TEL AVIV – Amid Arabic-language reports that Israel and Gaza-based terror group Hamas are heading toward another prisoner swap deal, Education Minister Naftali Bennett on Sunday called on the government not to release “live terrorists” for the bodies of dead soldiers.
A senior Hamas official confirmed Wednesday to The Times of Israel that Qatar and Egypt are involved in mediating between his organization and Israel, but stressed that Hamas will not even begin to talk about releasing Israeli civilians it has detained along with the remains of two IDF soldiers unless Israel first releases dozens of Palestinians it is holding.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday met with his Ethiopian counterpart in Addis Ababa and asked him for assistance in securing the release of Avraham Mengistu, an Ethiopian Israeli held captive by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas on Friday publicly acknowledged for the first time that it was holding four Israelis: two Israeli citizens who crossed into Gaza on their own accord and the bodies of two soldiers killed in 2014’s Gaza war. The group published photos of the four: slain soldiers Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin, 29-year-old Avraham Mengistu, and a Bedouin-Israeli citizen whose name has not been released for publication.
The Times of Israel reports: The family Israeli man Avraham Mengistu who went missing in 2014 after crossing into the Gaza Strip appealed Monday to the international community to help bring him home. Avraham Mengistu, a 29-year-old Israeli of Ethiopian
Avraham Mengistu, 28, an Israeli citizen, crossed into the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip on September 7, 2014. He has since been kidnapped by the Palestinian terror group, and they have refused to let him return home, Israeli officials said Thursday.
