GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Ever since the end of the latest Israeli war on Gaza on Aug. 26, 2014, Hamas has been working on a new exchange deal for the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails. By concluding this deal, Hamas hopes to show it is a major player in international efforts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Hamas also aims to restore its declining popularity among Palestinians due to the continuing deterioration of the living and social conditions in the Gaza Strip.

On April 1, Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, released four photos of Israelis it had detained, including soldiers Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin, who had been captured during the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip in 2014. The third photo was that of Israeli citizen Avraham Mengisto, who is of Ethiopian origin. Israel had officially announced his disappearance in July, but Hamas had not commented on the matter. The fourth detainee is soldier Hashim al-Sayyed, who is of Arab descent and a resident of the Negev in southern Israel. On April 20, 2015, Israel announced that he had left home and had not returned. Hamas refrained from revealing any details on how Mengisto and Hashem were captured.

Israel believes that Shaul and Goldin were killed during battles with Hamas in the 2014 war. On April 21, 2015, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon told Israel's National Public Radio, "Israel continues to make efforts to recover the remains of Goldin and Shaul, who were killed during Operation Defensive Shield and whose corpses are still being held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip."

Hamas has been careful not to give out free information about the captured Israelis. Abu Obeida, spokesman for the Qassam Brigades, appeared alongside the photos of the four captured Israelis on al-Aqsa TV, a Hamas-run satellite channel. He said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “is lying to his people and deceiving the prisoners’ families. So far no talks or negotiations about the detained Israelis are being held. The enemy will not receive information about the four Israelis until it pays a clear price before and after the negotiations.”