Thin, pale, but happy: freed Israeli hostages reunited with family

Louis Har, left, and Fernando Simon Marman, second from right, were met at Sheba medical centre by their family after being rescued in an overnight Israeli raid on Rafah. Photograph: Israel Defense Forces/Reuters

Emerging from captivity in Gaza after 129 days, Fernando Simon Marman and Louis Har appeared thin and pale but with happiness and relief in their eyes.

Their family said the two men are overjoyed at being reunited with their loved ones as they try to make sense of their four-month ordeal.

Idan Begerano, Har’s son-in-law, said the family was shocked to be woken up at 3.30am by the Israeli authorities who urged them to make their way to Sheba medical centre in central Israel to greet the two men. Photographs show the family hugging as they were reunited.

“We weren’t expecting it. We didn’t know anything about what was happening behind the scenes. But we are happy to be on this side of the coin,” Begerano said from the hospital foyer.

“When we first saw Fernando and Louis they were in bed still under medical checkups and we couldn’t really understand the situation.

“They looked very thin and very faint and for us it was a bit shocking to see how much weight they had lost. But the happiness on their faces and the look in their eyes made us understand that really they are very happy and they are somehow in an OK condition.”

The Israel Defense Forces said it rescued Marman, 60, and Har, 70, from a second-floor apartment in the southern city of Rafah while launching a heavy airstrikes in the area. The operation killed at least 67 Palestinians, including women and children, according to health officials in Gaza.

Begerano said the two men, who are dual Argentine-Israeli citizens, have said little of the raid or the conditions in which they were held by Hamas. “What they describe is they were sleeping and suddenly they were surrounded by people and now they’re here. I don’t think they really understand yet what happened to them tonight,” he said.

Marman, who works in a furniture store, and Har, a retired bookkeeper, were abducted by Hamas gunmen from the Nir Yitzhak kibbutz on 7 October alongside Marman’s sisters, Clara Marman, 64, and Gabriella Leimberg, 60, and Leimberg’s 17-year-old daughter, Mia, who were freed after 53 days as part of a temporary ceasefire deal in November. Har is Clara Marman’s partner.

Begerano said the five were initially held together in Gaza and that the women were reluctant to be parted from the men when they were released. “They didn’t want to leave at the time but sometimes you don’t have any other option,” he said.

“They are a very united family, they like to do all the holidays together and every second weekend they are all together, the brothers and sisters. This is what has kept them strong all these years, and I think that this is what also kept them strong in captivity.”

Speaking from the hospital, Gefen Sigal Ilan, Clara Marman’s daughter and Fernando Marman’s niece, said the family’s reunion was “very emotional”, adding: “We’re trying to give them a lot of love and support to help them feel better now.”

The pair are just the second and third hostages to be rescued safely; a female soldier was rescued in November. Ilan, 36, said the family was now focused on securing the release of the remaining 130 or so hostages in Gaza.

Prof Arnon Afek, the general manager and deputy director of Sheba, a hospital which received other released hostages in November, said the “healing process” had now started for the family.

He said: “We did the medical examinations and we took some blood exams and we will treat whatever medical problems they have, it’s quite simple – that’s not the issue. The issue is the psychological effect of being prisoner for 129 days. That’s something that will take time for them to understand and to realise.

“The healing process started once they met their families and it was a very moving moment to see them hugging their family members. It’s something I will always remember.”