The UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities told the Palestinian Authority (PA) two weeks ago to investigate the disappearance and incarceration of Israeli citizens Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, even though the two are being held in the Gaza Strip, which is under Hamas rule, Haaretz reported on Monday.
According to the report, the committee also instructed the PA to see to it that the two receive adequate medical treatment, since they suffer from psychiatric problems. The committee asked the PA to present a document detailing its actions on this matter within six months.
This demand of the PA, which is recognized as an observer state at the UN, was made following an appeal by the families of the two Israelis. The committee has no authority to coerce the PA to take action, but the International Human Rights clinic at the Hebrew University, through which the families” request was delivered, estimates that this may pressure the PA to take action in order to release the prisoners.
Mengistu, an Ethiopian Jew, was deeply depressed and suffering from mental health problems when he wandered unarmed across the border to Gaza in 2014, and has been held there ever since.
In January, the military wing of the Hamas terrorist organization published the first footage of Mengistu.
In the video, Mengistu is heard saying: “I am the prisoner Avera Mengistu, how long will I be here? Me and my friends are in captivity after long years. Where is the state and the people of Israel to free us?”
Al-Sayed is a resident of the Bedouin village of Hura who has been held by Hamas since April of 2015. He has been diagnosed with schizophrenia.
In June of 2022, Hamas released a video purportedly showing Al-Sayed in a hospital bed and hooked up to an oxygen machine.