681 days in captivity. 681 days waiting to meet his sisters, his partner, his mother. On Sunday evening — at the start of the central rally on the protest day for the hostages — a clip from captivity of Matan Zangauker was published. The psychological terror video was recently obtained by the IDF and is estimated to have been filmed a few months ago.
In the video, which his mother Einav Zangauker agreed to release, Matan addresses his sister Natalie, nicknamed “Tato,” his younger sister Shani, and his partner Ilana Ilana Grichevsky, saying: “Tato, Shani, Ilana, I miss you. God willing, we’ll see each other soon. To all my acquaintances, all my friends — go out, make noise like only you know how, and with God’s help we’ll see each other soon.”
“I am burning with longing,” Matan’s mother said at Hostages’ Square Sunday night after the release of the video. “My whole heart is on fire, my Matan. We, and an entire nation, are raising our voices for you, for all the hostages. Your quiet gaze at the end of the video stays with me as I toss and turn in bed at night. I imagine you looking into my eyes. It hurts—it burns in my soul from the longing. It burns that I cannot hug you, hear you, or hold you.”
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Einav Zangauker, mother of hostage Matan, speaks at Hostages' Square after the release of a video of her son in captivity
(Photo: satview)
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Protesters crowd into Hostages' Square at the end of a day of striking for the release of the hostages
(Photo: satview)
Zangauker criticized the government sharply: “The Israeli government has never made a genuine effort toward a comprehensive agreement or an end to the war. They turned the most just war into a false one. If Netanyahu truly wants a comprehensive agreement, he should put a practical plan on the table—otherwise, he is simply lying. There may be no worthy government, but we have a people. We rose on October 7 to save the country, and we rise now to save the hostages and our soldiers. We demand a comprehensive and practical agreement and an end to the war. We demand what is rightfully ours—our children. And we will keep demanding it until we get it.”
At the end of her speech, she turned once more to her son: “My Matan, my hero, I am so proud of you, for holding on these 681 days. We are fighting for you; an entire nation is fighting for you, my beautiful child. Hold on—we are on our way to bring everyone home.”
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Ilana Grichevsky at the "wedding" ceremony with her kidnapped partner Matan Zangauker, at Hostages Square
(Photo: Shir Torem/Reuters)
Earlier Sunday, in a painful and moving demonstration at Hostages’ Square, his partner Ilana “married” him — while his mother Einav wore a black veil. The chuppah poles were held by Jon Polin (father of Hersh Goldberg Polin, who was murdered in captivity), Michel Illouz (father of Guy Illouz, whose body is held in captivity), Itzik Horen (father of hostage Eitan Horen), and Yehuda Cohen (father of hostage Nimrod Cohen).
"If you hadn’t been kidnapped, we could already have been married," Ilana said on stage. “I can’t stop thinking about what was taken from us, about the innocence and love that were stolen from us in a single day. Our world was destroyed and you’re not here with me to hug me, and I can’t be with you to strengthen you.”
"Matan, my love, I love you. I am fighting for you until you return," she added. “Until you and all the hostages come back, we will bring you back alive, and together we will rebuild and, God willing, build our Jewish home here in Israel.”
The crowd answered Ilana and Einav, who were on stage: “You are not alone, we are with you.”