Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed - today, Tuesday - that the Israeli soldier, Avira Mengistu, who is being held by the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in the Gaza Strip, is still alive, holding the movement responsible for his fate.

Netanyahu's statements came the day after the Al-Qassam Brigades published a video clip showing Mengistu - who has been detained for more than 8 years - and he is asking the Israeli government to work to return him to his home.

Netanyahu said today, "Yesterday, we received confirmation of what we knew all along, which is that Avira is alive. This is a young man who is not in good health, and the responsibility for his fate rests entirely with Hamas."

He added that Israel did not stop its efforts to return Avira Mengistu and the rest of its captives and missing persons.

Netanyahu accused the Palestinian movement of blocking any chance of a deal.

Repeatedly, Hamas denied such accusations, and threatened to "close the file of Israeli soldiers with the Al-Qassam Brigades forever, in the event that Israel stalled in the exchange deal."

Qassam message

In the video broadcast by the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades on Monday, Mengistu appeared wearing a blue shirt, and sent an audio message to his government, asking: "How long will I and my comrades remain here after these long years of suffering and pain? Where is the state and people of Israel from our destiny?"

The Al-Qassam Brigades published the video on the occasion of the exchange of positions in the Chief of Staff of the occupation army, and the inauguration of Herzi Halevi as a new commander to succeed Aviv Kochavi.

In its message, the Brigades said, "We confirm the failure of the former Israeli Chief of Staff, Aviv Kochavi and his institution, and his lie to his people and government with alleged and delusional achievements, and his successor, Halevy, must prepare himself to bear the burdens of this failure and its consequences."

Israeli prisoners

In April 2016, the Al-Qassam Brigades announced - for the first time - that it had 4 captured Israeli soldiers, including the two soldiers, Shaul Aron and Hadar Goldin, who were captured during the war on the Gaza Strip in the summer of 2014, and the other two are Avira Mengistu and Hisham Al-Sayed, who entered the Strip in unclear circumstances.

The movement does not disclose the fate of the four detainees, and it is not known where they are being held.

In the middle of last month, the head of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Yahya Sinwar, threatened to permanently close the file of prisoner exchange negotiations with Israel, in response to Tel Aviv's "procrastination".

In June 2021, the official Israeli channel, "Kan", said that Tel Aviv requires the return of its four prisoners before the start of any reconstruction process in the Gaza Strip, which is inhabited by more than two million Palestinians and has been besieged by Israel since the summer of 2006. As for the Hamas movement, it refuses to link the reconstruction and the exchange of prisoners. It insists on making a deal according to its terms, represented in the liberation of a large number of Palestinian prisoners held by the occupation.