The Albany Gazette - Emily Damari: the British hostage who loves Spurs

"After 471 days Emily is finally home," said her mother, Mandy Damari, who has campaigned tirelessly for her release since she was kidnapped by Hamas militants in October 2023.

Damari was the last British hostage being held in the Gaza Strip. Some of the other hostages however have links to the UK.

"I want to thank everyone who never stopped fighting for Emily throughout this horrendous ordeal, and who never stopped saying her name," her mother said.

"While Emily's nightmare in Gaza is over, for too many other families the impossible wait continues," she added.

Damari was born in Israel after her English mother, Mandy, moved there in her 20s. Her father is Israeli.

She is a fan of pop superstar Ed Sheeran and Premier League football club Tottenham Hotspur, whose fans have often chanted her name during matches since she was captured.

Damari was kidnapped in southern Israel by Hamas on October 7, 2023 during its unprecedented attack that killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, triggering the devastating conflict between Israel and the militant Palestinians in the Gaza.

Israel's ensuing campaign to eradicate the militants has destroyed much of Gaza, killing more than 46,900 people, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory's health ministry that the UN considers reliable.

- 'Humour and chutzpah' -

Damari was at home in Kfar Aza, a kibbutz near Israel's southern border with Gaza, where she grew up, when Hamas gunmen stormed her home, injuring her hands and legs during the attack.

Her dog Choocha was killed with a gunshot to the neck, said her mother, Mandy Damari.

Mandy Damari relentlessly lobbied Israeli and UK leaders for her daughter's return.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Emily Damari's release, alongside two other Israeli women, was "wonderful and long-overdue news after months of agony for them and their families.

"I wish them all the very best as they begin the road to recovery after the intolerable trauma they have experienced."

In December, Damari said she was "terrified" her daughter and other female hostages were exposed to "the constant threat of sexual assault" while in captivity.

She has described Emily as "beautiful" and "charismatic" and boasting a "cheeky smile".

In a recorded message marking the attack's first anniversary last October, Damari said her daughter had a mixed sense of classic British humour and "Israeli chutzpah".

"I always say that 'I love her to the moon and back'. I need her back with me now, alive, before it is too late for her," she said.

- 'One of our own' -

Mandy Damari added that Emily was a fan of singers Adele and Ed Sheeran.

Emily would go to watch at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium whenever she was in the UK visiting family, she added.

"She's one of our own, she's one of our own, Emily Damari, bring her home," Spurs fans have sung from the terraces.

They have also handed out flyers with an image of Emily, with her long, curly dark hair, wearing a Spurs scarf, and released hundreds of yellow balloons during a game to raise awareness of her plight.

Mandy Damari had said in October she feared Emily had been forgotten.

And she revealed how hostages freed in 2023 had told her about Emily's "bravery and courage and even her laughter and the way she helped hold everyone together even in the worst times".

(F.Allen--TAG)