Matan Zangauker, now 25, was enjoying his life in his new home with his girlfriend Ilana Gritzewsky, whom he had met while managing a cannabis greenhouse, when Hamas invaded Kibbutz Nir Oz and abducted the pair from outside their home.
As the pair heard terrorists breaking into their home on October 7, 2023, Zangauker held the safe room door firmly shut so Gretzewsky could escape through the window. While he followed her out, dressed only in pyjamas and socks, the pair were quickly captured and taken hostage in Gaza.
His final messages to his mother, Einav, were “Mum, I love you” and “Someone is here,” according to the New York Times.
While his girlfriend was released as part of the original November deal back in 2023, Zangauker has remained captive for over two years. Released hostages have testified about the terrible physical and emotional condition he is in.
Matan Zangauker's health
American-Israeli released hostage Edan Alexander, Zangauker’s family shared in May, said that Zangauker was suffering from weight loss, intense abdominal pain and severe mental distress.
He has now begun suffering from a degenerative muscle disease that runs in the Zangauker family. Alexander reportedly told the family that he had refused to speak or eat, despite Hamas providing the pair more food ahead of Alexander’s release.
Zangauker’s condition was said to have been so severe that he underwent an “emergency medical intervention” in captivity due to his persistent abdominal pain.
“Since I learned about the torture and the physical and mental suffering my son is enduring, I haven’t been able to eat, and I can barely breathe. How can a mother survive knowing her son, who suffers from a degenerative muscle disease, is being held alone in captivity? Can he even stand on his own? Hold a glass of water? My heart is breaking over what he’s going through,” Einav Zangauker said in a statement. “I don’t know if he can survive much longer.”
Zangauker has been transferred to multiple locations throughout his captivity, including mosques, tents for displaced persons and Hamas tunnels. The terrorists holding him would reportedly dress as women to avoid detection as they transported him throughout Gaza.
In June, Hamas confirmed he was alive and shared a photo of him, but threatened to execute him, claiming that the IDF was besieging an area he was being held in.
The terror group also used his image on the stage of one of the hostage release ceremonies in February with the caption “Time is running out.”
Family abused while advocating for Matan Zangauker
Einav and Gritzewsky have fiercely advocated for a hostage deal which would see Zangauker released - even at personal cost and risk.
In September, Israel Police arrested a man who had issued a violent death threat against Einav on a video while brandishing a knife. Right-wing media outlets and political figures have also made a number of defamatory statements, with one party operative, Avi Saban, even claiming she “sold” her “son for money.”
Naama Lazimi, a member of the opposition, told the New York Times that for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s base, “Einav is the hardest thing for them to encounter, because she is them: She is the Mizrahi” and a “Likud voter from Ofakim.”
Before October 8
Before being abducted, Zangauker had been known as an introverted young man, according to the New York Times. His friends lovingly nicknamed him Akavish (Spider) in reference to his arachnophobia.
He enjoys building model airplanes and took care of his two younger sisters, the youngest of whom uses a wheelchair due to a genetic disorder.