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While the UN devotes its human rights operations to the demonization of the democratic state of Israel above all others and condemns the United States more often than the vast majority of non-democracies around the world, the voices of real victims around the world must be heard.
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Hostage Matan Zangauker speaks in a Hamas propaganda video issued on December 7, 2024. (Screenshot: Telegram)
Palestinian Authority/Gaza, May 20, 2025
Hostage Matan Zangauker struggling to stand, suffering severe health issues – report
Original source
Hostage Matan Zangauker is struggling to stand on his own and suffers from severe health issues such as continuous periods of intestinal problems and stomach pains, according to a Tuesday report based on information that was passed to his family.
Channel 12 news reported the deterioration of Zangauker’s physical condition, citing an account from captive hostage Edan Alexander, who was held alongside him until his release last week.
He was also reportedly held alongside other hostages, including Avera Mengistu, an Ethiopian-born Israeli who was held captive in Gaza for over a decade and was released during the ceasefire that took place earlier this year.
According to the report, Zangauker suffers from shakes and weakness due to muscular dystrophy that he has developed in captivity, a disease that several members of his family also suffer from.
The report also said that the captive has been shackled and held in cages, and goes through long periods of closing himself off in a corner of the tunnel where he is held, refusing to speak or eat.
He has also undergone “physical and mental torture,” including brutal Hamas interrogations and psychological terror, according to the report.
While held in harsh conditions, Zangauker has suffered rat and flea bites and reportedly has eaten mainly moldy dry bread and rice and relied on contaminated water not suitable for drinking.
According to Hebrew media reports, in November, IDF soldiers found a handwritten note attributed to Zangauker inside an underground area that the military believes housed senior terrorists.
The note had his name written in Hebrew, English and Arabic and described him as a civilian, and said that his condition at the time of writing was “good.” It is unclear when the note was written.
Citing unspecified “assessments,” Channel 12 also reported that Zangauker has been held alongside senior Hamas officials in various locations above- and belowground, including displacement camps and mosques.
While being moved from one location to another, their Hamas handlers reportedly disguised Zankauker and Alexander as women, shuttling them through busy markets and camps.
Zangauker’s mother, Einav, who has become a leading activist in the fight to release the hostages, said Tuesday that “since I was exposed to the torture and physical and mental suffering that my son is undergoing, I have been unable to eat, almost unable to breathe.”
“How can a mother hold on like this when her son suffers from muscular dystrophy and is being held alone in captivity? Is he even able to stand on his own feet? Hold a glass of water?” she asked. “My heart is broken because of what he is going through. I don’t know if he will hold on any longer.”
“I am sharing this information with the people of Israel so that everyone knows what our children are going through over there,” she said.
“And while they are going through hell, the Israeli government is bombing the space where Matan is being held. The prime minister will no longer be able to say that he did not know or hear,” she added.
“The continued military pressure and the loneliness in which Matan finds himself will lead to his death,” she said. “The Israeli government must end the war and take the initiative to bring everyone back to the table.”
“Matan, my beloved child, Mother is on her way to get you out. I promise you,” she concluded.
Zangauker, 24, was kidnapped on October 7, 2023, from his home in Kibbutz Nir Oz alongside his girlfriend, Ilana Gritzewsky. Gritzewsky was released on November 30, 2023, as part of a temporary ceasefire deal brokered by Qatar and the United States between Hamas and Israel.
Terror groups in the Gaza Strip are holding 58 hostages, including 57 of the 251 abducted by Hamas-led terrorists on October 7, 2023. They include the bodies of at least 35 confirmed dead by the IDF, and 20 who are believed to be alive. There are grave concerns for the well-being of three others, Israeli officials have said.
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