Israel has called on the United Nations, the Vatican and other global bodies to act “urgently” for the release of Israelis held captive by Hamas, after the Gaza-ruling terror group released a proof-of-life video of one of them earlier this week.
Footage of the man identified as Avera Mengistu, who has been held by Hamas for more than eight years, was released as part of a clip by Hamas hours after a ceremony marking the ascension of Israel’s new IDF chief of staff, Herzi Halevi.
The 45-second video mocks the outgoing chief of staff, Aviv Kohavi, saying Mengistu’s ongoing captivity was a “failure” on his part, and warning his successor to be prepared “for this failure and its consequences.”
Mengistu is one of two Israelis being held by Hamas. The other is Hisham al-Sayed. Both Mengistu and al-Sayed, who have a history of mental illness, crossed over the border and into Gaza of their own accord in 2014 and 2015, respectively.
Hamas is also holding the bodies of IDF soldiers, Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul, killed during Israel’s war with Hamas in 2014. Last month, the terror group boasted it had an Israeli army-issue rifle belonging to Goldin, as part of an attempt to secure a prisoner deal.
In response to the release of the video of Mengistu, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that Mengistu “is alive.”
“Israel does not stop its efforts to return Avera Mengistu and the rest of our captives and missing persons. Yesterday we received another confirmation of what we knew all along — that Avera is alive,” Netanyahu said.
“This is a young man, not in good health, and responsibility for his fate rests entirely with Hamas,” Netanyahu added.
File/An Israeli soldier walks past a painted poster of Hisham Al-Sayed (R) and Avera Mengistu (L), two Israelis held by Hamas in Gaza since 2014, during a press conference organised by the captives’ families calling for their release, in Jerusalem on September 6, 2018. (THOMAS COEX/AFP via Getty)
Israel’s Foreign Ministry sent a letter to Pope Francis, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Red Cross President Mirjana Spoljaric Egger, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and international leaders, calling on them to condemn Hamas for holding Mengistu “in flagrant violation of international humanitarian law, without providing information about his health condition and without providing any way for him to contact his family or receive visits by the Red Cross.”
The statement by the Foreign Ministry noted that last month Pope Francis vowed to work towards securing the release of the four Israelis.
The U.N. Human Rights Council and its special rapporteur tasked with investigating the Israeli-Palestinian conflict did not issue a response to either the video nor the Foreign Ministry’s request. It also did not respond to requests for comment on the incident by the Times of Israel.
U.N. officials are quick to condemn Israel for its actions against Palestinians and the global body passes countless resolutions against the Jewish state every year.
Mengistu’s mother on Tuesday said that while the video appeared to show her son, his voice sounded different.
“It’s not my son’s voice, I know his voice. I raised my son. I recognize that part of the head,” Ethiopian-Israeli Agurnesh Mengistu told Channel 12 news in Amharic. “They showed me the video on the phone, several people showed it to me from all kinds of places. It’s his head but the voice is different.”
“It’s not easy after all these years. I raised him. When I was in the US with the Americans — I was there several times — I saw everything, but I don’t know. My children and I are sad,” said Mengistu.
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