Mengistu is one of two Israeli citizens revealed Thursday to be missing, and believed held captive, in Gaza.
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A spokesman for Hamas in Gaza, Salah Bardawil, said that “we don’t have any information” about Mengistu.
“Even if it is true, we don’t have instructions to talk about it”, he said.
Avraham “Avra” Mengisto, an Ethiopian Israeli, crossed the border with Gaza from Ashkelon on September 7 of his own volition, the defense ministry said. It is unclear why it made a decision to publicize the issue ten months after the incident. Senior Israeli government officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were unauthorized to speak publicly about the issue, said Israel had hoped keeping the affair quiet could lead to the men’s release.
The activists were detained during the search for three Israeli youths who were murdered by a Hamas cell as they were hitchhiking.
The statement said that an unnamed Arab-Israeli citizen was also being held in Gaza, but it gave no further details of the case.
Israeli soldiers, the document concluded, did not exercise enough caution when they fought in built-up areas in Gaza.
In indirect negotiations for the return of remains of two Israel soldiers killed during the 2014 Gaza war, Hamas is demanding the release of Palestinians freed in the Shalit deal and late returned to prison for what Israel said were new offences.
COGAT added that “Israel has appealed to worldwide and regional interlocutors to demand Mangisto’s immediate release and verify his well-being”.
In a statement, Mengistu’s brother, Yalo Mengistu, 32, said that the family was not briefed by Israeli military officials until two weeks after he crossed the fence.
“Without discussing (medical) details, his family was very anxious about him before he left”, Rivlin told reporters.
Netanyahu said Thursday he held Hamas, the Islamic militant group which has ruled Gaza since seizing control of the territory in 2007, responsible for the fate of both men.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the Mengistu family on Friday afternoon, vowing to do everything possible to bring their son home.
Tzachi Malasa, who described himself as the missing man’s uncle, said: “If it was an Ashkenazi [white] Jew trying to cross the fence, they would have had a helicopter up in the air 24 hours a day”.
Ilan Mengistu asked the Israeli public to show restraint at this stage as the government works to secure his brother’s release.
He said he expects the worldwide community to issue a call for the men’s release. He said Israel holds Hamas responsible for the men’s well-being.
Mengistu belongs to Israel’s 135,000-strong ethnic Ethiopian community which says it suffers from racism and discrimination.
“I watched with shame and with an aching heart to the conversation between the Prime Minister’s representative and the Mengistu family”, she said.
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Yaalon said Thursday that he has met with the family of Avera Mengistu, a 28-year-old Ethiopian-Israeli, and updated them on the efforts to repatriate him.
