Emily Damari ‘in much better health than we expected,’ mother Mandy says

Released hostage Emily Damari “is in much better health than we expected,” her mother Mandy Damari says in a statement released via the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.

“Yesterday, I finally got to hug Emily, just as I had dreamed of doing for a long time,” she says, thanking the public for its unwavering support over the past 15 months. “You are all an integral part of Emily’s family.”

“It was a great joy to catch a glimpse — along with the rest of the world — of Emily’s strength, determination and charisma when she was released,” she continues. “In Emily’s own words — she is the happiest woman in the world; she has her life back.”

Praising her daughter’s “extraordinary resilience,” Mandy says that her road to recovery is nevertheless “just beginning,” and requests privacy for Emily and the rest of her family.

Alongside her own happiness, Mandy also stresses that 94 hostages still remain in Hamas captivity, and calls to ensure that the ceasefire remains intact “until the last of the hostages returns home to their families.”