Mengistu's family plead with Hamas to release their son
Video sent 2 years ago by family pleading with the terror organization to release Avera Mengistu is published; Mengistu's brother 'we expected more support from Israeli public.'
Mengistu crossed the Gaza border four years ago and has since been held by Hamas. His family has received no information regarding his physical condition.
According to medical sources in the Gaza Strip, the video and the documents reached the relevant parties by whom he is being held and Avera himself has apparently seen it as well.
Members of the “Physicians for Human Rights” organization passed the video along when its delegation visited the Hamas-ruled strip. The organization’s representatives noted that security officials in Israel had been updated regarding the situation.
In the video, Mengistu's mother and brother appeal to members of the Hamas military wing and ask for his release.
“How is it that the hearts of Hamas people are not aching? My son, Avera, entered the strip by mistake because of his illness. Why won’t Hamas release him? For two years now I have been crying day and night. I want to see him … Hamas—show me my son, release him," appealed the mother in a video.
His brother also appealed to the Hamas leadership, saying the years since Avera’s disappearance have been heartbreaking.
"I see my mother cry every day and say, 'Where is my son, Avera, who I raised with great devotion and difficulties in Ethiopia, and here in Israel as well.' She asks me every day: 'Why is he being held, what do they want to do with him? He is not a soldier, he did not intend to hurt anyone, he comes from a poor family,’ and I don’t have an answer for her," vented the brother in a recorded video message.
In an interview with Ynet on Wednesday, Ilan further reiterated te family’s disappointment at the lack of response from the Hamas organization.
"The organization (Physicians for Human Rights—ed) immediately informed us that the tape had reached the highest echelons in Hamas … The very statement of the organization today proves unequivocally that this is a gross violation of human rights and it's important, and although we’re glad it’s been established, we are disappointed, because we expected Hamas to at least recognize the organization that provides a lot of medical assistance to the Gazan residents and give them more information. Unfortunately, it didn't happen,” Ilan explained.
"There is no doubt that in a case like my brother's, when the family is helpless, there should have been more public support and we hope it will still happen," he claimed.
The brother added that the responsibility for Avera's return to Israel rests with the government.
"Avera crossed the border under the country’s supervision, people watched him from the side and did nothing. I believe that the state should have a moral obligation and responsibility to se to it that he is brought back. This situation cannot continue," Ilan concluded.
Physicians for Human Rights said that over the past two years the organization has been working behind the scenes with the health authorities in Gaza and other officials in the strip in order to obtain more information and speed up Mengistu's release.
In addition, the organization is working to secure the release of Hisham a-Sayid, an Israeli-Bedouin resident of the Negev who entered the Gaza Strip in 2015. Despite the efforts, so far no information has been received regarding the condition of either of them and they’d only been informed regarding the whereabouts of the tape.
Prof. Rafi Walden, president of Physicians for Human Rights, has also called for Avera’s release.
"It’s a moral and human obligation to release the Israeli citizens held in Gaza, where no one knows what their condition is. Over the past two years, we have been working quietly with our local medical contacts to ensure that an independent doctor will be able to visit Avera Mengistu in order to receive updated information on his condition. We call on Hamas to put an end to the nightmare that Avera, Hisham and what their families are going through," elaborated the professor.
Last year, the Mengistu family visited the United Nations where they said "We call upon the international community to use its full weight to help in the release of our son.”
They have slammed the government for not doing enough to bring Avera back from Hamas’ captivity. They also say that the talks with the coordinator of POWs and MIAs in the government did not bring results.
The current coordinator of POWs and MIAs, Yaron Blum, did not comment on the claim and did not issue a response.
