Hamas released footage on Friday in which kidnapped Israel Defense Forces soldier Matan Angrest, 22, calls for the Israeli government to agree to the second phase of the ceasefire agreement with the terrorist organization.
“Please, I beg you, bring us back alive, not in a coffin,” Angrest is heard saying.
Angrest’s family authorized the footage’s presentation to the public.
The family said in a statement, “We are shaken by the video we just saw, in which we see our Matan looking drained and desperate after 518 days in Hamas’s tunnels.
“Beyond the severe psychological state evident in the footage, his right hand is nonfunctional, his eyes and mouth are asymmetrical, and his nose is broken—according to testimonies from those who have returned, all due to interrogations and torture in captivity. What more proof is needed to understand that time has run out?”
The family pleaded for U.S. President Donald Trump “to continue fighting for our Matan and all 58 other hostages with the same unwavering commitment and relentless determination. We must not stop until the deal is completed, only when the last hostage comes home.”
Angrest’s mother, Anat, was scheduled to speak at a rally of the hostages’ families in Tel Aviv on Saturday evening.
Hamas is demanding guarantees that the war will end and the Israel Defense Forces will leave the Gaza Strip, terms that Jerusalem rejects.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reiterated that Israel will not give up on its war goals, including the complete disarmament of Hamas, along with bringing home all remaining hostages—the living and the dead.
The first, 42-day phase of the ceasefire with Hamas, which went into effect on Jan. 19, expired last Saturday after the terrorist organization rejected a U.S. proposal, to which Jerusalem agreed, to extend the truce for 50 days.
Jerusalem subsequently announced it had suspended all humanitarian aid to Gaza.
The Israeli premier said that no goods or supplies would enter Gaza until further notice, reaffirming that Israel will not agree to extend the ceasefire indefinitely without the release of hostages.
According to Israeli assessments, out of the 59 still held captive in Gaza, 24 are believed to be alive—all men—while 35, including three women, are believed to be deceased. Two of the living hostages and three of the deceased are foreign nationals.
