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British-Israeli national Emily Damari – among the first three hostages freed from Gaza by Hamas as part of a ceasefire deal with Israel – says she has “returned to my beloved life” in the moving first comments she has made since her release.
Ms Damari, 28, was freed from 15 months in captivity on Sunday as the truce deal came into effect, with authorities reporting she had lost two fingers when she was taken from her home during Hamas attack inside Israel on 7 October, 2023, during which around 1,200 people were killed and another 250 were taken hostage.
In emotional remarks made hours after her release on Monday morning, Emily, who is a dual British-Israeli citizen, thanked her family and the large protest movement that campaigned for the release of the hostages.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you. I’m the happiest in the world,” the 28-year-old said in the Instagram story shared by Israeli media, signing off her message with a “rock on” emoji, a possible reference to the two fingers she lost when she was shot in the hand as she was taken from Kibbutz Kfar Aza. Her family previously said she was “blindfolded and forced into her own car with two other friends”.
Celebrations have been taking place across Israel, Gaza and the occupied West Bank over the ceasfire, with 90 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails also freed as part of the deal. Families in Gaza also started to return to their homes, with Israel’s retaliatory offensive to the Hamas attack having killed around 47,000 Palestinians and forces about 90 per cent of the enclave’s 2.3 million residents from their homes.
In footage taken in Gaza on Sunday, Hamas were seen handing over Emily, alongside one of her friends who was captured with her, Doron Steinbrecher, 31, as well as Romi Gonen, 24, who was seized from the Nova music festival.
At Sheba hospital, which is located in a suburb of Tel Aviv, there were emotional scenes of the three hostages being reunited with their family members. In a motorcade led by police cars, minivans holding the hostages and their mothers who were the first to greet them in the transitional first aid point, drew up to a specially closed off area.
Crowds of patients in the hospital cheered as they caught a brief glimpse through a window inside complex of the moment the three women hugged their fathers, siblings and other extended family members, in floods of tears – with Emily reunited with her mother Mandy Damari, who also survived Hamas’s attack on the border Kibbutz of Kfar Aza.
On Hostage Square in central Tel Aviv, the rallying point for families and supporters of the hostages, crowds cheered, cried, and hugged each other as the footage of the reunions were released. Later thousands of people gathered there chanted “Now! Now ! Now!” a reference to bringing all the remaining hostages left in Gaza back, as well as the slogan “bring them home now”
On Monday, Mandy Damari, who grew up in Beckenham, southeast London, released a statement in the wake of her daughter’s release, praising Emily’s resilience and calling for the remaining 91 hostages to be freed.
“From the bottom of my heart I would like to thank the many people who have played a role in bringing Emily home and given their support to me and my family,” she said in a statement.
“I am relieved to report that, after her release, Emily is doing much better than any of us could ever have anticipated.
“I am also happy that during her release the world was given a glimpse of her feisty and charismatic personality.
“In Emily’s own words, she is the happiest girl in the world, she has her life back.
“In this incredibly happy moment for our family, we must also remember that 94 other hostages still remain. The ceasefire must continue and every last hostage must be returned to their families.
“As wonderful as it is to see Emily’s resilience, these are still early days. As you will have seen yesterday, Emily lost two of the fingers on her left hand.”
Mandy, who campaigned fiercely for her daughter’s freedom, said she will now need time with her loved ones and doctors to recover.
All three former hostages were assessed at the Sheba Medical Centre in Tel Aviv, with doctors reporting that they are in a stable condition and will be monitored there for a few days.
Romi’s mother also issued a moving statement on social media in the wake of her daughter’s release, as she too called for the remaining hostages to be freed.
Meirav Leshem Gonen said in a post on Facebook on Monday morning: “It will take me, for us, a moment to breathe it in and believe in the reality we achieved together.”
Captives released in November described Emily as a leader who kept up the spirits of her fellow captives.
Israeli media reported that she “started taking care of everyone”, with one freed girl telling Mandy that her daughter would wake up and sing: “It’s a great morning.”
Others have reported Emily acted as a go-between with the guards.
Prime minister Sir Keir Starmer welcomed the “wonderful and long-overdue news” of their release and called for all hostages to be freed, saying “we must not forget” those who remain in captivity.
Foreign secretary David Lammy said he is “pleased and delighted” that Emily has been released.
“Let me just first, obviously say how pleased and delighted I am that Emily Damari has emerged,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Monday.
“And I say that because I grew very close to her family, and I think the whole of the country will be delighted that she is free, but recognising there are still hostages being held, and there are British nationals like Nadav Popplewell who lost their life.”
Mr Lammy said a social media post by Emily after her release made him “very emotional”.
“I have a yellow flower. It’s a plastic flower that her mother gave me that’s in my office that I said I would keep in my office until she was freed. I will move it from my office today and take it home. So that’s… it’s incredibly touching,” he said.
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