October 7 · Personal story
Matan Angrest
Abducted
October 7, 2023
Abduction location
Nahal Oz area; abducted from his tank
Current outcome
Released alive · October 13, 2025
Returned alive from captivity as part of the October 2025 hostage release.
01
Before captivity
Angrest was from Kiryat Bialik and enlisted in August 2021, serving as a tank driver in the armored corps, according to ONE’s return-day profile. He was a devoted Maccabi Haifa supporter and held a season ticket in the north stand. The article describes him as a childhood friend of swimmer Anastasia Gorbenko and records how the club and coach Barak Bachar marked his birthday while he was captive. Former hostage Keith Siegel later told Angrest’s family that Matan had taught him Maccabi Haifa songs.
02
October 7
On October 7, 2023, Angrest went out from the Nahal Oz position in a tank as Hamas attacked communities near Gaza. In his later interview with Channel 12’s Uvda, he recalled being ordered back toward the outpost after the crew heard there was an incident. He remembered passing the place where he had slept and played backgammon with Tomer Leibovitz the day before. ONE reports that Angrest was taken alive from the tank; the other members of his crew—Daniel Perez, Itay Chen and Tomer Leibovitz—were killed. A Russian-language Vesty-Ynet report describes him as wounded and unconscious when captured.
03
Captivity
Angrest was held for more than two years. In Hamas-produced footage released on March 7, 2025 with his family’s approval for publication, Angrest said he could not see the sun, that food and conditions were poor, and that he believed his treatment was worse because he was a soldier. In the recording he asked for the hostages to be returned alive and said a deal was the only way home. In his February 26, 2026 interview with Channel 12’s Uvda, reported by The Jerusalem Post, Angrest described weeks held alone in houses and tunnels before being joined by fellow hostage Gali Berman. He said he connected with Berman and spoke to him about fear during repeated interrogations. Angrest also recalled learning through captors’ radio chatter that his three crewmates had been killed; he shut himself in a room and thought about their shared experiences.
04
Return
Angrest returned alive on October 13, 2025, in the hostage release that followed the ceasefire agreement. ONE reported that he was back in Israel after more than two years. Vesty-Ynet’s report from the same day describes him as one of the released hostages and records his reunion with family. On his first transport from the release, he held a sign honoring fallen tank crew members Daniel Perez, Tomer Leibovitz, and Itay Chen, according to Vesty-Ynet.
05
After returning
In the Uvda interview broadcast on February 26, 2026, Angrest recalled being brought blindfolded with Gali Berman to a place where they met Alon Ohel and Guy Gilboa-Dalal. A captor told the four that they would leave the next morning. Angrest described the abrupt change after release: people might expect life to resume normally, while for him the struggle had changed rather than simply ended. He spoke about waking each morning and looking for the next step, carrying the memories of his captivity and his fallen crewmates.