Hamas published a three-minute-long video of hostage Matan Zangauker, 24, to Telegram on Saturday, entitled, “Time is running out.”
In the video, Zangauker introduces himself and tells the camera that he has been in captivity for over 420 days. He then sends a message to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, “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.
“This is your failure and the failure of the government since October 7,” Zangauker continues.
Similar to the video Hamas released of Israeli-American hostage Eden Alexander last week, Zangauker states that “the guards informed us of the new instructions, and we are very afraid, my friends and I, for our lives.”
“We die a thousand times every day, and no one feels for us,” Zangauker stated.
“The people of Israel, do not neglect us. We are still alive. We want to return before we go crazy. Isolation is killing us, and the darkness here is frightening. It is illogical that we pay the price for the government’s mistakes and it is time to put an end to our suffering.”
A message to his family and friends
Zangauker then sends a message to his mother, Einav Zangauker, who has been leading the Hostage Families Forum protests since the beginning of the war on October 7. “I watch you, and I hear you a lot, and I understand the activities you do, and I hear the activities you carry out. I am very happy that you are well and I hope to see you soon and sit with you at the same table to eat and drink and talk with you.”
There is then a pause in the video before Zangauker reappears.
“You are leaving us to die and fall. I do not know how you work. Why do you make all these mistakes? I am paying the price for your mistakes that you make every day. I am dying little by little, and every day, a part of me dies.”
“The people of Israel, my family, my friends, my mother, Dado, Shani, and my grandmother: The government has neglected us and continues to neglect us day after day. I hope you will do what you can to change the situation and return me with the rest of the prisoners alive and healthy. Life in Gaza is not easy. We live with little food, undrinkable water, and little medicine. We live with rats, spiders, and other animals, and the lack of hygiene products affects us badly. We have skin disease and dandruff. We don’t have soap.”
Zangauker then calls on all the people of Israel to demonstrate in front of Netanyahu’s house and not let him sleep.
“Why is this taking so long? Why is there no agreement? Why are we here?” Zangauker asks as the video concludes. “Don’t forget us!”
Zangauker was taken captive from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7. He was abducted alongside his partner, Ilana Gritzewsky Camhi, who was released as part of a hostage deal after 55 days in captivity.
“The release of Matan’s video, coming just one week after Edan Alexander’s, provides further evidence that after more than 420 days in captivity, there are hostages still alive and enduring severe suffering,” the Hostage and Missing Families Forum said in response to the video.
“Through these 420 days of ongoing abuse, malnutrition, and confinement in darkness, the critical need to secure the return of all 100 remaining hostages becomes more urgent with each passing hour. As time grows increasingly precious, we urge all parties involved in negotiations to explore every available path and apply all possible forms of pressure—these hostages’ lives hang by a thread,” the Forum concluded.
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