Former hostage Emily Damari marries food influencer Danielle Amit in emotional ceremony
Damari, who had to hide her sexual orientation from Hamas captors, was smiling broadly as she lowered the veil on her now-wife’s head
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleJessica Steinberg, The Times of Israel's culture and lifestyles editor, covers the Sabra scene from south to north and back to the center
Former hostage Emily Damari, who survived 471 days in Gaza captivity, married her partner Danielle “Dani” Amit in Tel Aviv on Thursday night.
The “reverse wedding,” an Israeli trend in which the event begins with dinner prior to the ceremony, included fellow former hostages and close friends Agam Berger, Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher, Liri Albag, Danielle Gilboa, Omer Shem Tov, Keith and Aviva Siegal, and Gali and Ziv Berman.
Before the start of the ceremony, Damari, in a bespoke ivory double-breasted suit with wide-leg trousers, stood on a stool in order to lower the veil over Amit’s hair, grinning widely and kissing Amit under the veil before they walked down the aisle together.
Damari shared a photo of the moment in an Instagram story.
“Here’s the first story that caught my eye,” she wrote in the caption. “From behind I see [former hostages] Agam Berger and Liri Albag, so happy in my happiness and I just can’t explain to you in words what is going through my body thank you to the Holy One Blessed Be He on our miracle.”
Damari was released from Hamas captivity on January 19, 2025, after being shot and abducted on October 7, 2023, from her home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza.
She was freed alongside Gonen, taken hostage from the Nova rave, and Steinbrecher, a fellow Kfar Aza resident.
Mazel tov to British-Israeli Emily Damari, a survivor of Hamas captivity, and Danielle Amit on their wedding!
Emily was brutally kidnapped by Hamas terrorists from southern Israel on October 7, 2023. After surviving 471 days of cruel and inhumane captivity in Gaza, she was… pic.twitter.com/S0Jy7TqfgU
— StandWithUs (@StandWithUs) August 28, 2026
Damari immediately drew attention to her hand, now missing two fingers, which she raised in a symbol of victory.
Now 30, Damari was a member of Israel’s Border Police at the time of her abduction and was taken captive with her kibbutz friends, Gali Berman and Ziv Berman, in Damari’s car to Gaza.
Her mother, Mandy Damari, who led the struggle to have her daughter released, spoke about the experience during her wedding speech.
“There are moments in a parent’s life when you look at your child and realize just how far they have traveled, and tonight, looking at Emily standing beside Dani, is one of those moments.”
“Because there was a time when I wasn’t sure I would ever see Emily again. For 471 days, she was held in captivity. And during those endless days and nights, there were moments when the thought of standing here tonight, seeing my daughter alive, safe, happy, and standing beside the person she loves, would have been impossible to imagine.”
“Emily, my beautiful daughter, I have watched you grow up and go through things that no mother should ever have to watch her child endure. And yet somehow, you have come through it still being you, still funny, still feisty, still full of life, still capable of loving and being loved.”
“You fought so hard to survive, Emily. You fought for your life when you were in captivity, and you fought your way back to us. And today, seeing you here, alive, happy, and beginning this new chapter is something I will never stop being grateful for.”
Damari has said that she kept her sexual orientation from her captors, knowing they would “consider it sick.”
Damari and Amit, a food influencer and content creator, met in the months following Damari’s release and became engaged in January 2026, a year after she was freed from Hamas captivity.
"דניאל התאהבה באישה": דניאל עמית ואמילי דמארי רקדו סלואו בחתונה לצלילי "אושר אקספרס" של שלמה ארצי ????
(צילום: תומר טליאס) pic.twitter.com/TxQjRy1mkR
— הקופסה (@Hakufsah) August 28, 2026
Other moments at the wedding reminded guests and social media followers of what has changed for this former hostage and her friends.
The wedding, which had no dress code, featured a very specific request that guests should avoid wearing any red — including even red lipstick, because of Damari’s well-known dislike of the official color of the Hapoel Tel Aviv soccer team.
Damari, known for her fierce spirit, even while held hostage in Gaza, refused her captors’ demand that she wear a red sweater because of the rivalry between Hapoel Tel Aviv and her favored team, Maccabi Tel Aviv, whose colors are yellow and blue.
Damari and Amit also asked guests to be mindful of the former hostages and their family members at the wedding, and not to take photographs of them or hug them without first asking.
Since her release, Damari has often said that her greatest hope in life is simple: to be a good mother and to build a happy, meaningful life with Amit.
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