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Israel Says Two of Its Citizens Are Missing in Gaza, Accuses Hamas

One remains unnamed; the family of the other has called upon the government to ‘bring him home in peace’

by
Jas Chana
July 09, 2015
Jack Guez/AFP/Getty Images
The brother and mother of Avraham Mengistu in Ashkelon, Israel, July 9, 2015. Jack Guez/AFP/Getty Images
Jack Guez/AFP/Getty Images
The brother and mother of Avraham Mengistu in Ashkelon, Israel, July 9, 2015. Jack Guez/AFP/Getty Images

Two Israelis are currently missing somewhere in the Gaza Strip, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Hamas is holding them, Reuters reported on Thursday. Israel is negotiating for their safe return, the BBC reported.

The first missing person, a 28 year-old Ethiopian Israeli named Avraham Mengistu, went missing in September when he climbed over Israel’s security fence with Gaza shortly after the cease-fire, which ended last summer’s war, came into effect. The BBC reported that Mengistu had crossed the Israeli border with Gaza several times before. Mengistu’s father and brother spoke to the press today, with his mother nearby. His brother, Ilan, called upon “the government of Israel to do everything to bring [Avraham] home in peace.”

The second, an unidentified Arab Israeli, went missing in April after crossing the Erez Crossing.

The news only just broke because the Israeli government had issued an official press embargo on the story, reportedly at the request of Mengistu’s family. But the news blackout was ended upon the request of Haaretz, reported Haaretz. The New York Times reported that previous requests to lift the Israeli censor had been denied: “It was not clear what had prompted the change.” The Times reported:

The Israeli official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said he could not elaborate on the timing of the decision to lift the news blackout.

Haaretz reported that the Mengistu family had remained until recently “at the request of the defense establishment. However, [the family] backed Haaretz‘s request to remove the gag order. The family made its move after the state’s attempts to bring Mengistu back came to naught.”

According to Haaretz, exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshal told Qatari reporters on Wednesday that “Israel had approached the organization via European mediators and requested the release of two prisoners and two bodies being held in Gaza.”

Meshal said that Hamas could not respond or give details, and would not agree to any negotiations on the matter until Israel released the prisoners who had been freed in the Shalit deal and were rearrested following the abduction and murder of the three Israeli teens in the West Bank.

“We are working for the return of the two Israelis who crossed the border into Gaza,” Netanyahu said in a statement, reported Reuters. He confirmed the Israeli military censor had been in place since September.

“We hold Hamas responsible for their safety,” he said.

Ynet reported that an anonymous Palestinian source as saying that Mengistu was initially held by Hamas, but that he was released soon thereafter, once the group had realized he was not an Israeli soldier. Mengistu then allegedly made his way to Egypt, while the unnamed Arab-Israeli remained held by Hamas.

Haaretz reported that an Israeli Defense official has said that such an account of Mengistu’s whereabouts is a complete lie.

Jas Chana is a former intern at Tablet.