Netanyahu Confirms Avera Mengistu is Alive

By Zalman Ahnsaf

YERUSHALAYIM — Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu‏‏ confirmed on Tuesday evening that the person shown in the Hamas video the day before was in fact Avera Mengistu, an Israeli citizen who has been held captive in Gaza since 2014.

“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 the responsibility for his fate rests entirely on Hamas,” he added.

The prime minister did not say how the authenticity of the document publicized by Hamas on Monday was established. Initially, the IDF said that they were working on clarifying the matter, but could not yet say that it was Mengistu in the video.

In the brief video, Mengistu is heard saying: “I am the prisoner Avera Mengistu, how long will I be here? Me and my friends are in captivity after long years. Where is the state and the people of Israel to free us?”

Avera’s brother Yallo told Ynet earlier on Tuesday that the family is “about 99%” that it was his brother.

“The image is him, but the voice is not,” he said, explaining the remaining uncertainty.

His mother said on Tuesday, after viewing the video, that she “recognizes him.”

IDF spokesperson Ran Kochav told the network: “This is essentially manipulation by Hamas, who have held captive an Israeli citizen who crossed the border, who is not well. This is a cynical act…that testifies more than anything of the crisis in which Hamas finds itself.”

The aim of Hamas in releasing the video, he explained, is to try to arouse emotions among the Israeli public in order to gain support for a deal it hopes to make for the exchange of another captive and the bodies of two slain Israeli soldiers Hy”d.

On Tuesday night, the Israeli Foreign Ministry reportedly sent a letter to the Pope and the Secretary General of the U.N. asking them to act for the release of the Israelis in Hamas captivity, according to Ynet.

Meanwhile, Hamas is plotting more kidnappings of Israeli soldiers, according to the Kan public broadcaster.