sane,” and had gone missing on April 20.
“He’s crossed the border to Gaza twice before and was returned. I hope he’s alive and well. If I knew where he was I’d do what I can to bring him home, but I haven’t heard from anyone and no one has contacted me about him.”
Netanyahu’s visit to the Mengistu family followed a public uproar over Israel’s handling of the case, after a recording of the prime minister’s chief negotiator appearing to threaten the family was aired on Channel 10 on Thursday evening.
In the recording of their meeting Wednesday, Lior Lotan was heard telling the family of Mengistu that if any attempt was made to connect his fate with recent tensions between the Ethiopian community and the government, it would “cause [Mengistu] to stay in Gaza for another year.”
Lotan later apologized to the family, and the Mengistus accepted the apology.
Netanyahu on Thursday renounced Lotan’s threats, but nevertheless praised his representative’s efforts to advance negotiations over Mengistu’s return.
“Those were utterances that should not have been said,” Netanyahu stated. “Lior [Lotan] works day and night as a volunteer to return our missing soldiers and civilians.”
Netanyahu told the press earlier Thursday that “no effort is being spared” to return Mengistu and another Israeli being held by Hamas. The second hostage is an unnamed member of the Bedouin community in the Negev.
“We are working to secure the release of both Israelis who crossed the border fence into Gaza. We see Hamas as responsible for their well-being,” Netanyahu said in his first public remarks on the issue.
A gag order on the two hostages had been lifted earlier Thursday, following a court petition by two Israeli media outlets.
The captivity of the two men is viewed by Israel as a humanitarian issue unrelated to the negotiations over the bodies of the two soldiers, which have been held by Hamas since last summer’s fighting, an official told Walla news.
Hamas has denied holding Mengistu hostage, but Netanyahu and other senior Israeli officials made it clear Thursday that they held the group ultimately responsible for the pair’s safety.
Little is known of the whereabouts of Mengistu, who crossed the Gaza security fence in September of last year. Family members have described Mengistu as “unwell” and urged Hamas to consider his condition and return him to Israel immediately.
A senior Palestinian official based in the Gaza Strip denied reports that Hamas was holding Mengistu, and said he was released soon after the group’s interrogators determined that he was not a soldier. According to the official, Mengistu left the coastal strip via a tunnel to Sinai, in an attempt, they said, to reach Ethiopia.
The second hostage, from the Bedouin village of Hura, reportedly entered Gaza via the Erez Crossing in April. According to an Israeli official, the man has mild psychological issues and has a history of entering Jordan, Egypt and Gaza.
The official said that since Hamas refuses to admit that it is holding the men, no negotiations are currently taking place.