Israeli hostage says Hamas electrocuted him to extract sensitive information

Matan Angrest also recounted learning through his captors’ radio that his three crewmates were killed on October 7th.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Former Gaza hostage Matan Angrest said in an interview aired Thursday on Channel 12’s Uvda investigative program that Hamas captors tortured him and pressed him for classified information during 738 days of captivity.

Angrest, who was released in October 2025, served in a specialized tank unit with classified equipment under the 7th Armored Brigade near Nahal Oz during the October 7 massacre.

He was the only member of his tank crew to survive the attack. His crewmates, Capt. Daniel Perez, St.-Sgt. Itay Chen, and Sgt. Tomer Leibovitz, were murdered, and their remains were taken by terrorists into the Gaza Strip.

In the interview, Angrest recalled awakening in Gaza with injuries and being confronted by multiple captors who questioned him about his military service.

Channel 12 reported that his captors already understood his role in a tank crew tied to classified systems and viewed him as a potential source of information that could aid future attacks.

“In the really hard interrogations, they kept asking things that were classified. Things like ‘Can the driver kill? Does he have a weapon?’ and I kept telling them that the driver is like a regular driver,” he said.

Angrest said he was held alone for weeks in sites above ground and in underground tunnels. He later spent a prolonged period with fellow hostage Gali Berman and said he feared renewed questioning if captors learned more about his role.

As time passed, Angrest said pressure from interrogators grew. “They tortured me to the extreme. Electric shocks – trauma that will stay with me. The longest interrogation was about eight hours continuously, where they made me tell things in the ‘die and don’t tell’ category,” he recalled.

Angrest also recounted learning through captors’ radio that his three crewmates were killed on October 7 and said he withdrew alone after hearing the news.

He said his release came unexpectedly after he and other hostages were moved while blindfolded and then saw Alon Ohel and Guy Gilboa-Dalal. “The scars will always remain,” he said.