KIRYAT GAT — Ilana Gritzewsky is fighting a battle against time to save her boyfriend from Hamas captivity.

While there is reported to be progress toward a deal to free the remaining captives in phases, Matan Zangauker would likely not be released in the first stage since he is a young man. Gritzewsky is terrified a deal could break down or he could die in captivity before he’s freed.

Gritzewsky knows first-hand the perils facing her boyfriend, who turned 25 on Wednesday. During the Hamas-led attack last year that started the ongoing war, she too was kidnapped, and was held hostage in the Gaza Strip for 55 days.

Last November, Gritzewsky was released along with 104 other civilian hostages, in exchange for a weeklong truce and the release of hundreds of Palestinian security prisoners. In the thirteen months since, several waves of negotiations have stalled and failed to reach another deal.

“All the hostages need to get out,” Gritzewsky said. “If we don’t release all of the hostages — all the hostages in captivity — they will be dead.”

Many relatives of people held in Gaza find no reprieve in reports that negotiations toward a deal are progressing. The renewed ceasefire talks are just the latest twist in what’s been more than 14 months of anguish, despair and uncertainty about their loved ones’ fates. Still, they dedicate themselves to lobbying for their loved ones’ freedom, even as the world moves on to other crises.

“I gave my promise to my friends from the kibbutz in the tunnels before I went home. I told them I will do everything, everything I have to, to take them out from that hell. And I ask all the time: Am I doing everything I can?” said Gritzewsky, 31.

It is believed that 96 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by the Israel Defense Forces. Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the bodies of two IDF soldiers who were killed in 2014.

In addition to taking the hostages, Hamas killed some 1,200 people in the assault on southern Israel.

In the deal under discussion, mostly women and older people are expected to be freed in the first six-to-eight-week phase, but many families of hostages are lobbying for all of the hostages to be freed at once.

Zangauker and Gritzewsky were kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz, where they lived together, and then held separately in Gaza. Just before her release from a tunnel under Gaza, Gritzewsky heard from other hostages that Zangauker was nearby. She begged to be able to see him but was not allowed.

Two weeks ago, Hamas released a video of Zangauker, filmed under duress, where he described difficult conditions in Gaza and pleaded with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to strike a deal to end the war.

“He spoke quietly, but his eyes were screaming for help,” Gritzewsky said of the footage.

While it was a relief to see Zangauker, the video is no guarantee that he’s still alive today, she said. “I don’t want a photo. I don’t want a video. I want him here. I want all the hostages here,” she said.

The video brought back some of the worst memories of her captivity: the middle of the night interrogations, the filthy conditions, the lack of medical help for the injuries she suffered during the kidnapping. Gritzewsky’s pelvis and jaw were broken and she has burns on her legs. She suffered hearing loss in one ear.

“What they are going through is physically, psychologically, and emotionally torture, day and night,” said Gritzewsky, wearing a hat that belonged to Zangauker that she rescued from their destroyed home. “I know the psychology that they use, how you don’t have water, how you don’t have food, how you don’t see the light, you don’t know what day or hour it is.”

Gritzewsky said she hates being in front of the cameras, telling her story over and over, reliving the worst days of her life, in a desperate attempt to raise awareness of the plight of the hostages and bring her boyfriend home.

Nonetheless, Gritzewsky has been a constant presence at protests and demonstrations across the country along with Zangauker’s mother, who has emerged as one of the most vocal activists for the hostages.

Einav Zangauker, who used to support Netanyahu, has virulently opposed his handling of the war and is furious at the government for not yet reaching a deal, accusing it of forsaking the hostages in its bid to topple Hamas.

A single mother, she has been relentless in her crusade, attending demonstrations daily, speaking repeatedly to every major Israeli media outlet, and even climbing into a cage that was hoisted high above a protest to hammer home the idea of her son in captivity.

Netanyahu has refused to agree to any deal that would end the war and leave Hamas in charge of the Gaza Strip, even in exchange for all of the hostages — a red line that far-right members of the coalition have said they would rather topple the government than give up on.

Einav Zangauker has demanded that politicians pursue a deal that will release all the hostages at once, even at the cost of ending the war.

“If my son returns in a body bag or body parts, I will not put you on trial, I will take the law into my own hands!” she screamed at lawmakers during a parliamentary committee meeting Monday.

While Gritzewsky is no longer captive in Gaza, she said she can’t begin to heal until the hostages, including her boyfriend, come home.

“Since October 7, it’s like time stopped,” she said. “You see the world running in front of your eyes, but your life is crushed like little pieces of dust.”