Avraham "Avera" Mengistu[1][2] (Hebrew: אברה מנגיסטו, born 1986) is an Ethiopian-born Israeli man who crossed into Gaza on September 7, 2014.
He made aliyah (i.e., immigrated to Israel) with his family at age five and grew up in a low-income neighborhood in Ashkelon, which is 20 kilometers (12 mi) from Gaza.
[1] In a column in The Jerusalem Post, Tal Harris described the Mengistu family as extremely underprivileged and belonging to the poorest socio-economic sector of Israeli society.
He agreed to undergo psychiatric treatment and was hospitalized voluntarily in a mental facility in Beersheba for 12 days in January 2013, but his family did not think he seemed better when he was released.
An Israeli patrol who were guarding electrical work spotted him carrying a bag near the security fence with Gaza and let him pass.
[3] The Associated Press speculated that a statement made by Khaled Mashal the previous day, in which he spoke of an Israeli request through a European intermediary for the release of "two soldiers and two bodies", may have "forced Israel's hand".
[9] Amir Rapaport of Makor Rishon wrote, "The main reason for the low profile in which the incident was dealt with was the fear that public announcement will make it difficult for Hamas to return Mengistu to Israel, since a massive [Palestinian] public pressure will be applied to Hamas to not return him without an extensive deal of prisoners swap".
[11] The Mengistu family went to Geneva in 2015 to meet with human rights organizations, including the Red Cross and Amnesty International, in an effort to gain their assistance and to put pressure on Hamas to release Avera.
[13][1] When the report was released, Sarah Leah Whitson, director of the Middle East and North Africa division of Human Rights Watch, said "Hamas's refusal to confirm its apparent prolonged detention of men with mental health conditions and no connection to the hostilities is cruel and indefensible.
[15][16] An unnamed Israeli official said in July 2016 that Hamas wanted a deal similar to the Shalit exchange, in which hundreds of prisoners would be released in return for the bodies of IDF soldier Oron Shaul and IDF officer Hadar Goldin and the living civilians Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, an Israeli Bedouin held by Hamas.
[17] In June 2017, the IDF gave Mengistu's family a copy of the security camera footage showing him crossing into Gaza.
On 2 July 2018, he spoke at a conference organized by MK Hilik Bar to focus public attention on Mengistu's situation.
The video was published shortly after Herzi Halevi took oath of office as Chief of General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces.
It begins with a message stating that the al-Qassam Brigades "stresses the failure of outgoing IDF chief of staff Aviv Kohavi and his lies to the people and government with imaginary and delusional achievements" and that "the incoming Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi should prepare himself to bear the burden of this failure and its consequences."
In response to the footage, the Prime Minister's Office released a statement maintaining that "the State of Israel invests all its resources and efforts to return its missing sons held captive to their home", and called on Israeli media to not cooperate with Hamas.