There has been no sign of life from him since. “In advance of any discussion Hamas demands the release of all the prisoners freed in the swap for Gilad Shalit and subsequently re-arrested”.
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He pointed to the sufferings of Gazans living under an Israeli siege and said such restrictions have turned the Gaza Strip into a kind of concentration camp, while no one knows the exact scale of disaster in the coastal enclave. According to the official, Mengistu was briefly held by the group but was released a short while later after Hamas interrogators determined he was not a soldier.
Bardawil also denied the link between the ceasefire agreement and a potential prisoner exchange. This would also give Hamas a significant boost in Palestinian public opinion. The family criticized Netanyahu’s failure to respond to their letters.
“We will not slacken and we will do everything necessary in order to bring these citizens back home”, he said. His presumed captivity – which Hamas denies – was under a gag order that was lifted this week.
On Wednesday, however, exiled Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal alluded to Mengistu and the second man when discussing Israelis held by his organization. He claimed that Israel has sought to work via European intermediaries for their return.
“We won’t let Israeli prisoners go before the release of Palestinian prisoners”, Mashaal told the outlet.
Israeli media condemned the comments as patronising and insensitive.
Two Israeli non-military people are increasingly being held in Gaza by Hamas, based on an announcement delivered by Israeli origins.
In other words, Hamas is seeking a major gain before it even consents to negotiate for the Israelis it is holding dead and alive. Mengistu, who suffered from unspecified mental issues, was rejected for IDF service.
Mengistu is believed to have climbed last September over the security fence between Israel and Gaza.
“Anyone who makes Avera into a story about relations between the Ethiopian community and the state of Israel will leave him in Gaza for another year”, Lotan is heard telling Mengistu’s family, using the name by which he is known to friends and relatives.
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Israel strove to keep the pair’s plight secret to the extent that then foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman and members of the parliamentary defence and foreign affairs committee said they had been kept totally unaware.
