Hamas has been holding two Israeli citizens in the Gaza Strip for nearly a year, it was revealed to the public on Thursday after a court-issued gag order on the matter was lifted. One of the captive Israelis, Avera Mengistu, 28, an Israeli of Ethiopian descent from Ashkelon, climbed the border fence into the Gaza Strip last September, shortly after the end of Operation Protective Edge, and has been held by Hamas since. The identity of the second missing Israeli is still under gag order. It was still unclear why Mengistu entered Gaza, but an Israeli defense official, who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity, said he was believed to be mentally unstable. Mengistu's family, however, rejected claims of mental instability, saying the missing man suffered from severe depression following his brother's suicide three years prior. Israel, according to the official, does not consider Mengistu to be a captive, and was treating the matter as a humanitarian issue. "This is a humanitarian matter and I expect those holding him to treat him properly and to return him in full health," President Reuven Rivlin in a statement. The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories said that "according to credible intelligence," Mengistu is being held "against his will" by Hamas. It said "Israel has appealed [to] international and regional interlocutors to demand his immediate release and verify his well-being." A high-ranking IDF official said Thursday that although Hamas acknowledged that they were holding Mengistu in various mediation efforts, Hamas representatives later claimed that the organization had released the prisoner when they realized he was not an Israeli soldier. Hamas claims that it does not know where he is at this time. A spokesman for Hamas, Salah Bardawil, declined comment. "We don't have any information about it. Even if is true, we don't have instructions to talk about it," he said. The IDF official added that "this assertion [that Mengistu has been released] is unacceptable. The responsibility for his fate is on Hamas' shoulders. Right now there are intense efforts underway to reach him. It can't be called a negotiation because Hamas denies it is holding him. There is large-scale intelligence gathering, but we don't have any up-to-date information." The IDF official said, "There can be a number of reasons why Hamas is denying it has him: Either they plan to use him as a bargaining chip or something terrible has happened to him. We are operating on the assumption that he is alive, even though we have received no sign of life." A government source refuted Hamas' claim that they did not know Mengistu's whereabouts, arguing that "we know that this is a lie. It is a preplanned, orchestrated lie." The source added that the gag order on the affair was kept in place for 10 months at the family's request. He stressed that efforts were underway to secure Mengistu's safe return. "The mission continues. Our commitment to the family is absolute. The entire intelligence community is working on this, just like in any other case," he said. According to defense officials, Mengistu was not drafted into the Israel Defense Forces due to medical problems. The second missing Israeli is confirmed to be in Hamas captivity. He had crossed the border into Gaza in the past a number of times, and he has also visited Jordan and Egypt. Meanwhile, Palestinian media outlets reported on Wednesday that Israel and Hamas may be on the verge of striking a deal that would see Hamas return to Israel the bodies of Israeli soldiers Lt. Hadar Goldin and Staff Sgt. Oron Shaul, who were killed during last summer's war in Gaza. The IDF declined to comment on the matter. The Palestinian reports made no mention of Mengistu or whether he would be part of the deal in question. According to news outlets in Gaza, Israel and Hamas have been engaged in indirect talks over a possible swap for four weeks. Senior Hamas members quoted in the reports confirmed the details. According to one senior Palestinian official, Israel initiated the talks by turning to an intermediary, allegedly Qatar, in order to explore the possibility of a deal to retrieve the two soldiers' bodies. With that, the senior Palestinian official said Israel relayed messages to Hamas that it would not release Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the bodies; rather it would agree to return to Hamas the bodies of its own fighters killed in action. According to the official, Israel would also agree to help expedite the rehabilitation of the Gaza Strip. Also Wednesday, Hamas held a rally to mark the one-year anniversary of last summer's war in Gaza. During the rally the terrorist group displayed two new missiles it claimed to have developed.
