The hostages lived underground without sunlight and one of them had to undergo a medical procedure without anesthesia. Emily Damari, one of the hostages, came back missing two fingers.
By Rachel Avraham
Romi Gonen, age 24, Emily Damari, age 28, and Doron Steinbrecher, age 31, are now safely back in Israel. Following their arrival back home in the framework of the first phase of the hostage deal, they gave an exclusive interview to the Hebrew-language N12, which revealed the horror that these three women experienced during their 471 days in Hamas captivity.
According to their testimony, the girls were initially kept together, but at a certain point were separated. During their captivity, they were kept in humanitarian complexes that were supposed to be used for displaced Gazans. They testify to living underground without sunlight and transitioning between hiding places.
During their time in captivity, they were exposed to television and radio broadcasts, where they were exposed to the horrors that took place on October 7. One of the hostages related, “We learned that our families survived, but we lost a lot of friends.”
Damari, one of the hostages, arrived back in Israel missing two fingers, the Times of Israel reported. When Hamas terrorists burst into her home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza on October 7, 2023, they murdered her pet dog and injured her, resulting in the amputation of two fingers. The Times of Israel reported that Gonen was kidnapped from the Supernova rave near Kibbutz Reim on October 7, 2023, when thousands of terrorists invaded Israel, massacring 1,200 and seizing 251 hostages, while Steinbrecher was also kidnapped from her home in Kfar Aza. Like Damari, Gonen was also injured when she was kidnapped.
N12 reported that one of the abductees had to undergo a medical procedure without anesthesia. “I did not think that I would come back,” one of them related. “I was sure that I would die in Gaza.” The abductees were only informed that they would be going home on Sunday morning. The hostages related that they were terrified when they were being transferred from Hamas to the Red Cross due to the presence of armed terrorists and the fierce crowd that was there.
Cynically, Yedioth Achronot reported that Hamas gave the hostages “souvenirs” before sending them back to Israel, which included a photo of Gaza. A video released by Hamas showed Emily pushing a terrorist while exiting a vehicle and receiving a “release notice,” which was placed in the bag. According to the report, the bags were visible when Emily and Doron arrived at a reception site in Re’im, after Israeli forces transported the hostages from Gaza to Israeli territory. Israeli officials called the items a “cynical and psychological exploitation of women who were deprived of their freedom by monsters.”
Nevertheless, all three hostages were jubilant when they met their families. The Jerusalem Post quoted Yamit Ashkenazi, Doron’s sister, speaking live from Tel Ha Shomer Hospital, where the hostages are getting treated: “Today, Doron is home with us. Our Dorona is here. We are still processing, trying to cope. Doron is doing well, strong and brave, but she has a long road of recovery ahead of her and us.”
“The journey to bring Doron home has ended, but her journey to recovery is just beginning. We ourselves survived the October 7th massacre and haven’t yet begun our own recovery process,” Ashkenazi continued. Ashkenazi then shared a message from Doron: “My return home doesn’t mean those still there shouldn’t return – everyone must come back. I ask you to continue fighting, never give up, take to the streets, all phases of the deal must be implemented. Everyone needs to return until the last hostage comes home. Just as I was fortunate to return to my family, so must everyone else.”
Although it will take time for the hostages to process their trauma enough to reveal the full details regarding the horror they experienced with the public, other hostages have revealed that they experienced physical, emotional and sexual abuse in Hamas captivity. The Sun reported Hamas hostages released in November 2023 revealed captives were not allowed to wash or change clothes, with many of them contracting lice. Other hostages have revealed that they were forced to use a bucket as a toilet and were starved as captives were given half a pita bread and a couple of dates a day to eat.
Tom Hand, 64, the dad of eight-year-old Emily who was released after 50 days in captivity, told the Sun that Emily Damari will take years to recover after the horror she survived in Gaza: “I’m 100 percent sure it’s going to take Emily Damari longer to start the process of being able to talk about what happened to her. We don’t know what she’s been through but it’s been a very long period and she’s going to be mentally broken, physically broken and spiritually broken. That amount of time will break your spirit, not knowing whether you are going to live that day, every day for 471 days. That takes a very large toll.” Tom said Emily Damari – like his daughter – will need treatment from an array of therapists and psychiatrists.
Merav Leshem-Gonen, mother of freed hostage Romi Gonen and a leading advocate in the campaign to free the hostages held in Gaza, told the Times of Israel that she will continue her efforts. “It will take me, us, a minute to breathe her in and to believe in the reality we were able to achieve together,” she wrote in a social media post. “I promise to be back. There are 94 loved ones that need this reality to come to fruition.”
