Ex-hostage: Not just Hamas — Gazan civilians abused me

Matan Zangauker said that after he was abducted to the Gaza Strip, “children, women, and old people” attacked him with pipes and rocks.

By World Israel News Staff

Former hostage Matan Zangauker, who survived nearly two years in Hamas captivity before being freed in the October 2025 ceasefire and hostage deal, spoke to Israel’s Channel 12 News on Monday evening about his ordeal.

In his interview after being released, he emphasized that the brutality he experienced came not only from Hamas terrorists, but from ordinary Gazan civilians.

Zangauker recalled that immediately after he was abducted to Gaza, civilians eagerly joined in torturing him.

As he was dragged through the streets, he said that “children, women, old people, lined up with sticks, with rocks, with pipes, and they started to hit me, to beat me.”

He described a scene in which everyday Gazans, who presumably had no direct affiliation with Hamas, appeared thrilled to assault a kidnapped Israeli.

Soon after, Zangauker was taken into an underground tunnel. There, he saw the body of an IDF soldier who had been kidnapped during the invasion. His captors warned him that he would “end up like” the murdered soldier.

Throughout nearly two years of captivity, Zangauker endured continuous psychological and physical abuse. He was frequently tied up, denied food for long stretches, and forced to watch his captors cook and eat meals in front of him.

He said he and other hostages were repeatedly told that “if the IDF tried to rescue us, they would just shoot us, and we’d all die together.”

At one point, he was held above ground disguised as a Gazan civilian. As several potential hostage deals collapsed, Zanguaker lost hope that he would be returned to Israel. convinced that rescue or release

Zangauker described reaching a point of resignation, telling himself, “that this was it, that I would die here.”

When his captors finally told him he was being released, Zangauker didn’t believe them. He assumed it was yet another act of psychological torture.

Upon reuniting with his mother, sisters, and girlfriend on Israeli soil, Zangauker described the moment as being “pure ecstasy,” adding that he “was in total shock.”

A month later, he is still adjusting to freedom.

“There are moments that I really can’t comprehend that I’m here,” he said. “I have to pinch myself and I wake up and return to reality.”