The reconciliation agreement signed June 27 between Israel and Turkey did not bring about the return of the bodies of two Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers, Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul, killed in 2014, or the release of two Israeli civilians held by Hamas, Avraham Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed. The agreement did not contribute even one additional piece of information beyond what was already known to Israel’s defense establishment about the condition of Mengistu and Sayed, who separately crossed the border into Gaza after Operation Protective Edge in 2014 and have since been held by the organization’s military wing as bargaining chips, admittedly weak ones, although Hamas views them as a tool of significant pressure on Israel.

The Goldin and Shaul families say that they were promised over the course of the long negotiations that Israel would condition its signing of the reconciliation agreement on the release of the soldiers’ bodies. These promises were made to the families even though the members of the Security Cabinet who supported the reconciliation agreement, as well as those who opposed it — Ministers Avigdor Liberman, Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked — knew that the chances were virtually nil of linking the release of the soldiers' remains and the civilians to the agreement with Turkey.

Even if Turkey had exerted all its influence on Khaled Meshaal, head of Hamas’ political bureau, it wouldn't have altered the fact that Meshaal no longer has influence over the head of the Hamas military wing, which holds the soldiers' bodies and the two civilians. Nevertheless, all the Cabinet members — including Liberman — who in the past promised to eliminate Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh if he refused when ordered to return the soldiers’ bodies and release the civilians within 48 hours — withheld this information from the families and the public.

Internal Security Minister Gilad Erdan, for example, said that it was with a heavy heart that he had voted in favor of the reconciliation agreement. After the Cabinet meeting, he said, “I heard the outcries [of the families]. … I promised them that when I got to the Cabinet, I’d ask the difficult questions before making my decision.”