Hostage freed in November recalls her ‘first hug’ with brother, partner rescued in February Rafah raid

Clara Marman, 62, who was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists on October 7 and released in a late-November temporary truce, tells Channel 12 about the first moments of family reunion after her partner and her brother were rescued from Gaza by Israeli special forces last month.

“Our first hug — all five of us together — reminded me of our hug in the safe room [on October 7] when they came to kidnap us,” Marman says, recalling the day Hamas terrorists rampaged through southern Israeli communities including Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak, killing some 1,200 people and dragging another 253 back to Gaza, mostly civilians. Marman and four other members of her extended family were hiding together in her safe room when the kibbutz was invaded.

Marman’s sister Gabriela Leimberg, 59, and 17-year-old niece Mia Leimberg were also were released on November 28 as part of the temporary ceasefire deal. Her partner Norberto Louis Har, 70, and brother Fernando Marman, 60, were extracted from Hamas captivity in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on February 12.

“We’re all back and we’re all in relatively good condition. Of course, we’re still recovering,” Marman tells Channel 12. She adds, “My happiness can’t be complete until all of the hostages are free.”

Marman says that the families whose relatives are still held by Hamas in Gaza are “completely broken,” specifically mentioning the 19 women still held by terror groups.

A United Nation report on Hamas’s sex crimes against Israeli civilians during the October 7 attacks presented last week found “clear and convincing” evidence that hostages currently held captive are still facing such abuse.

It is believed that 130 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza — not all of them alive.