Matan Angrest’s chilling testimony, following his release after 738 days in Hamas captivity, reveals not only the bravery of the “Tank Perez” team but also the operational and psychological battles he faced against Hamas terrorist interrogators who viewed him as a valuable intelligence asset.
Matan was the tank driver for Captain Daniel Perez, who was killed in action on October 7, 2023. That morning, the team – Daniel Perez, Itay Chen, Tomer Leibovitz, and Matan – entered their tank at the Nahal Oz outpost.
After intense fighting inside the outpost and its surroundings, Perez spotted waves of terrorists crossing the fence. He decided to shift from defense to a frontal assault to prevent a kidnapping. Matan recalls driving quickly toward the terrorists: “It’s either us or them.” They fired shells and repelled the attackers at close range, despite being at a severe numerical disadvantage and vulnerable to anti-tank missiles.
The tank was hit, and Matan regained consciousness in Gaza. He was held as a “different kind of hostage” – a soldier captured from a tank equipped with classified systems. Hamas understood that he possessed technological and operational knowledge.
In an interview with Keshet 12’s Uvda program, which aired Thursday, he described brutal interrogations that included electrocution on open wounds using cables. “I screamed in pain, and they did it again.”
He was questioned for hours about the tank’s classified systems. He attempted to mislead his interrogators: “I told them the driver is like a car driver, doesn’t know anything about the cannon.” Under extreme physical and psychological pressure, he fought to protect state secrets.
“The torture reached its limit. The electric shocks – it’s a trauma that will stay with me. The longest interrogation lasted about eight hours straight, sitting and having to say things I knew were in the ‘die but don’t tell’ category.”
He was held alone for extended periods, both above and below ground, to intensify the psychological pressure. Only after six months in captivity did he learn, through his captors’ radio, that his three fellow crew members had been killed in the battle.
In later stages of captivity, he was held with other hostages, including Gali Berman. He shared his constant fear: “I’m afraid. I don’t know what they’ll do to me. How do I sleep at night?” He tried to comfort me. “If they find out more about me, it’s the end for me.”
