Captivity lasted 52 days for the women, 129 for the men.
by Garth Meyer
Two former hostages of the Gaza War, Luis Har and Clara Marmon, spoke to a crowded conference room at the Sonesta Hotel in Redondo Beach Sept. 14.
In 1973, when Luis was 18, he went into the Israeli Army, serving in a tank unit during the Yom Kippur War. On Oct. 7, 2023, he lived 12 kilometers from the border of Gaza, in a kibbutz. His partner Clara lived three kilometers from the border.
Oct. 6 was the birthday of Clara’s two-year old granddaughter, also the Jewish holiday Simchat Torah.
Clara’s brother, sister and other family members gathered, and Luis came to visit.
The next morning at 6:30 a.m. sirens went off.
It was common, because of rocket attacks, so it was “not a big deal,” Luis said. Those who had remained at the house from the night before went into the safe room – which had no locks on the door.
“Safe rooms are just (to guard against) missiles, not people,” explained Rabbi Mendel Mintz of South Redondo Synagogue, one of two interviewers on stage with the couple at Sonesta. Rabbi Zalman Gordon, of Jewish Community Center sat next to Mintz.
Before going into the safe room, Luis saw hang gliders, and black smoke rising from a plastics factory. The fire was set as a decoy by the terrorists.
Then came the sound of shooting outside, which broke windows in the house.
Palestinians entered. They shot into walls and doors. Luis, Clara and the others huddled low in a corner of the safe room, directed by Clara, a kindergarten teacher. Bullets flew over them.
They were pulled from the room. The terrorists said they were looking for car keys, but the Israelis pretended they did not understand, Luis speaking the Spanish of his native Argentina.
Luis, Clara, her brother Fernando, sister Gabriella and niece Mia, 17, were led outside and put in a pickup. Mia held her small dog to her chest like a stuffed animal.
“They open, explode the gates,” Luis said of the drive into Gaza.
The family members were all dropped off, at first separated, then brought back together. The pickup went back for more hostages.
Luis’ and Clara’s group was lowered into a tunnel.
“It was very dark,” he said. The floor was sand.
Jewish? their captors asked.
“Argentine, Argentine. Messi,” Luis said. “We were sure it was the last place in the world for us.”
They were taken single-file down the tunnel.
Two miles, six miles, Luis guessed, they walked, the Palestinians referring to maps, trying to find their way.
Eventually, the hostages were raised by ropes into the open air of a duck farm – at which point their captors realized the scared dog was not a stuffed animal.
“Gaza Muslims don’t like dogs,” said Rabbi Mendel. “But they allowed the niece to keep the dog.”
The hostages were next taken into a second floor apartment and given Arabic clothes.
They were handed bread, with, “like Spam,” Luis said. “But the dog didn’t take it.”
Luis mainly spoke at the Sonesta event, since Clara speaks little English.
“When you are in this situation, the time is not going. One minute is how many hours,” he said.
They stayed in the apartment. Luis would cook, every day, three meals, for five captors and the five hostages.
He lost 32 pounds.
“But it was a good diet,” he told the crowd, a hand on his back-to-plump belly.
Mia, the 17-year-old, started to ask questions.
“It was important for her to talk about the old life,” Luis said.
He reported that the Palestinians generally did not beat them physically.
“What are you doing here? Go back to Argentina. Here is Palestine. Not a place for anyone,” one of them said.
Word came from the captors one day about an exchange. Clara, Gabriella, Mia and the dog were released, after 52 days.
Just Luis and Clara’s brother Fernando remained in the apartment.
“We aren’t eating so much, we aren’t drinking so much, but we are in the life,” Luis said.
Eggplant and garlic was the only food then.
It was just the two men and the Hamas captors for a long time.
“Where are we flying today?” Luis and Fernando would say each day to each other, one of them telling all about a certain country as their imagined destination.
As Day 128 turned into Day 129, in the middle of the night, a large explosion went off.
“Luis, Fernando. IDF (Israeli Defense Force). We’re going to take you home,” an arriving Israeli soldier said.
Soldiers led the two hostages to a balcony, and used a radio phone.
“They announced to their commander that the ‘diamonds are in their hands.’ Understand, I am a diamond,” Luis said with a chuckle.
Taken away with the IDF, soon Luis and Fernando saw approaching lights from a truck.
“They are going to catch us,” Luis said.
“No, it’s our truck,” Fernando said.
It was, and all five members of the family and Luis were soon reunited back in Israel.
“The soldiers, they tell me, they kill everyone (of the captors) but I don’t know,” Luis said.
“They threw a grenade into the room,” explained Rabbi Mendel.
“Five terrorists with us. Big boss was good to us. The other four were terrible people,” Luis said.
“(But) everyone, us, they have the power to endure, to survive. If you know how to listen to your body, the body you know, and you survive.”
“We were lucky to be together as a family,” Clara said, translated from Hebrew by Rabbi Gordon. “We could support each other.”
The family guarded Mia, Clara said in response to an audience member asking if any captors assaulted Mia, the 17-year-old.
“One of them tried, but they stopped it,” Rabbi Gordon translated.
Every Saturday, Luis and Clara now go to Hostage Square in Tel Aviv.
The Sonesta Hotel event ended with candles and a prayer.
“The goal is not just to be moved, but to move,” Rabbi Mendel said. “To move forward. Don’t just be inspired. You don’t fight darkness with darkness. What am I going to do to bring more light into the world?”
Luis and Clara were here for two weeks as guests of Jewish Community Center.
They spoke in Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, at USC, Mira Costa High School and again in Redondo Beach for Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year).
Rabbi Jossi Mintz, Mendel’s father, was one of the organizers who brought Luis and Clara to California. Mintz started the Jewish Community Center in 1995. He is co-founder of the Friendship Foundation, and the coming Friendship Campus in Redondo Beach.
“How (this Gaza hostages event) came to be was, it’s very close to me, they’ve suffered so much, it’s not to come to speak so much but to give them some respite,” Mintz said.
Luis and Clara stayed at the Shade Redondo hotel.
“It’s heartbreaking what they went through,” Rabbi Jossi Mintz said, referring to what Luis described to him. “They feel it could have been worse, but it was a lot of psychological terror.”
The Jewish Community Center hopes to bring more former hostages to visit in the future.
“It’s very rare to be able to do this, but we hope to have more,” Rabbi Mintz said.
Earlier this year, Jewish Community Center hosted 19 injured IDF soldiers, taking them to Lakers, and L.A. Kings games and to Disneyland.
Rabbi Jossi Mintz said he follows events in Gaza as best he can, but acknowledged he’s not an expert on the subject.
“I’m not in a position to answer that. I’m not an Army guy,” he said when asked his opinion of the Israeli government’s response to October 7.
“I want the war to come to an end immediately. It would end immediately if Hamas gave up the hostages. It would be over in a heartbeat. It’s very sad, terrible. Hamas started it, they must go. Not just because of their brutality toward Israelis, but against their own people.” ER
