'I endured hell' - Former hostage Matan Zangauker recounts brutality of 738 days in Hamas captivity

Former Israeli hostage Matan Zangauker spent 738 days in brutal Hamas captivity before he was released last month among the last 20 living Israeli hostages. On Monday, he spoke about the brutal kidnapping and the subsequent two years in captivity in Gaza in an interview with the Israeli channel N12. 

“I saw black. I was almost fainting,” Zangauker recalled when he was brutally dragged by Hamas terrorists from his home in Kibbutz Nir Oz and taken into the Gaza Strip. 

Zangauker spent most of the captivity in dark subterranean tunnels where he was subjected to physical and mental abuse and frequently denied food. 

“We were in a small cage, two mattresses. One tiny blanket,” he said. Zangauker revealed that Hamas at some point forced him to walk to the southern Gazan town of Rafah disguised among civilians. 

“We walked to Rafah on foot, accompanied by thousands of their residents,” he recalled. “IDF was nearby. It was next to a shoreline. We could hear the waves."

Zangauker revealed that he at one point took blows from the Hamas captors while protecting another hostage who was beaten with an improvised whip from a refrigerator cable. 

“I had to step in. I took the blows instead.”

During his captivity in Gaza, his mother Einav Zangauker became a vocal voice at demonstrations in Israel calling for the release of the hostages.

He recalled that his Hamas captors noticed his mother giving speeches on television. 

“Are you Zangauker?” a Hamas tunnel commander once asked him.

“Your mother is leading demonstrations; she’s turning the whole country upside down,” the Hamas operative continued. 

He revealed that his mother’s public presence gave him hope during the captivity. 

“It made me very happy. It helped me,” Zangauker said. Once the Hamas captors recognized him, they became “more polite” and sometimes offered him more food. 

His mother who was once a strong supporter of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, became a vocal critic of the premier during her son’s captivity. During a rally in December 2024, Mrs. Zangauker issued a direct warning to Netanyahu if he failed to bring her son home alive. 

“I’m not threatening, I’m letting you know: you will have no forgiveness, no clemency. I, personally, will persecute you if my Matan comes home in a body bag. I will be your worst nightmare,” she vowed. 

Matan Zangauker admitted that he became despondent after other hostages were released and he eventually remained alone. 

“Then I really stayed alone, and it started to sink in that I wouldn’t get out of here. I’m going to die here,” Zangauker told the news outlet. 

Due to multiple collapsed hostage negotiations, Zangauker revealed that he did not believe that he would leave Gaza alive until he was sitting in a Red Cross vehicle driving towards the Israeli border. 

“It was crazy. A moment that doesn’t sink in,” he said, referring to the surreal moment when he saluted Israeli soldiers and was finally reunited with his family after two years of captivity in Gaza. 

“I endured hell,” he concluded.