Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Ya’alon said on Friday that Israel will not hold discussions with Hamas over the two Israelis believed to be detained by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Israeli media reported.
“We consider this a humanitarian case,” Israeli TV Channel 10 reported Ya’alon saying. “They must be released based on this. We will not deal with Hamas and we will not negotiate with it.”
Channel 10 said that Ya’alon had personally told the family of the Ethiopian-Israeli Avraham Mengisto.
Remarks by Israeli officials have caused fears for Mengisto’s family, who said that the Israeli government is not doing enough to secure the release of their son.
On Thursday, a leaked video broadcast by Channel 10, showed Lior Lotan, Netanyahu’s envoy on hostages and missing persons, warning the family and speaking impolitely with them.
Mengisto’s brother can be heard in the recording while Lotan stopped him, saying, “Do not get into an argument about these things with me, please. I am older than you. Decide what you want; to work together or make a scene and manipulate us.”
The father of an Israeli soldier captured by Hamas and released on a prisoner swap in 2011 said that his family received similar degrading treatment by the Israeli government directly after their son was lost.
However, Netanyahu, who met Mengisto’s family, as well as Lotan, apologised to the family and said they would do their best to return their son home.