Aviram Shaul, brother of fallen IDF soldier Oron Shaul whose body has been held by Hamas since the 2014 Gaza war, is calling for Israel to continue its campaign against the terrorist factions in the Strip until his brother's body is returned.
Shaul also demanded the return of the body of IDF soldier Hadar Goldin who also fell in 2014 as well as the release of Israeli captives Avera Mengistu and Hisham Al-Sayed, who have been imprisoned in Gaza since 2014 and 2015 respectively.
3 View gallery
Clockwise from top left: Fallen soldiers Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul, captives Hisham al-Sayed and Avera Mengistu
“[Israel] has zero desire and commitment to bring them back,” said Shaul.
"Senior members of both the defense and political establishments always say that Israel will do everything in its power to return Oron, Hadar and the other prisoners being held in Gaza. These aspirations seem to dissipate every time though," he said.
"I hear quite a few people on the news say that the issue of the prisoners and missing persons should not be a prerequisite for ending this operation, and I ask myself, if not now, then when?" he said.
"You can’t determine that an idea is no good without trying to implement it” added Shaul.
“We can try; we may not succeed but we can try. At the end of this campaign, the State of Israel will come out on top, with unprecedented achievements. The question is this: Do we want to go out only with military achievements, or with a political achievement as well?"
Shaul said that while he and his family have raised the issue several time with the officials responsible for the prisoners and missing being held in Gaza, the answers they received were unsatisfactory.
3 View gallery
Oron Shaul with then-IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz before the 2014 Israel-Gaza Conflict
“The end result is what is most important to us. And the result is that Oron has been missing for almost seven years… This only proves that the country has no desire to bring them back,” Shaul said.
“There is a moral debt to the soldiers and their families, a debt that has remained open since 2014.”
According to Shaul, the general public and its morale have also been adversely affected by the state electing to leave the issue of missing persons in Gaza open for so long.
“The public also wants to end this saga. It is a heavy and uncomfortable burden to know that the soldiers are being left there," he said.
"As for me, I have been waiting for seven years while my brother is being left dumped somewhere in Gaza.”