Luis Har, 70, who was released from captivity in Gaza in the IDF's heroic operation nearly six weeks ago, is talking about the difficult conditions and fear he experienced during 129 days of captivity until he was rescued and returned to his family.
In an extensive interview with the British tabloid Daily Mail, Har talked about what happened on October 7, about the Hamas terrorists who held him and Fernando Marman, 60, in Rafah. "It was like a movie. They treated us as if we were dogs and not human beings, they trampled us. Real barbarians," he said.
Shayetet 13 troops in their first meeting with the rescued hostages at the helicopter extraction to Israeli territory
(Video: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)
Just before the rescue, Har broke down and didn't want Fernando to see him cry. He had already begun to lose hope, and then he heard a huge explosion in the apartment where he was being held captive. In the midst of the chaos, he said, he felt an arm grab his leg, and for the first time in more than four months, he heard a man he did not know address him in Hebrew. "Luis, this is the IDF, we have come to take you home," he said.
"Suddenly all the pressure was released," Har said. "If that soldier had told me to jump up, I would have jumped. We were completely in their hands. Really completely. There was a feeling of complete security."
"There was gunfire from all directions, like in a movie," said Har. "I have never seen anything like it before, but I knew I was in the best hands with the IDF who risked themselves to save us."
During the long days in captivity, Har dreamed of hugging his grandchildren. "I felt their hug in my body, the warmth of their bodies," he said. "I felt them all the time. Many times it was like I was talking to them, a feeling of closeness." The dreams were so real that he would sometimes wake up crying.
Har, who was abducted along with four members of his family, recounted the moments of the kidnapping. They were placed in a white pickup truck and driven into Gaza. Then they were led into a tunnel shaft inside a small building.
They entered "the tunnel with terrorists in front, in the middle and at the back, with guns. It was dark all the time," said Har. "The only light was from the phone. There was no air. It felt like we would never get out of there."
At one point, he said, another group of terrorists started chasing them and shouted: "Jews! Jews!". Har, born in Argentina, shouted back, "Argentinians, Argentines! Messi, Messi!"
The five family members reached their destination. Mia Leimberg, 17, managed to hide her dog Bella and bring her down in the tunnels without the terrorists noticing. "She doesn't know she's a dog – she thinks she's a doll. She behaves like a doll, we didn't hear a sound from her. She was more heroic than us," he said, laughing.
After two days in one building, the family members were moved to a second apartment, where they stayed for 50 days in a windowless room. They came up with Spanish nicknames for each of the terrorists guarding them and made sure to speak as little Hebrew as possible so that the terrorists would not be able to understand them.
According to Har, one of the terrorists was interested in Mia, laughing at her and saying he was "single and wants to marry her." When Har told him to stop, the terrorist scoffed, "Wow, there's a wolf here." He later returned with a large knife and played with it to "frighten us."
Har said that the family slept on dirty mattresses that were "thinner than paper," and ate scraps of pita bread. "There was constant psychological warfare," Har said.
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The family of Fernando Marman and Luis Har are reunited with them at Sheba Hospital after they were rescued from Gaza
(Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)
"The terrorists told us it wasn't advisable to wander outside, that they would beat us to death. They really made sure to tell us about every failure of the IDF or every time soldiers were killed. They told us we had nowhere to return to, that Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak no longer existed. They kept telling us not to speak loudly because the UAVs, if they heard us, would pass the information to Netanyahu and Netanyahu would send planes to bomb us because he doesn't want any deal, he wants to kill us. They kept repeating this to us, every day. Eventually, it gets into your head," he said.
Har described the moment he reunited with his family. "My heart was bursting with happiness back with my family," he said. "We went from the worst place to the best in such a short time. It's such a miracle."
He concluded the interview by calling for the release of the rest of the hostages who remain in captivity. "It is so terrible, so difficult for them to live like that. We need to bring back all the people, everyone," he concluded.