Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan, 25, is being held hostage in Gaza, gave Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a letter at his criminal trial on Monday, detailing the conditions in which her son is held and calling on him to bring all the hostages back.
In the letter, which Zangauker said she gave Netanyahu after he “consistently and methodically” refused to meet with her one-on-one, she highlighted that her son is genetically predisposed to a type of muscular dystrophy, saying the stress of captivity could bring the disease about in Matan.
“The illness may break out in situations of anxiety, stress, and fear,” Zangauker explained, adding that this is “especially the case, given the unbearable conditions of captivity that only increase the chances” that the disease will become active.
“If this has already happened or happens because of your deliberate abandonment of Matan, I will never forgive you for it,” the hostage’s mother told Netanyahu in her letter.
“Myself and Matan’s sisters fear that the 542 horrific days of captivity have caused a deterioration in his condition to the point where we fear full disability,” she added. “ Above all, we fear that his continued captivity will lead to this outcome – if it hasn’t already.”
Matan in captivity
Zangauker also reminded the prime minister that all of the hostages are humanitarian cases and are bearing impossible conditions, telling him that they all must be brought home.
“You know a great deal about Matan’s conditions in captivity. You are well aware of his legs being bound in iron chains heavier than his own body weight. You are well aware of the deliberate starvation and of the physical and psychological abuse Matan has endured day after day since October 7,” she wrote.
She added that Matan is held with a living hostage who is rumored to be set to be released in a hostage deal that is currently in discussions, stressing that Matan is set to be alone in the tunnels if this hostage held with him is freed.
The hostage deals that have been made to date have included a “selektzia” (a Hebraization the Nazi Selektion process of sorting the prisoners in the Holocaust into groups of those for hard labor and those who would be killed), Zangauker added.
“The partial deal currently taking shape is a direct continuation of the selections you imposed on us in the phased agreement, which you deliberately caused to collapse,” she said.
This is in direct opposition to the prime minister’s statements about his commitments to bringing all the hostages home, she added.
“If the selektzia deal on the table is implemented, you are sentencing my Matan to death,” Zangauker said.“The chances are increasing that we will never know what became of Matan. More importantly, the likelihood is growing that the hereditary family illness will erupt all at once as a result of the loneliness and the already deteriorated mental and physical state that is expected to get worse,” she said.
The mother demanded that Netanyahu bring Matan home if hostages are released, telling him that she does not accept a situation in which her son is “abandoned to die alone, left in a tunnel,” saying the prime minister was choosing “a selective deal based on political considerations.”
“And in the same breath, I’ll say again – do everything to bring back all the hostages. Enough with the phases; enough with the selections!
“Time has run out for them, and it’s clear to everyone that those who are still alive and left behind will not survive.”
After giving Netanyahu the letter, which was taken by his defense attorney, Zangauker told the press that the prime minister repeatedly refused to meet with her and has not invited her to other meetings that he has held with multiple hostage families, stressing that she has submitted numerous requests for a meeting.
Zangauker demanded that Netanyahu bring about a deal that saves all 59 remaining hostages, calling on the government to end the war and saying that this is the only condition Hamas will not be flexible about.“This is a pointless war; it must not be that more hostages pay for it with their lives,” she said.
Zangauker also called on the prime minister to ensure that “not a single heroic soldier is scratched or loses even one hair from his head” trying to rescue Matan, living hostages, or slain hostages.