Clara Marman spent 53 days in captivity and her partner, Luis Har, 129. The strategies to survive the psychological torture and the life after the hell they lived
With a calm voice and without hesitation, Clara Marman relived what happened on October 7, when she was kidnapped from the kibbutz, where she lived about 3 kilometers from the Gaza Strip with her partner Luis Har and other relatives, by the Hamas group. The woman spent 53 days as a hostage and Luis 129. They gave their testimony at an event organized by the Argentine Forum against Antisemitism at the House of Culture in the City of Buenos Aires.
"We came to tell what happened to us so that no one forgets it. Our duty is to maintain and bring the word for those who died and for those who are dead." 101 kidnapped who remain in captivity of Hamas terrorists,” the woman says at the beginning of the conversation.
Live to tell the world about it
“Captivity is hell, but the uncertainty about the fate of your loved ones is even worse,” says Clara, who was released along with her niece Mia and her sister Gabriela in a truce between Israel and Hamas. Luis and his brother-in-law Fernando, however, remained captive for 129 more days, until they were rescued by the Israel Defense Forces.
Clara arrived in Israel in the 80s, her dream was to live the life of a kibbutz. “I experienced that community life and I didn’t want to leave,” says Marman. Meanwhile, Luis arrived in the Middle East in the 70s at just 18 years old. “My father didn’t want me to come. I traveled to the University of La Plata from Lomas de Zamora and “On the trip I already imagined myself in Israel,” he explains.
One day, his father asked him if he still wanted to travel and Luis said yes. “Well, here’s your ticket, go on,” Har remembers. That’s how, days later, Luis was in Ezeiza with his suitcase to cross the world on his way to a new life. “I arrived and I kept repeating in the street like a mantra, ‘I don’t know how to speak Hebrew.’ Even so, I managed to find my uncles’ house. And that's where I started my life in the kibbutz. I joined the army and was a tanker," says Har.
The day of the kidnapping
October 7th seemed like just another morning. Clara had invited her family to spend the weekend at her house, just a few kilometres from the border with the Gaza Strip. However, the sound of sirens at six in the morning was the first indication that something was wrong. “We thought it was a few-minute alarm, like the ones that usually sound for missiles, but we soon realised it was different,” Clara says.
More alarms sounded and by Some news about Hamas members' incursions into Israeli territory began to arrive via WhatsApp. “We turned on the TV and saw the first image of a white van with men on top shooting,” Clara says. That was the moment when Clara Marman, her sister Gabriela, her brother Fernando, her niece Mía and Luis Har took refuge in the safe room.
The terrorists broke into Marman's house through the windows after smashing the glass. "On the advice of Clara, who is a kindergarten teacher, we all huddled in one corner of the room. The Hamas members entered shooting, but all the bullets hit above our heads. “We felt the heat of the gunfire,” Luis recalls.
They shouted at the family and forced them out and loaded them into a van loaded with weapons. “They sat us on bombs, bullets… and five of them climbed on top of us as if we weren’t people,” Luis recalls. The group was taken through tunnels. They walked for four hours in the dark and had to crawl on many stretches. Thus, they arrived at a building in which an apartment would become their place of captivity.
Surviving in captivity
The 53 days of Clara, Mia and Gabriela As hostages, their lives were marked by fear, uncertainty and the struggle to maintain their sanity. “We counted the days, it was a way of feeling like we could control something,” Clara recalls. The routine of thinking about what day it was and how to occupy her mind became her lifeline. Walking, trying to move her body, and protecting Mia, the youngest of the group, became essential. “Every day that passed, my body hurt more, but we had to keep going,” she recalls.
“My goal was to take care of Mia, who was 17 years old. I didn’t want to leave her alone with the terrorists. They often called her because she speaks English very well and they even made her watch TV so she could translate something they were watching. I intervened and got in the middle to avoid the worst. Something I can't even name and that didn't happen," Har says.
Another strategy for coping with captivity was storytelling. At dusk, when it was already dark, everyone would gather in the center of the room and listen to Har. They became highly anticipated. Luis's tales at dusk, a kind of live TV show “I participated in a dance and musical comedy group. I have many anecdotes to tell and that kept us alive and sane. It is also very important that the entire family was together,” explains the man.
The space in which they were detained was small, they shared one bottle of water a day and every two weeks they received a bucket to wash themselves. Luis, who remained in captivity for 129 days with Fernando, recounts how the enemy tried to destroy their morale. “They repeated to us how bad the Israeli government was and how bad it was for us.” They boasted of having killed 1.400 civilians”, he says. They also questioned him for being Argentine: “They would say to me, 'What are you doing here? This is Palestine. In three years we will exploit them again.'”
Luis's movie
Clara was released along with Gabriela and Mia after 53 days following an agreement between Israel and Hamas. The woman did not want to leave. She felt that her place was with her partner and her brother. It was Luis who brought her back to reality. “We were prisoners. We had no rights. There was no room for debate about what to do. Besides, They had to live to bear witness and be able to fight for other kidnapped people,” Har defines.
Luis and his brother-in-law, Fernando, stayed in the room. Together they told stories and shared the cleaning tasks to cope with the captivity. “Night fell and we began to travel with our minds. So, we went to Bariloche, Rio de Janeiro and even Australia,” says Luis. “On other days we were writing recipes.” We prepare complete New Year's Eve dinners and other dishes. We are both good cooks."
On the 129th night of captivity, an explosion woke them up in the early morning. Har tried to leave the room, but couldn't. The building was riddled with bullets and flashes. He returned and hugged Fernando. A short time later a hand grabbed him by the head. “They told me, 'Luis, army of Israel. We are going to take them home', and it was as if all the terror was left behind in a second,” Luis recalls.
There, Har's story continues as if it were an action movie. They lowered him from the second floor on a zip line and he ran about 300 meters barefoot and escorted by soldiers. Suddenly, the lights of a truck blinded him. "I said bye, they caught us. But a soldier told me that the vehicle was ours," he explains.
Luis and Fernando were put on the truck and then, after a long journey, they were taken to an armoured car. The objective was to reach the helicopter. “The diamonds are already in our hands”, said a soldier in communication with the Israeli base.
After a short journey they arrived at an Israeli military base and from there to the hospital where they were given a bath, clothes and food. A few minutes later they were already hugging their families. “There is a picture in which the five of us who were in captivity reunited. “That is the image of hope and life,” says Luis.
“October 7 changed our lives forever. Now our mission is to support the families who are waiting for their kidnapped loved ones. To offer them, at least, a light of hope,” Clara concludes.