Matan Angrest’s bag recovered by IDF from Gaza
His mother, Anat, posted on X/Twitter that “Matan’s bag was returned to me this week in a black plastic bag. How and when will Matan return?”
Items belonging to Matan Angrest, understood to be one of the 20 living hostages still held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, were recovered by the IDF on Friday, Angrest’s family confirmed.
His mother, Anat, posted on X/Twitter that “Matan’s bag was returned to me this week in a black plastic bag. How and when will Matan return? Why do I have to keep receiving items that testify to his condition and not Matan himself?
“They told me they found Matan’s bag, and it would take two more days for it to reach me. I didn’t understand what it was about. Then this bag arrived, with Matan’s name in my handwriting,” she told Ynet. The bag was Matan’s since his childhood.
Matan Angrest’s abduction to Gaza
“He was seriously injured in a tank on the morning of October 7, evacuated unconscious to Gaza after immense abuse,” she added. “Since then, he has been undergoing interrogations, asthma attacks, severe burns, and his wounds are becoming infected by the humidity of the tunnels.
“When Edan Alexander was released, we realized that we can talk about the soldiers. We must conduct tough negotiations and insist on Matan’s release because of his condition.”
A screenshot from the Hamas propaganda video showing Gaza hostage Matan Angrest, published on March 7, 2025 (credit: SCREENSHOT/X/VIA SECTION 27A OF THE COPYRIGHT ACT)
Anat also mentioned to Ynet that she hasn’t cooked since her son was taken hostage. “When Matan returns, I will go back to cooking. Steaks, shakshuka, everything he loves. What I’m most looking forward to is sitting with him on Saturday morning, with the shakshuka, talking, hearing what he went through.”
Anat added that Matan wanted to be a soldier so much that he even “hid from the army that he had asthma.”
Matan’s father, Haggai, claimed on Radio 103FM on Tuesday that if the information about his son’s condition had been relayed, he likely would have been released in the last exchange.”
Early last month, the family released new footage of Matan’s kidnapping to Gaza, which was filmed by a terrorist and seized by the IDF, showing Matan being pulled out of the tank in which he was thrown into a crowd of dozens of terrorists who brutally lynched him.
In March, Hamas released a propaganda video, giving a sign of life of Angrest, who has been held in captivity in Gaza since October 7.
Walla! contributed to this report.
