A Hamas video showing hostage Matan Zangauker in captivity in the Gaza Strip was released Sunday by his family for publication, as the families of the hostages held in Gaza led nationwide protests and strikes to call for the end to the war and for the release of the captives.
Zangauker was abducted from his home in Nir Oz on October 7, along with his partner Ilana Gritzewsky, who was released by Hamas in November 2023.
The video, which was obtained by the IDF during operations in Gaza, was said to be from several months ago, with some reports even suggesting the video was from the beginning of the war.
“Go out and make noise just as you know how to do,” Zangauker says in the short clip, addressing his family and friends.
It is unclear how long Zangauker’s family has been in possession of the video, which was never released publicly by Hamas. The terror group released one video of Zangauker in captivity in December of last year.
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During the war, the IDF, upon finding footage or other findings of hostages in Gaza, has presented them to their families, who often release them to the public.
תיעוד של מתן צנגאוקר בשבי חמאס שנחשף הערב לראשונה על ידי משפחתו. התיעוד מהחודשים הראשונים למלחמה. מתן פונה למשפחתו וחבריו אומר ״צאו תעשו רעש כמו שרק אתם יודעים״.
בשבועות האחרונים קיבלו מספר משפחות חטופים תיעודים של החטופים שמתוארכים לתחילת המלחמה, וזאת בשל מציאת שלל של חמאס pic.twitter.com/c0JMXA8qk1
— Bar Peleg (@bar_peleg) August 17, 2025
The release of the video came as the families of the hostages, including Matan’s mother Einav Zangauker, led a major nationwide day of protests and strikes, with hundreds of thousands of people taking to the streets in cities across Israel to call for an end to the war and the captives’ release from Gaza.
Hours before the video was put out, hostages’ families held a mock wedding for Zangauker and Gritzewsky in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square.
Wearing a white wedding dress and veil, Gritzewsky walked beneath a chuppah to the main stage, accompanied by John Polin, the father of murdered hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin.
Ilana Gritzewsky (center), John Polin (left), and Einav Zangauker (right) stage a mock wedding between Gritzewsky and her boyfriend Matan Zangauker who is still being held captive in Gaza, on August 17, 2025, in Hostages Square in Tel Aviv. (Paulina Patimer / Hostages and Missing Families Forum)
“I love you,” Gritzewsky said, addressing Matan. “I’m fighting for you until you and all of the hostages are back. We’ll bring you back alive. We’ll heal together.”
Terror groups in the Gaza Strip are holding 50 hostages, including 49 of the 251 abducted in the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023, which sparked the war in Gaza.
They include the bodies of at least 28 confirmed dead by the IDF. Twenty are believed to be alive, and there are grave concerns for the well-being of two others, Israeli officials have said. Hamas is also holding the body of an IDF soldier killed in Gaza in 2014.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 60,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters.
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