Oron Shaul

“This is closure for the family ... it’s hard to express in words what I’m feeling,” said Shaul’s brother, Aviram.

Shaul’s remains were rescued in a covert operation, hours before the Israel-Hamas ceasefire was set to go into effect.

The Israeli government will “continue to act on the international stage to reveal the cruel face of the Hamas terror group until the [hostages] are returned home,” says Foreign Minister Eli Cohen.

Avera Mengistu, who suffers from mental illness, crossed into Gaza on his own accord in 2014.

Past governments’ claims that attempts were made to secure the return of Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, as well as the bodies of Lt. Hadar Goldin and Staff Sgt. Oron Shaul, are “the biggest bluff,” says Goldin’s brother.

Col. (res.) David Hacham, a former Arab-affairs adviser to Israeli defense ministers, says any expectation of a significant change in Hamas’s extreme worldview is fantasy; the latest violence is part of a Hamas bid to “change the rules of the equation” with Israel.