Former hostage shares photos from captivity, as Hamas doctor operates on her injured hand
Emily Damari says pictures were taken just after her Oct. 7 abduction, recalls being surrounded by 10 armed terrorists at Gaza's Shifa Hospital, with corpse lying nearby
Former hostage Emily Damari shared pictures of herself from Gaza on Saturday that she said were taken immediately after she was abducted by Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists to the coastal enclave during the October 7, 2023, invasion of Israel.
She did so on the three-year anniversary of the Hebrew date of the October 7, 2023, attack — during the holiday of Simhat Torah.
Damari, now 30, was taken hostage on October 7 by Hamas terrorists who attacked Kibbutz Kfar Aza, killing, assaulting and abducting dozens to Gaza.
In the images posted to Instagram, Damari can be seen lying on a hospital bed at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, her body covered by a blood-stained piece of clothing and her head concealed beneath a covering that the terrorists apparently made her wear. The disguise appears intended to make her look like a local Muslim woman, a tactic Hamas is known to have used to covertly move hostages between locations.
A man can be seen operating on Damari’s hand, which was hit by gunfire during the abduction.
“I was kidnapped together with the best friend I could ask for, Gali Berman, who was with me during the most frightening moments of my life. In these moments I rediscovered the term ‘mortal fear,'” she wrote.
When the photos were taken, “I’m in a disgusting room filled with blood, a corpse is on the ground near me. A ‘doctor’ approaches and presents himself as ‘Dr. Hamas,’ while near him are another 10 monsters with AK-47s [pointed] at my head and I am just praying to God that he will protect me in this situation,” Damari recalled.
Damari was subsequently held captive in Gaza for 471 days, before being released as part of a hostage release-ceasefire deal on January 19, 2025.
Upon her release, Damari immediately drew attention to her hand, now missing two fingers, which she raised in a symbol of victory.
Two months later, she underwent a series of operations to correct complications from the wounds sustained during her abduction.
Mandy Damari, Emily’s mother, said at the time that her daughter was “sewn up like a pincushion” by Hamas, leaving her in significant pain in both her hand and leg.
“People who understand a little about medicine can look at the pictures and understand that the fact that I’m here at all is a miracle,” Damari said in her Saturday post. “For four months, my leg continued bleeding inside Gaza with an open gunshot wound. Stitches that should have been removed after 14 days remained in my hand for 365 days.
“But here I am,” she said, thanking God, family and security forces.
“I thank the fact that I survived the worst thing possible, with the help of everyone who was there with me — and above all, one Romi Gonen!” she said, naming a fellow captive.
“And thank you to the dear people of Israel, who never stopped fighting for us for a moment, so that we could return to you, hug you, tell you our stories, and recover alongside you forever. I love you, and more than anything, I love life.”
Damari married her partner Danielle “Dani” Amit in Tel Aviv earlier this year, with 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 in attendance.