Einav Zangauker, mother of hostage Matan, received note in her son’s handwriting from Gaza tunnel

In November, Einav Zangauker, the mother of the hostage Matan Zangauker, received a handwritten note from her son. 

The note was found by IDF soldiers in an underground complex where the hostages were killed in late August 2024, and where several senior Hamas officials had been staying. 

The note, which had been found a few months earlier, contains Matan's details in Hebrew and Arabic, and his medical condition, which was then described as “good," and it was noted that he is a “farmer.” 

Einav Zangauker immediately recognized the handwriting of her son, Matan, who knew Arabic even before his abduction. The security establishment estimates that other hostages also wrote similar notes. 

#BREAKING: A note bearing the name and ID number of hostage Matan Zangauker was discovered in a tunnel in Gaza and given to his mother, Einav, who immediately recognized his handwriting.

Written in English, Hebrew, and Arabic, the note described Matan’s medical condition at the… pic.twitter.com/D4XsHECsxN

— Aviva Klompas (@AvivaKlompas) May 19, 2025

In a statement to the media, Einav said, "For almost 600 days I have been warning that military pressure leads to the death of hostages. Matan was miraculously saved, he could have been murdered or killed because of the military pressure. You can't play with luck anymore.” 

“The government of Israel must put on the table a comprehensive agreement to end the war and return all the abducted men and women. The war has claimed the lives of too many hostages, as well as heroic fighters,” she stated. 

Zangauker previously revealed that when the released hostage Edan Alexander came back, he brought with him a sign of life for Matan, with whom he was kept in captivity for several months. 

"I can say this morning that following the release of Edan Alexander, we received a sign of life for Matan. Matan is still alive," Einav said following Alexander’s return to Israel. 

The previous sign of life from Matan was the release of a propaganda video in December 2024, in which Matan directly addressed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had recently proposed a reward of $5 million and safe passage out of Gaza to anyone who released Israeli hostages alive. 

“I heard about your new plan to return us home. I heard that you will give $5 million to whoever returns us safely home and provide them a safe exit from the Gaza Strip. I am very disappointed. Now I am certain you do not know your enemies and that you do not understand their mentality,” Zangauker said in the video. 

Einav Zangauker, who was previously a supporter of Netanyahu’s Likud party, has become a vocal critic of the prime minister, often speaking at protests, accusing him of abandoning the hostages for political motives. 

Einav released a video earlier this year, in a similar style to the Hamas propaganda videos, in which she pleaded with the terror organization to release another sign of life of her son, and to keep the hostages safe until a ceasefire agreement could be reached. In that video, she also addressed U.S. President Donald Trump, asking him to intervene and achieve the release of her son and the remaining hostages. 

Israeli officials believe that around 58 hostages remain in Gaza, of which, only around 20 remain alive. 

Tuesday morning, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani claimed that the ceasefire talks in Doha have not achieved any results, despite the new adjusted proposal by special envoy Steve Witkoff. 

Al-Thani, whose government hosts the political leadership of Hamas, and which has given significant aid to the terror group in the past, blamed Israel for the lack of progress, saying he "expected the tragedy to end after the release of Edan Alexander, but the continued attacks are harming the chances for peace.” 

Speaking at the Qatar Economic Forum, al-Thani said, “Despite the efforts of Qatar, Egypt, and the United States to end the tragic war, we are witnessing the failure of efforts to achieve calm, due to Israel's irresponsible and aggressive behavior, which limits any chance of peace.” 

Both the U.S. and Israel have indicated that Israel largely agreed to Witkoff’s new proposal, saying that Hamas rejected the offer due to its demand for the disarming and exile of the terror group and its leaders.