This story was provided by The Media Line.
Avraham Mengistu, 29, an Ethiopian-Israeli who reportedly suffers from mental illness, has been missing in the Gaza Strip for ten months, it was revealed following the lifting of a gag order. An Israeli government spokesman said that Mangisto left his home in the southern city of Ashkelon early in the morning on September 8, 2014 and never returned after he crossed the border into the Gaza Strip.
Israeli defense officials said they believe he was originally arrested by Hamas, apparently after he met a group of Palestinian fishermen in Gaza. There is no current information about his fate, raising the possibility that he may no longer be alive or that he is being held by a more radical organization in Gaza or in the Sinai, where Islamic State-linked gunmen have been battling Egyptian soldiers.
A second Israeli citizen, a Bedouin resident of the south, has also been reported missing, but his name has not been given. Israel Radio said he had visited Gaza several times in the past.
Most of the attention in Israel focused on Mangisto, as it reminded Israelis of the capture of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, on the border with Gaza, in 2006. He was released five years later in exchange for more than 1000 members of Hamas who had been held in Israeli jails. In recent months, Israel has rearrested dozens of those who had been freed in exchange for Gilad Shalit. But the fact that Mengistu crossed into Gaza of his own free will makes Israel far less likely to make serious concessions to Hamas in exchange for him.
The information about Mengistu came as Israel was holding indirect talks with Hamas to receive the bodies of two Israeli soldiers killed during last summer’s fighting between Israel and Hamas. More than 2200 Palestinians were killed as well as 73 Israelis in the fighting that began exactly a year ago.
Hamas this week held a military parade in which they showed a large model of three Israeli ID tags, one with the name of Oron Shaul, one of the missing Israeli soldiers. The other two tags had question marks on them. Israeli analysts said one apparently referred to Hadar Goldin, another soldier who is held by Hamas, and the third apparently referred to Mengistu.
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Israel is doing everything possible for his return.
“We are working to return the two Israelis who crossed the fence into Gaza,” Netanyahu said in a statement. “We hold Hamas responsible for their welfare. I have appointed a representative to coordinate all activity on the issue and to be in contact with the families. Yesterday I spoke with the parents and siblings of Avraham Mengistu and I told them that from as soon as the incident became known we have spared no effort to return him to Israel. We agreed to meet soon. I expect the international community, which expresses its concern over the humanitarian situation in Gaza, to issue a clear call for these citizens to be released and to see to their return.”
A spokesman for the Islamist Hamas movement said the group is not holding Mengistu, and it had no information as to his fate. Palestinian sources said he was originally held by Hamas, which released him after they realized he was not a soldier. They said he then used an underground tunnel from Gaza into Egypt and he was no longer in Egypt.
His family appealed to the Israeli government to do more to find him.
“My brother apparently crossed the Gaza border and there's been no trace of him since then,” his brother Ilan told reporters. I ask the Israeli government to do everything to return my brother home safely. I ask the international community to do everything to help.”
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