Special correspondent
PA MediaFormer British-Israeli hostage Emily Damari has told BBC News she is “so happy” to be in the UK and is thankful to those here who campaigned for her release from Gaza.
The 28-year-old was released from Hamas captivity after being held for more than 15 months after she was kidnapped from her home in southern Israel on 7 October 2023.
Ms Damari, who is visiting the UK for the first time since her release in January, said she was happy to be “home finally”, as she was surrounded by supporters outside Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
“Thank you to everyone for praying for me, and shouting my name without knowing me. I don’t really have the words to say how thankful I am for that,” she told the crowd.
“I’m home finally, and with you it’s more than a home. It’s like a family,” she said, adding with a smile that she hopes Spurs will win today.
Some 59 hostages remain in Gaza, with about 21 thought to still be alive.
“They need to bring the hostages back now. It’s not something to talk about, they just need to bring them home,” Ms Damari told the BBC.
Later she said that at times she never thought she would make it back to the UK and that she was thankful to everyone in Britain who campaigned for her and her mother Mandy, originally from South London, who led efforts to get her released.
Dressed in a Spurs shirt, Ms Damari hugged her mum, who said: “I’m so glad she’s back and so glad she’s here with people who supported her all the time.”
The British-Israeli national was shot in the leg and hand when she was dragged from her home on Kinbutz Kfar Aza on 7 October. Hamas also shot and killed her dog.
She was taken from the safe room of her house with her friends Ziv and Gali Berman.
The 27-year-old twins are still being held by Hamas and Ms Damari said she is doing all she can to get them and the other 59 hostages – not all of them alive – back to their families in Israel.
Earlier this week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said while they had believed 24 hostages were still alive, there was now uncertainty about the fate of three of them.
Outside the stadium, Ms Damari held a banner showing her two friends and told the crowd: “May the 59 hostages be home soon. Gali and Ziv Berman are very, very close friends of mine, and I hope they bring him home. Today.”
Her mother Mandy said: “We need all the 59 hostages back. Gali and Ziv are Emily’s friends and it’s so important to all the families that the hostages in Gaza have to come back.”
About 1,200 people were killed by Hamas-led gunmen that day, while Gali and Ziv were among 251 others who were taken hostage.
More than 52,780 people have been killed in Gaza during the ensuing war, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
During the Hamas attack, Ms Damari lost two of her fingers and did not receive proper medical treatment while being held.
But her injured hand gesture that she flashed on her release has been seen as a symbol of defiance and resilience in Israel, appearing on posters, t-shirts and memes across the country.
Ms Damari has yet to talk about the details of her captivity, but at a visit this weekend to a London synagogue, where an empty seat with a poster of her on it for the 471 days she was held, she said she had prayed every day as a hostage, and that however terrible it was, each day she remembered she was thankful to be alive.
Ms Damari’s mother, Mandy, broke down in tears as she thanked the UK and the British Jewish community for supporting and campaigning for her daughter while she was being held.
Ms Damari was able to spend time with her British family this weekend, although the joy at returning to the UK was tinged with some sadness as her British grandfather died while she was still held by Hamas.
When she returns to Israel she faces another operation on her leg and hand as the damage caused by the bullet wounds have still not fully healed.
But she is determined that as she now has her freedom, her friends and fellow hostages should soon follow her.
