The Hamas resistance movement released images and audio files of Israeli soldiers detained in the Gaza Strip in response to the Zionist regime’s psychological warfare.
Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Hamas resistance movement, published for the first time a picture of a Zionist militia detained in the Gaza Strip called “Gilad Shalit”.
Al-Qassam Brigades released a picture and an audio file of the Zionist militia for the first time on Monday morning, while Tel Aviv officials had long been unaware of his fate and thought he was dead.
In an audio file released by Al Jazeera on behalf of Hamas, the unidentified Zionist soldier begged Tel Aviv to release him and other detained Zionist soldiers, saying he hoped Israeli officials would still care.
Following are brief profiles of the four Israeli captives:
Oron Shaul
Oron Shaul was the only identity Hamas disclosed in 2016 when it announced that it had taken captive four Israeli soldiers. According to Israeli sources, Shaul was born on Dec. 27, 1993, and resided in the Poria settlement in Nazareth, north of Israel.
After joining the Israeli army, Shaul worked on the border with the Gaza Strip and took part in the war on Gaza in 2014.
He was captured by the Al-Qassam Brigades fighters, the armed wing of Hamas, in an operation in July that year against the Israeli army east of the Al-Tuffah neighborhood in eastern Gaza, in which 14 Israeli soldiers were killed.
While Israeli authorities claim Shaul was killed, his family insists he is alive.
Meanwhile, Hamas has not provided any information about him.
Hadar Goldin
Hadar Goldin, the other Israeli soldier in Hamas captivity, was born on Feb. 18, 1991.
A 2nd Lt. in the Givati Brigade in the Israeli army, Goldin is also the cousin of Moshe Ya’alon, the former chief of staff of the Israel defense forces.
He was captured by Hamas during the war on Aug. 1, 2014, in the Rafah city, south of the Gaza Strip.
Hamas has not shared any details about Goldin so far.
In response to his kidnapping, Israel indiscriminately shelled civilian homes in Rafah, killing more than 100 Palestinians, including children and women.
Avner Mengistu
Born in Ethiopia on Aug. 22, 1986, Avner Mengistu immigrated alongside his family to Israel when he was just 5 years old.
According to Maslak, an Israeli organization that defends freedom of movement, Mengistu, whose family resides in Ashkelon, disappeared after crossing the fence separating Israel and the northern Gaza Strip on Sept. 7, 2014.
His family says he is mentally unstable and was released by the Israeli army due to his mental condition.
They also accuse the Israeli government of racism by deliberately neglecting their son and not working for his release because he is a Black man.
In July 2019, Al-Qassam Brigades said in a statement that mediators did not raise the fate of Mengistu during negotiations about the release of the captives.
Hisham al-Sayed
According to sources inside the Palestinian territories, Hisham al-Sayed, also in Hamas’s captivity, is a 29-year-old Palestinian with Israeli citizenship who lived in the Hoora village in the Negev region, south of Israel.
The sources said al-Sayed completed his secondary education and volunteered to serve in the Israeli army in August 2008 but was released in November 2008 because he was deemed unsuitable for service.
According to the Maslak organization, al-Sayed’s fate has been unknown since he entered the Gaza Strip on April 20, 2015, through an opening in the fence that separates Israel and the northern Gaza Strip
