Son is alive, says hostage’s mother, after releasing video of him

The IDF has given almost 60 families of hostages videos of their loved ones, mostly from right after their kidnapping.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

The mother of one of the hostages in Hamas captivity knows he’s alive and is demanding that the government make whatever deal necessary with the terrorists to get back all those left alive as well as the dead immediately.

After a prolonged fight with the authorities, Einav Zangauker received permission to publicize Tuesday a brief clip of her son Matan sandwiched between two terrorists on a motorcycle as he was taken through the streets of Khan Younis shortly after his capture.

Cries of joy at the sight from Gazan civilians can be heard as the motorcycle passes by.

According to Zangauker, “almost 60 families” of the 120 Israelis and foreign nationals being held by Hamas have seen videos of their relatives, mostly from the day of their abduction or soon after.

They should all be allowed to show the footage as part of their pressure tactics to get the government to agree to a deal for their loved ones’ release, she said.

Zangauker is perhaps one of the luckier relatives, telling Channel 12 Tuesday that she has received a more recent indication that her son was alive, although she did not specify a date.

She mentioned that a bottle of urine had been found in Gaza that was tested and found to be that of Matan, and that the army had also found and given her Matan’s phone.

In an interview Wednesday with Army Radio, Zangauker put the onus on the government to get a deal done.

“I have no demands on Hamas, they kidnapped Matan but took him alive,” she said. “The Israeli government is responsible for returning him to me … alive. Otherwise, it has no right to exist.”

The entire public, she feels, is with the families in wanting the hostages back home, “but the ears of the decision-makers are blocked, they don’t care what the public thinks,” she charged. “They have political considerations, they have egos, they … want to prove that they will destroy the ideological idea of Hamas, that everything is under control – and it’s all empty words.”

According to the angry mother, Israel could have made a deal with Hamas “months ago,” and blamed the right-wing members of the coalition who have repeatedly said that bowing to the terrorists’ demands would lead to Israel’s defeat and the waste of the lives of all the soldiers who have died in the war so far.

She also blamed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for “again trying to torpedo a deal,” exclaiming, “How does this man sleep at night?” and demanding that he stop these attempts.

He has no right to put conditions on an agreement, she noted, because “the military authorities have said that they will know how to deal with the heavy price that will be exacted to get this deal done.”

This referred to the Hamas demand that the IDF pull out of the Gazan population centers, the Rafah crossing at the Egyptian border, and the Netzarim Corridor that cuts the Strip in half, east to west.

Netanyahu has said that the latter two are red lines for the security of the country that he is not willing to cross.

“It’s time to save lives, time to bring those murdered for burial, and time to end the war,” Zangauker said.

On October 7, Matan, 24, was abducted from his home in Kibbutz Nir Oz along with his girlfriend, Ilana Gritzewsky, who was released in the exchange of some 100 hostages for Palestinian prisoners and a temporary ceasefire in late November.

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