Israel is engaged in talks with Hamas, through Egyptian intermediaries, over a possible prisoner exchange deal, senior officials from the Gaza-based terrorist group told London-based pan-Arab media outlet Al-Araby Al-Jadeed over the weekend.
A possible deal, according to the report, calls for Hamas to return the bodies of fallen IDF soldiers Lt. Hadar Goldin and Staff Sgt. Oron Shaul, who were killed during Operation Protective Edge in Gaza in 2014, and provide information about the fates of two captives: Ethiopian Israeli Avera Mengistu and Bedouin Hisham al-Sayed. Both Mengistu and al-Sayed reportedly suffer from mental illness.
Israeli Jumaa Abu Ghanima crossed the border into Gaza in 2016, and his fate also remains unknown.
In exchange, Israel will reportedly release the Palestinian security prisoners who were rearrested after being released under the prisoner exchange deal for captive IDF soldier Gilad Schalit.
"Officials in Israel want a deal before the Knesset election in April, to strengthen [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu's image in the eyes of the Israeli public," the Al-Araby Al-Jadeed report said.
In January, the Goldin family blasted the government's decision to restore Gaza's power supply to stave off a humanitarian catastrophe.
In November, the family accused the government of shirking its duty to pressure Hamas to release the remains of the Israeli soldiers and the civilian captives.
