Hagai Angrest, father of newly-released hostage Matan Angrest, on Wednesday morning told Kan Reshet Bet that his son asked for and received a prayer book from a Hamas terrorist and prayed three times a day in captivity.
"He prayed three times a day using a prayer book that he requested from his captors and received from a senior Hamas official," Hagai shared. "He was moved from place to place. His conditions were much more difficult and he suffered more torture - he was a soldier who had fought against them."
He added, "We look at him - and we told him, 'You are a miracle, and we can't believe you are walking in the hospital.' Matan is a very strong kid. He really wants to know the status of every single person on his team, he still lives his team. Matan admires Daniel Peretz, how heroic he was, and who he was there, in that battle."
Hagai also described his son's physical and mental state following his release.
"This is a child who did not believe that he can drink water and that he can choose from the abundance that is on the table," he shared. "They have nothing there, they are completely broken there. We need to rebuild him, he doesn't know anything about the situation. He is receiving data at a very fast pace and trying to slow the pace."
"He went through hell, and he is okay, all in all, he's continuing to gain strength. We will repair the damage. We see on him the remnants of the fighting on October 7. Most of it was not treated and he had large open wounds for a good few months."
Later, Hagai also noted the identification of deceased hostage and IDF soldier Tamir Nimrodi's body, saying, "The Nimrodi family is one of the families closest to us. We received this very difficult news this morning. We hoped that we would be able to embrace Alon, Herut, and Tamir together. This is a very difficult day."