On the morning of October 7th, “Tzevet Peretz” (the Perez Tank Crew) fought heroically outside the Nachal Oz military base, defending against Hamas terrorists who were attempting to infiltrate Israel. Of the four-man crew, three soldiers were killed in action: Tomer Leibowitz, Itai Chen, and their commander, Daniel Perez. The tank’s driver, Matan Angrest, survived but was taken captive by Hamas. At the time of this interview, conducted just before Purim, Matan remains in captivity. Rabbi Aron White sat down with Matan’s mother, Anat Angrest, to hear her powerful story of uncertainty, fear, and unwavering hope.

Thank you for speaking with us, Anat, at this very difficult time. Before we talk about the events of October 7th and everything following, can you tell us about yourself?

Our family lives in the town of Kiryat Bialik near Haifa, and we have 4 children. Matan is the oldest, he is now 22, then my daughter Adi who is now in the army, Ophir who turns 17 this week, and Roi the youngest who is 9. I am a civil engineer, and my husband is a mechanical engineer. By October 7, Matan had already served for two-and-a-half years and was coming close to the end of his army service, and we were all prepared to go on a family trip together to mark the end of his army service.

What was your experience on October 7th, and when did you learn about Matan’s situation?

We had a meal on Leil Shabbat and went to sleep. In the morning, I woke up to alerts on my phone. I saw something was happening on the Gaza border where Matan was based. I texted Matan, and he said he was OK, so I went back to sleep. At 8, I started getting calls and messages that terrorists had invaded from Gaza, and I asked Matan to write to me, but he didn’t answer. I told myself, “He is in the balagan, he is doing some military operations, he will respond when he’s available.”

Throughout the day, we started hearing more and more news, and Matan still wasn’t answering his phone and WhatsApp. By the afternoon, people were already talking about the Nachal Oz base being conquered and destroyed. No one in the army was available. I didn’t know who else was in the tank, so it was really hard to get any kind of information.

It took a few days before the IDF officers came to officially update us, and then they told us that Matan was missing; there was no information about him. Tomer’s body had been found in the tank, but the other three soldiers from the tank were missing. We hoped that they were kidnapped – we were told that their phones were in Gaza. Then, when hostages came back in the first hostage deal, there were people who said they had seen Matan there, alive – he had been injured and told them some details of what happened on the morning of October 7th. In March 2024, we found out that Daniel and Itai were killed. The four families – Leibowitz, Perez, Chen, and ourselves, whose sons were together in that tank, have become one family. We go through everything together. Now, more than 500 days later, we are waiting for Matan.

It seems that initially you were less public in some of the campaigns, and in the past few weeks, you have become more public. Was that a conscious choice?

We realized that we need to speak up; it’s not good to stay quiet. We had been told by some authorities that because our son is a soldier, it is more prudent to stay quiet. But they told that to the families of hostage soldiers in the past – Oron Shaul, Hadar Goldin, Gilad Shalit, and going back to Ron Arad. Eventually, we realized that maybe it is better that we do speak up, and there is also an important message for the Israeli public. Matan got up on the morning of October 7th to fight for the State of Israel and its people – they fought for us, and we need to fight for them.

Recently released hostage Keith Siegel was with Matan for a few months – what did you learn from him?

Keith Siegel spent a significant period of time with Matan, and so we heard from him that Matan is alive. We learned that Matan is in a very bad way, having already been injured on October 7th, and now the conditions he’s being held in are difficult.

What is your message to Jews around the world?

We have hope because we know Matan is alive, and we can bring him back, heal him, and help him recover, and it needs to happen now; it’s pikuach nefesh. The hope gives us strength, and we also get strength from the great support from the Jews in Israel and around the world, who all want Matan to come back home. We can’t believe it’s been so long, but we will not give up. Matan and his tzevet went to defend the state and its people, based on the values of saving lives and arvut hadadit (collective responsibility), and we cannot forget that – we must continue to do everything we can to ensure Matan comes back, and that his comrades Daniel and Itai should come back.

It is our fervent wish that by the time of reading, Matan, Daniel, and Itai and all of the 59 hostages should have returned from captivity to Israel.