“It was his personal bag from when he played for Hapoel Haifa F.C. at 14, with his belongings, a piece of his life there.” A devoted Maccabi Haifa fan, Matan’s bag, marked with her handwriting, was one of the last items he touched.
“He’s been seen struggling between life and death and he’s still there.” Some 21 months after his abduction, Anat refuses to accept that Matan won’t be included in the humanitarian phase of releases should a ceasefire agreement be signed.
In Matan’s room, time stands still. “The sheets are from October 7, his scent lingers, his last shoes, skateboard, PlayStation,” Anat said. “I cleaned recently but won’t touch his bed until he returns. Then I’ll get him the softest sheets he deserves. Since his abduction, I haven’t cooked.
“How can I when I know he’s hungry? Matan would come home from the military, grill steaks with his father, Hagai, listening to Omer Adam, the smell reaching the neighbors. Now the grill is covered. Fridays were celebrations; now they're silent.”
Despite the time passed and Matan’s dire condition in captivity, Anat holds onto hope. “If he’s survived this long, we must bring him back,” she said, envisioning cooking his favorite steaks and other meals, sitting together on a Saturday morning to hear his ordeal and finally touch him.
Matan was determined to enlist as a combat soldier, hiding his asthma to raise his medical profile. “No one could convince him otherwise,” Anat said. “His values depend on us now. Matan wouldn’t leave anyone behind and we can’t leave him.
“If a friend couldn’t afford a game ticket, Matan stayed home as well. A neighbor said he always helped with her groceries. He was a mama’s boy. We had a language of looks. He wanted to study what I studied, follow my path.”
Anat’s greatest fear is that negotiators will return without a deal or delay IDF soldiers’ release still in Hamas’s hands. “Matan’s alive, fighting for us all. He needs to come back now,” she said. Matan’s father, Hagai Angrest, traveled to Washington during Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the U.S.
At a hostage families’ rally on Monday, he told Ynet, “Matan’s alive in Gaza’s tunnels, in real danger, nearly losing his life multiple times. We’re here to push President [Donald] Trump and the prime minister for a comprehensive deal.
“We’re waiting for news that all our loved ones return home.” He added, “The feeling is positive. Something’s happening. Trump and Netanyahu are on it. We came to support them.”
