Emily Damari
Source: Israel Government Press Office
On the morning of October 7, Emily was alone in her home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza. As the attack reached the kibbutz, she texted her close friend Gali Berman to come and be with her because she was afraid.
Gali arrived. Soon afterward, they heard the terrorists smashing the window.
In front of her, the terrorists shot and killed her dog, Choocha, and the bullet hit Emily's leg. Another bullet went through her hand, causing her to lose two fingers.
Emily and Gali were kidnapped from her home. Gali's twin brother Ziv was also abducted from Kfar Aza that morning. All three were taken to Gaza.
I didn't want to be kidnapped. I would prefer to die. I took his gun, put it to my head and said: 'Shoot me! Shoot me!' I only went quietly when he put the gun to Gali's head.
Emily visits the home she was kidnapped from.
In Captivity
Emily was moved between more than 30 locations in Gaza, including homes, apartments and underground tunnels.
At one point, she was held in a small cage underground.
It was stinky, hot, humid, damp. You don't get used to it. The floor was wet and crawling with cockroaches.
She described having little water and almost no daylight. They were allowed to use a hole in the ground as a toilet only once or twice a day.
Despite the conditions, Emily exercised in captivity, sometimes doing up to 600 sit-ups a day. Her captors nicknamed her “John Cena.”
Every time they called me a prisoner, I would tell them, 'No, I'm a hostage.' Prisoners have three meals a day. Prisoners flush the toilet. Prisoners go outside. Prisoners see the sunlight. Prisoners call their families. I'm not a prisoner.
During captivity, Emily hid the fact that she was gay. At one point, she asked one of her captors what he would do if his brother were gay.
He told her he would kill him.
Emily describes hiding her sexual identity from her Hamas captors.
The Return From Captivity
For six months, Emily believed that her mother, Mandy, might have been killed on October 7.
On April 6, 2024, Emily saw Mandy on television holding a photograph of her daughter during the campaign for the hostages.
She knew then that her mother was alive.
On January 19, 2025, after 471 days in captivity, Emily was released as part of the first phase of the ceasefire and hostage-release agreement between Israel and Hamas.
After returning to Israel, Emily was reunited with her family.
In August 2026, Emily married her partner, Daniel Amit.
Source: Instagram
Sources
- The Times — Emily Damari's first-person account
- Ynet — “The cages, terrorist's weapons and suicide pact”
- The Jerusalem Post — “Former hostage Emily Damari details life in Hamas captivity”
- The Jerusalem Post — “Emily Damari recalls surviving Hamas”
- Streicker Center — Emily Damari in Conversation with Noa Tishby
- i24NEWS — Emily Damari says she hid homosexuality from Hamas captors
- Main image — Israel Government Press Office
- Card image — Haim Nachshoni / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
- Wedding image — Instagram (Emily and Daniel Amit at their wedding)