The disappearance of the young Israeli-Ethiopian Avera Mengistu in the Gaza Strip reflects strange conduct by the state and its security arms from the moment Mengistu entered the Gaza Strip in September 2014, through the tardy permit the court gave to release the information on Thursday.

The 28-year-old Mengistu crossed the fence into the Strip about two weeks following the cease-fire that ended the war between Israel and Hamas went into effect. It seemed that the background to the security establishment’s controversial decision regarding Mengistu was motivated by events during the war, particularly the abduction of the bodies of Lt. Hadar Goldin and Staff Sgt. Oron Shaul by Hamas.

But in fact, the roots of the matter might go back even further to the abduction of the soldier Gilad Shalit by Hamas in 2006.

In all of the Israel Defense Forces’ previous operations in the Gaza Strip, all actions were handled with determination not to repeat the Shalit affair and not to leave “assets” in Hamas hands that would allow Hamas to conduct negotiations that would put public pressure on the government, humiliate Israel and lead to the release of hundreds of Palestinian terrorists in prison in Israel.

Read the article in full at Haaretz.