Israel to open dialogue with International Criminal Court

The Ethiopian immigrant, Avraham Mengistu, 29, crossed into Gaza last September through a broken fence on the Mediterranean coast marking the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel.

JERUSALEM: Two Israeli citizens are being held in the Gaza Strip, at least one of them by the Palestinian militant Hamas group, Israeli authorities said Thursday.

Two Israelis are being held captive in the Gaza Strip, including one detained by Hamas after crossing into the territory a year ago, Israeli officials said Thursday, raising fears of another hostage crisis.

“The prime minister did not and does not want to repeat the same manoeuvre in which dozens of life prisoners, who were supposed to take their last breath within the confines of an Israeli prison, were freed”, Haber wrote. Israel’s aggression came after a Hamas affiliate murdered three Israeli youths and the terror group fired rockets at the country’s major cities. They are two mentally unstable individuals who crossed into Gaza voluntarily.

“We are working to return the two Israelis who crossed the fence into Gaza“, Netanyahu said in a statement.

But there were no threats of action against Hamas, in contrast to a bruising military campaign that followed Hamas’ capture of Schalit in a 2006 cross-border raid – or more recently, the arrests of scores of Hamas supporters after the deadly abduction of three Israeli teens in the West Bank past year.

Israeli media said Israel had turned to global channels to appeal for Mr Mangisto’s release on humanitarian grounds because he was a civilian, not a soldier. The other, an Arab-Israeli of Bedouin origin, is reported to have been in captivity since entering Gaza in April, though few details have emerged.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Friday visited relatives of a citizen reportedly held captive by Hamas after a top aide apologized for telling them he would suffer if they went public.

Israel is separately seeking the return of the remains of two soldiers killed during last year’s war with Hamas.

A friend of the family wearing a shirt with Mengistu’s name on it told reporters outside the family’s home that many questions remained unanswered.

Israeli defence officials said there was “credible intelligence” that Mr Mengistu remained in Hamas custody.

Hamas has not been clear about whether it is holding the Israeli and has not made any demands for his release.

An Israeli official said Mengistu had not served in the army because of mental health issues. “We don’t have any information about it. Even if is true, we don’t have instructions to talk about it”, he said.

Mengistu entered the coastal enclave “by his own initiative” only weeks after the end of last summer’s Gaza war, said a spokesman for COGAT administrator Yoav Mordechai.

Israeli Channel 10 broadcast an interview with a man it identified as Mr Mengisto’s father, holding up a statement critical of Israeli authorities. “Where is my son?”

“You guys choose. I have my opinion on this – what is best for Israel, what will help him and what will help Hamas, but you have to choose and you will be responsible for the outcome”. An Israeli security official said Thursday…