Left: Avera Mengistu, wearing a black toque and a black shirt with a red stripe. Hisham al-Sayed in a purple dress shirt with a dark blue tie, holding a coat over his shoulder

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   Zecharias Zelalem (zekuzelalem@dair-community.social)'s status on Thursday, 23-Jan-2025 13:52:53 JST Zecharias Zelalem

   in reply to

   Avera's case is nearly identical to that of Hisham al-Sayed, a Bedouin Arab Israeli citizen who was similarly exempted from mandatory IDF service due to mental illness. He had reportedly ventured into the West Bank numerous times, being arrested by Palestinian authorities before being returned to Israel. In 2015, like Avera, he wandered alone into Gaza & disappeared.

   Hisham is also expected to be released soon as part of the ceasefire deal.