129 days: How one Israeli hostage in Gaza told stories to endure captivity
Luis Har, 71, was taken hostage on Oct. 7 with his family. The accountant, actor and dancer drew on a lifetime of memories to help comfort them in captivity in Gaza. He was freed in an Israeli raid.
TEL AVIV — Every evening when it turned dark, before guards turned on a light, Israeli hostage Luis Har told his fellow captives a story.
"I have a rich past of stories," Har, 71, says. "It helped us pass the time."
Storytelling, and traveling in his imagination, were some of the ways that Har, an accountant, dancer and actor, endured 129 days in captivity in southern Gaza. A dramatic Israeli commando raid Feb. 12 rescued him and another hostage — the last time any Israeli hostages in Gaza were freed.
More than 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 hostages were taken captive in the Oct. 7 Many of them are still presumed to be alive.
