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Kfar Aza, Israel – Emily Damari, a British-Israeli national who was held hostage by Hamas for 471 days, returned to her home in Kfar Aza on Sunday for the first time since her abduction in October 2023.
Accompanied by her family and fellow released hostage Romi Gonen, Damari visited the ruins of her apartment, from where she was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists during their deadly incursion into southern Israel.
Damari, who was freed two weeks ago as part of an ongoing ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, shared a post on Instagram documenting her visit. In a poignant image, she sat outside her destroyed home beneath a poster from the campaign advocating for her release.
“I’m back,” she wrote in English, adding a three-fingered emoji, a symbol of resilience following the loss of two fingers on her left hand due to a gunshot wound inflicted during the attack.
Continuing in Hebrew, she reflected on her return: “Today I returned to my home, to my apartment, to the oxygen that I had and was nearly ended. I returned to the place where my whole nightmare began 485 days ago and I close just part of the circle that I waited so much to close.”
Damari emphasized the plight of the remaining hostages, stressing, “But like me, there are another 79 hostages who need to close their circles and are waiting to complete what is missing.”
Calling for continued efforts to secure their release, she urged, “We must not stop here. We must bring everyone, that means everyone, home.”
Her brother, Tom Damari, also shared a photo of Emily and Gonen during their visit, seated near a picture of Aviv Baram, a close friend of Emily’s who was killed in the October 7 attack. “Romi has become an inseparable part of the family,” he wrote, describing the moment as both “perfect and so lacking.”
The attack on Kfar Aza was part of Hamas’s unprecedented assault on southern Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,200 people and the abduction of 251 hostages.
At least 62 residents of Kfar Aza were killed, and 19 were taken captive. Damari, 28, was abducted from her home, while Gonen, 24, was seized from the Supernova music festival. They were among the hostages released on January 19 under the first stage of the ceasefire agreement.
Under the terms of the current truce, Hamas is set to release 33 hostages over a six-week period in exchange for Israel freeing over 1,400 Palestinian security prisoners, some convicted of deadly attacks.
However, the details of subsequent phases, including further hostage releases and Israel’s potential withdrawal from Gaza, remain uncertain. Families of those still held in Gaza fear that the fragile ceasefire may collapse before all hostages are freed.
Since October 7, Hamas has released 123 hostages, while Israeli forces have rescued eight alive. The bodies of 40 hostages have been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by Israeli troops as they attempted to escape captivity.
The terrorist group continues to hold 76 hostages, including the remains of at least 34 confirmed dead.
As negotiations for further releases continue, Damari remains steadfast in her advocacy. “The real victory I will only feel when they come back,” she wrote, underscoring the urgency of bringing home those still trapped in Gaza.
This article was created using automation technology and was thoroughly edited and fact-checked by one of our editorial staff members