About a year after former Hamas hostage Matan Angrest returned from captivity in Gaza, and two years after Anat and Hagai accompanied their daughter Adi to enlist, Tuesday was the family’s turn to escort their son Ofir to the IDF induction center his time with the entire family together.
“We prayed that we would get to accompany Ofir with Matan by his side,” said a family member.
Ofir Angrest, who led the campaign for his brother Matan's release from Gaza captivity while still in high school, enlisted Tuesday for a significant and classified military role.
“Ofir is the third child we are enlisting, with tremendous pride, to serve the country we were raised to protect and that we raised our children to protect and defend,” Anat said.
“With Adi, two years ago, we stood in the same place with broken hearts, and we prayed that we would get to accompany Ofir with Matan by his side, to restore our trust in the country and the army together with Matan’s return,” she added.
In a post on Instagram addressed to Ofir, Anat wrote: “Two years ago, we enlisted Adi with enormous pain in our hearts. Matan had already been gone for 10 months. We hoped so much that with you it would be different, and today it is happening. We are all here accompanying you and cannot stop the tears, still trying to process every family milestone like this.”
Ofir and Matan at the induction center
(Photo: Courtesy of the family)
For the family, even the joyful enlistment brings back fears from the two years Matan was not home.
“There are fears and triggers. It has not yet been a year since Matan returned, and going through another night with an empty bed is not easy,” Anat said.
“But this is normal worry, like the worry of any mother sending a child into the army. It is nothing like the anxiety of having a child suffering and in immediate danger to his life for two consecutive years,” she said.
For Matan, reuniting with his younger brother also meant meeting a teenager who had changed while he was in captivity. Ofir was 15 when Matan was abducted.
“He remembered his little brother starting high school and being preoccupied with the things every child that age thinks about — which track he would be accepted to and which friends would be in his class,” Anat said.
“And suddenly he met him several years further down the road, mature and full of values. A grown-up brother who had long since become a soulmate.”
She said Matan is “very proud of him.”
Two years ago, ahead of Adi's enlistment
(Photo: Courtesy of the family)
In her post to her son, Anat wrote: “Our Ofiri, you are setting out on your path, equipped with your huge heart. With your values and with the knowledge that we will always be behind you. Proud of you to the skies, my boy.”
Ofir, who for more than two years led the campaign for the return of his brother alongside the other hostages, received a certificate of recognition for the efforts he led while still a high school student. He appeared repeatedly before Knesset committees, raised Matan’s voice publicly and even played recordings of him from captivity.
Matan was abducted on October 7 near the Nahal Oz base and released in the hostage deal on Oct. 13, 2025.
He was part of the tank crew commanded by Capt. Daniel Peretz in Battalion 77. The crew consisted of four soldiers: the late commander Daniel Peretz, the late Sgt. Tomer Leibovitz, the late Staff Sgt. Itay Chen and Staff Sgt. Matan Angrest.
On the morning of the massacre, the four fought heroically against hundreds of terrorists who infiltrated the Gaza border area and tried to prevent them from entering the Nahal Oz outpost and nearby communities.
A total of 215 terrorists infiltrated the Nahal Oz outpost that day, and more than 50 soldiers were killed in the battle. Ten additional soldiers were abducted from the base.
Matan Angrest was the only member of the tank crew to survive.
Two days after Matan returned, he attended the funeral of his commander, Peretz, delivered a eulogy and even said he was prepared to enter Gaza to bring back the body of his fallen comrade Itay Chen.