Three Israeli hostages who were brought home after 471 days in Gaza have shared harrowing testimony of the horrors they faced in Hamas captivity – an ordeal they feared they might never escape.
Emily, 28, Romi Gonen, 24, and Doron Steinbrecher, 31, were handed over to the Red Cross on Sunday in front of crowds of Hamas fighters and Palestinians.
‘We were scared to death of the combination of the armed men and the Gazan crowd,’ the women are quoted as saying.
They were reunited with their families soon after, and on Monday shared chilling testimonies about their experience with Israeli broadcaster N12.
The three young women said they were originally held together in Gaza before being separated and were regularly moved between hiding places.
They spent most of their 15 months in captivity concealed underground in the terrorists’ network of tunnels, and rarely saw any daylight, according to the testimony shared with the news outlet.
When they were together, the women cooked and cared for each other, with Romi, a trained paramedic, said to have treated Emily’s injuries.
British-Israeli national Emily lost two fingers after being shot in the hand, , according to the Hostage and Missing Families Forum, and also suffered shrapnel wounds to the leg during the October 7 massacre.
She was then kidnapped and dragged into Gaza, where she and Romi said they were moved dozens of times as Hamas tried to avoid them being rescued by Israeli forces.
Hamas fighters hand over Doron Steinbrecher, a hostage who had been held in Gaza since the October 7 2023 attack, to members of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
British-Israeli former hostage Emily Damari is seen after being reunited with her mother
Emily Damari, and Romi Gonen, who were abducted by Palestinian militants during the October 7, 2023 attacks, disembark from a Hamas vehicle during the handover process on Sunday
While some of the abductees were given medications they needed, according to the testimony, one of the women says she was forced to undergo a medical procedure without anaesthesia.
During their torturous experience they were also able to follow TV and radio broadcasts, meaning they could see their families’ fight for their release on the news and learnt more about the October 7 atrocities.
“We saw your struggle, we heard our families fighting,” they said, adding: “We realized that our families had survived, but we discovered that we had lost a great many friends.’
One of the women also shared that she did not think she would ever return home, despite her family’s efforts. ‘I didn’t think I would come back, I was sure I would die in Gaza,’ she said.
They also told how they were only informed on the morning of the handover that they were being released. ‘We couldn’t believe it when they told us we would be home in a moment,’ the women are quoted as saying.
When they arrived to be handed over to the Red Cross on Sunday, the women’s vehicle was surrounded by hundreds of militants and civilians who shouted and pounded on the van’s doors and windows. Some even clambered up on the roof.
When the door to the van opened, the three former hostages looked terrified, and they were ushered quickly through the crowd to safety.
The women’s release forms part of the first phase of the ceasefire and hostages agreement between Israel and Hamas.
When the door to the van opened, the three former hostages looked terrified, clutching horrific ‘gift bags’ from Hamas and sprinted through the overwhelming crowd to safety
Damari broke her silence on Monday to say she is the ‘happiest person in the world’ since being freed from Hamas captivity in Gaza.
‘Love, love, love. Thank God. Thank you to my family, to Orali, to the best friends I have in this world,’ she said in a post on Instagram. ‘I returned to my beloved life.’
‘I only managed to see a glimpse of everything and you broke my heart with excitement. Thank you thank you the happiest person in the world just to be.’
At the end of her post she added a ‘rock on’ emoji, symbolising the two fingers she lost during Hamas’ assault.
Speaking to the Mail, Rotem Koren, a friend of Damari’s said: ‘After October 7 is was very difficult to rebuild these feelings, so yesterday was a very emotional moment.
‘I think that most of the world saw the power of Emily. Even in the most difficult moments, near all these terrorists to keep smiling – she is so powerful.
Palestinian Hamas members gather around a vehicle as they hand over Emily Damari
British hostage Emily Damari, among the last hostages to be released from Gaza
‘To see that was a very emotional moment for us. When she got out of the terrorist’s car, or when she whistled to us at the hospital, you could see there that nothing can stop her.
‘You saw how even in her situation she looked at the positive side. Even after she lost two fingers she turned it into a positive – the first thing she does is shares this sticker of her hand.
‘Now everyone takes strength from that. I hope that everyone can take these skills that she has, to keep yourself and look for the positive no matter what happens’.
Pal Guy Yakobi, 29, added: ‘It was great to see her and hear her voice again. It was a quick meeting ,we didn’t have a lot of time to speak. It was just a hug and a kiss and told her that I love her’.
On becoming symbol of resistance: ‘If someone can survive and come back smiling – it’s Emily.
‘We weren’t surprised to see how she was acting.’
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
