The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas released video on Monday of an Israeli man it has controlled since 2014 in the Gaza Strip, blaming the Israeli army for his arrest, on the occasion of the inauguration of a new chief of staff.
The dissemination of this video occurs in the context of indirect talks between Israel and Hamas about a prisoner exchange, which the Islamist organization threatened to end in mid-December in the absence of progress.
In the undated video released Monday by Hamas’s military wing, Avera Mengistu, an Israeli of Ethiopian descent, introduces himself in Hebrew and questions the length of his captivity.
New head of the Israeli army
“The Ezzedine al-Qassam brigades underscore the failure of the outgoing Chief of Staff (Aviv) Kochavi and his institution”, can be read in the preamble of the thirty-second video broadcast on the Telegram application.
“The new chief of staff (Herzi) Halevi must prepare to bear the weight of this failure,” it is also written, referring to the captivity of Avera Mengistu.
Herzi Halevi, until now number two in the Israeli army, replaced Aviv Kochavi at the head of the institution on Monday. The Israeli army said it was examining the video, the authenticity of which “is difficult at this time to determine,” a military spokesman told AFP. She hopes that Avera “Mengistu is alive and well,” she said.
Source: BFM TV
