Die-hard fansReleased hostage Iair Horn welcomed home at Turner Stadium

Hostages feted as they attend first soccer games since release

Emily Damari leads crowd at Bloomfield Stadium in singing of Maccabi Tel Aviv anthem; Romi Gonen invited to meet Hapoel Haifa players

By Michael Horovitz 16 March 2025, 4:16 pm Edit

Michael Horovitz is a breaking news editor at The Times of Israel

Release hostages Emily Damari addressing a soccer crowd at Bloomfield Stadium, Tel Aviv, March 15, 2025. (X screenshot)
Release hostages Emily Damari addressing a soccer crowd at Bloomfield Stadium, Tel Aviv, March 15, 2025. (X screenshot)

Freed hostages Emily Damari, 28, and Romi Gonen, 24, attended their first soccer game since their release from captivity at Tel Aviv’s Bloomfield Stadium, appearing with players in front of the crowd for a ceremony before the Maccabi Tel Aviv-Hapoel Haifa match on Saturday.

Gonen, a Hapoel Haifa fan, thanked fans of both teams for “fighting for us,” adding, “We need to fight so that the rest of the hostages return from Gaza.”

Damari, a Maccabi Tel Aviv fan, told the crowd that her spirits were boosted when she heard they had won a championship while she was in captivity.

“I screamed even when I wasn’t allowed to,” she recounted.

Damari added that upon her return from captivity, she heard that her team had campaigned for her release: “Maccabi is a family. You proved it in every moment.

“But my heart is heavy,” she added. “It’s been 526 that Gali and Zivi, my loves, are being held in Gaza. I stand here today and swear — we will not stop until they return home. The struggle is not over,” Damari said, calling on fans to continue to fight until all the captives return, referencing brothers Gali and Ziv Berman, who remain in captivity.

Damari then led the excited crowd in singing a Maccabi anthem, “From the Day I Was Born.”

Earlier, Gonen was invited to the changing rooms to see the Hapoel Haifa players off before they walked onto the pitch.

“Thank you for fighting for me,” she told the team.

Damari, a British-Israeli citizen, was taken hostage from her home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza on October 7. She was released from captivity on January 19 as part of the first phase of the ceasefire deal with Hamas.

She was taken captive with Gali Berman, a close friend from the kibbutz, who had rushed to her home because she was alone during the attack. The two were kidnapped together.

Berman’s twin brother, Ziv, was also kidnapped.

Gonen was kidnapped as she and her friends tried to escape the Hamas assault on the Supernova rave in the desert. She was also released on January 19.

Earlier, freed hostage Iair Horn, 46, was invited onto the pitch at Beersheba’s Turner Stadium by his team Hapoel Beersheba ahead of their match against Maccabi Netanya and received a round of applause from the crowd.

“Iair, we love you, we are happy you are here, and together we wish for the release of [your brother] Eitan Horn and all the hostages,” the announcer said.

Speaking to reporters at the game, Horn recounted asking to pass by the stadium on the helicopter on the way to the hospital after his release.

“When you return from captivity after 498 days, of course you pass with a helicopter above Turner. No question,” he said.

Iair Horn was abducted from his Kibbutz Nir Oz home on October 7, as Hamas terrorists swarmed through the kibbutz, killing or kidnapping one in four of the community’s residents.

His younger brother, Eitan, now 38, was visiting from his home in Kfar Saba for the holiday weekend and remains in captivity.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

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