Former Hostage Reveals Torture by Hamas in Gaza

Israeli soldier Matan Angrest recounts harrowing torture and captivity in Gaza by Hamas, highlighting his survival and release.

Former Hostage Describes Hamas Torture During Gaza Captivity

Former Israeli hostage Matan Angrest, who was held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, gave a harrowing account of the abuse and torture he endured during his captivity.

Angrest, a soldier in the 7th Armored Brigade who survived the October 7 terror attack, was the only member of his tank crew to live through the initial assault. His three fellow crew members, Capt. Daniel Perez, St.-Sgt. Itay Chen and Sgt. Tomer Leibovitz, were killed, and their bodies were taken by Hamas into Gaza.

Angrest described being severely beaten and subjected to electrocution by his captors. He recalled waking up unable to move, his hand badly burned, and being interrogated repeatedly about details of his military service and equipment.

“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.

“Someone came to me with two wires and put them on my wounds. I felt like I was being electrocuted. I screamed in pain, and then he did it to me again,” he said.

Angrest explained that Hamas interrogators were particularly focused on classified information related to his role in a specialized tank unit, believing as the sole survivor he could answer questions others could not.

“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.

For weeks after his capture, Angrest was held alone in various locations, including within an underground tunnel network. Eventually, he was joined by fellow hostage Gali Berman, which he said provided some emotional support.

But he was separated from the other hostages and continued to be interrogated. “I would say to Gali: ‘I’m scared. I don’t know what they’ll do to me. How will I sleep at night?'”

“He tried to comfort me, [but I knew that] if they find out more things about me, it’ll be the end for me,” Angrest added.

Angrest also recounted his experiences during the October 7 massacre. He described the chaos and suddenness of the terror attack, seeing infiltrators approaching as his unit attempted to respond.

He noted coming across the scene of the fight between terrorists and Golani Brigade company commander, Maj. Shilo Har-Even and his five soldiers, who were all massacred at the outpost. Angrest’s crewmate, Capt. Daniel Perez, told the tank crew to “shut off their emotions.”

Angrest was released from captivity in October of 2025, after 738 days of being held by Hamas terrorists within the Gaza Strip.
It came as a surprise, he said.

“They took Gili [Berman] and me somewhere while blindfolded. They removed them, and suddenly we saw [fellow hostages] Alon Ohel and Guy Gilboa-Dalal.”

“One of the senior terrorists pointed at us and said, ‘You four – you leave tomorrow. Life changed [after being released]. You wake up in the morning and look for the next step. For everyone, it seems like the struggle is over, and you go back to living normally. It goes from zero to one hundred in some ways, but in others from one hundred to zero. The scars will always remain,” he said.