Zangauker recalls jeering Gaza crowds beating him: ‘Children, women, elderly; with stones, with pipes’
The Times of Israel
Nov 10, 2025
Israeli hostage Matan Zangauker in Hamas video, August 17, 2025. Zangauker was freed after 738 days in captivity, In his interview with Channel 12, Matan Zangauker recalls his first
moments of being dragged into Gaza by terrorists on October 7, and being
attacked by jeering crowds.
“I arrive on the streets of Gaza, and I see children, women, adults,
elderly people, standing right there in a long line, with sticks, with
stones, with pipes. They start hitting me. They really start striking
me.”
He recounts hunger and abuse while in captivity.
“There were days when they told us there wasn’t much food. They would
give us half a pita each, and after half an hour, they would make food
for themselves. You’d smell eggplant, tomato — they really pampered
themselves. They would cook rice for themselves. At the beginning, they
had meat. We wouldn’t get any of it.
“We were in a small cage, with two mattresses. One tiny, miserable
blanket. The dampness, the smells — it was really disgusting. You
weren’t allowed to get up. If you did, you’d get shouted at, and it
could even get physical.”
He says he was often moved by his captors from place to place and dressed up as a Gazan to blend into the population.
“My mind wasn’t really functioning in those days. I was always
thinking about my family, about [my girlfriend] Ilana. I didn’t think
about myself or about the situation I was in. I was thinking about what
was happening outside. That’s what interested and occupied me during
those days. The fear was immense. You don’t know what they’ll do to you,
whether they’ll execute you or keep you in that condition.”
He says his captors promised that he and other hostages would not be rescued by troops alive.
“They really emphasized that: ‘Either you leave here in a deal, or
you don’t leave at all.’ They said that if the IDF tried to rescue us,
they would simply shoot us and we’d all die together.”
In his interview with Channel 12, Matan Zangauker recalls his first moments of being dragged into Gaza by terrorists on October 7, and being attacked by jeering crowds.
“I arrive on the streets of Gaza, and I see children, women, adults, elderly people, standing right there in a long line, with sticks, with stones, with pipes. They start hitting me. They really start striking me.”
He recounts hunger and abuse while in captivity.
“There were days when they told us there wasn’t much food. They would give us half a pita each, and after half an hour, they would make food for themselves. You’d smell eggplant, tomato — they really pampered themselves. They would cook rice for themselves. At the beginning, they had meat. We wouldn’t get any of it.
“We were in a small cage, with two mattresses. One tiny, miserable blanket. The dampness, the smells — it was really disgusting. You weren’t allowed to get up. If you did, you’d get shouted at, and it could even get physical.”
He says he was often moved by his captors from place to place and dressed up as a Gazan to blend into the population.
“My mind wasn’t really functioning in those days. I was always thinking about my family, about [my girlfriend] Ilana. I didn’t think about myself or about the situation I was in. I was thinking about what was happening outside. That’s what interested and occupied me during those days. The fear was immense. You don’t know what they’ll do to you, whether they’ll execute you or keep you in that condition.”
He says his captors promised that he and other hostages would not be rescued by troops alive.
“They really emphasized that: ‘Either you leave here in a deal, or you don’t leave at all.’ They said that if the IDF tried to rescue us, they would simply shoot us and we’d all die together.”
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