A British-Israeli woman who was among the first three hostages to have been freed by Hamas as part of a ceasefire deal in Gaza has spoken out for the first time.
Emily Damari was pictured with a bandaged hand as she was reunited with her mother on the Israeli side of the border, after a tense two-hour delay in negotiations.
The 28-year-old said she has finally “returned to my beloved life” in a post on Instagram.
Damari wrote “love, love, love,” and thanked God, her family and “the best friends I have in this world”.
She also suggests she was able to see a little bit of the reaction yesterday to her release, and says “You exploded my heart with emotions”.
“Thank you, the happiest in the world just to be,” she added.
Her mother Mandy said: “Emily’s unforgettable smile and cheeky and quick sense of humour light up every room she enters, and she is the consummate daughter, sister, and friend.
“Her house is always full of people, whether hosting the best BBQs on the kibbutz or just serving up a cup of tea.”
One of Emily’s defining physical features is a tattoo on her left arm which says, “My mum is always right.”
In the hours after her daughter’s release, Mandy thanked “everyone who never stopped fighting” for her daughter and “never stopped saying her name.”
She added: “While Emily’s nightmare in Gaza is over, for too many other families the impossible wait continues.”
Doron Steinbreche, 31, and Romi Gonen, 24, were also freed and returned to their families.
Crowds cheered in Tel Aviv as the IDF confirmed that the women, who have spent 15 months in besieged Gaza, are now free.
The three made it to the Israeli-Gaza border where they reunited with their mothers before being taken to a hospital with a helicopter, away from the eyes of the public.
Emily, who has dual British-Israeli citizenship, was kidnapped from her home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, near the Gaza Strip, on October 7, 2023, when Hamas m@ssacred 1,200 people.
She was shot in the hand, injured by shrapnel in her leg, and saw her dog Choocha k! lled before she was blindfolded and bundled into a car that took her to Gaza.
Doron was also taken from Kfar Aza, while Romi was captured while trying to flee the Nova music festival.
In exchange for the three, Israel will free Palestinians imprisoned for years in “torture camps” in the country, without any judicial process.
They include 69 women and 21 men from the occupied West Bank or East Jerusalem. There are two 17-year-olds: one boy and one girl. The youngest on the list is a 15-year-old boy from East Jerusalem.
Little has been heard from the Israeli captives since their capture. With a third of the 100 remaining hostages believed to be dead, the lawyer of the Damari, Adam Rose, had told them to “prepare for the worst.”
In a later statement, Rose said: “We are delighted that our client, Emily, has finally been released, after over 15 months of captivity by Hamas terrorists. We cannot wait to meet her.
“We are thankful to everyone who has played parts in campaigning for her release, including the British government who have provided support over the past 15 months.
“We request now that the family is allowed some peace and space.
“We continue to call for the speedy return of the other four hostages with strong British connections and for whom we act, Eli Sharabi, Yossi Sharabi (deceased), Oded Lifshitz and Avinatan Or, and of all of the other hostages.”
The swap was supposed to kick off a 42-day ceasefire from 8.30am local time after 15 months of war destroyed much of Gaza and left 66,000 Palestinians de@d. It started instead at 11.15am local time.
Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu had promised to continue fighting until Hamas handed over their names, and those of 30 others due to be released in the coming weeks.
Nearly two hours after the ceasefire was due to start at 8.30am, Israel confirmed it had received the list of hostages.
By then, around 13 people had been killed and 30 were injured in Israeli bombings.
Hamas blamed the delay on “technical field reasons” and said it was sticking to the ceasefire agreed this week.
The youngest on the list is Kfir Bibas, aged nine months, while the oldest is Shlomo Mantzur, 86.
They had been kidnapped on October 7, 2023, when Hamas and its allies massacred 1,200 people and took 250 hostages. Roughly 94 remain in Gaza, although a third are believed to be dead.
Sunday morning was supposed to be a reprieve after 15 months of Israeli bombardments.
Palestinians flooded the streets to celebrate after a deal to pause all the violence was agreed by Israel and Hamas on Friday.
Even last night, people had started to return to homes and rebuild all that had been destroyed by Israel’s bombs.
But the ceasefire in Gaza was cast into doubt after Israel said it would keep on fighting until Hamas hands over a list of hostages to be released.
The agreement had reportedly been on the table since December 2023, prompting Qatar’s prime minister, who mediated the deal, to describe it as “13 months of a waste of negotiating the details that have no meaning and is not worth a single life that we lost in Gaza or a single life of the hostages lost because of the bombing.”
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