The sole British hostage still in Gaza a year after she was taken by Hamas has been “stripped of every human right” and remains “in hell”, her mother said as she called for her safe return.
Mandy Damari spoke about her daughter Emily publicly for the first time, through tears, to thousands gathered in London’s Hyde Park for an event commemorating the October 7 attacks on Israel.
The British-Israeli 28-year-old – an Ed Sheeran fan, London Zoo enthusiast, foodie and Spurs supporter, with a mixed sense of classic British humour and “Israeli chutzpah” – had had her “joy and light locked away” for a year.
Speaking in Hyde Park on Sunday, Ms Damari, from south London, said she went to Israel in her 20s and met her husband, fell in love and moved to a kibbutz where they raised four children and four grandchildren.
She highlighted “freedom” as a British ideal she had grown up with and a value that she instilled in her children and grandchildren – “freedom to think, to speak and to live fully” – but said her daughter was no longer free.
“Since October 7 last year, she has been held a hostage by Hamas terrorists in the Gaza terror tunnels, 20 metres or more underground, kept in captivity, tortured, isolated, unable to eat, speak or even move without someone else’s permission,” Ms Damari said.
“Stripped of every human right, it is almost impossible to comprehend her pain, yet it is the reality she is living every single day.”
She told the crowd: “One year has passed and she is still in hell.
“On the morning of October 7, Emily was in her own apartment on Kfar Aza, our peaceful kibbutz, but that day Hamas turned our home into a place of terror.
“Sixty-four of our neighbours – men, women, children and elderly – were sadistically murdered, 19 were kidnapped, 12 women were eventually released, two of our hostages were killed in friendly fire while trying to escape and five are still held in Gaza, including my Emily.
“My beautiful, charismatic daughter, with the cheeky smile, was shot and taken by force from her home.
“Her beloved dog Choocha, who was with her, was killed with a gunshot to the neck.”
Ms Damari said some of the hostages who were released as part of a temporary ceasefire deal last November told her her daughter was alive and spoke of her bravery and laughter and “the way she helped hold everyone together even in the worst times”.
The mother called for the release of the 101 hostages who remained in Gaza, saying each one was someone’s child, grandchild, parent or grandparent.
“How is it that she (Emily) is still imprisoned there after one year?” Ms Damari said.
“Why isn’t the whole world, especially Britain, fighting every moment to secure her release?
“She is one of their own but her plight seems to have been forgotten.
“My beautiful, funny and brave daughter, who I love to the moon and back deserves to come home. I need to hug her again. I need to see her smile.
“I know we could and should be doing more. I and everyone else has failed her and the only way to make us all feel whole again is to get Emily and all the 101 hostages back to their families.”
She urged those in power to “use every ounce of influence they have” to advocate for the release of the hostages.
Ms Damari concluded her speech by saying: “I want to end by saying this – no matter how dark the days become, like Emily always told me to do, I still hold onto hope.
“Hope that there will be good news, hope that Emily and all the hostages will be returned home and hope that the world will stand for justice and freedom.”
Attendees cheered loudly at the end of her address.
Ms Damari went to Downing Street on Monday to demand that the Government do everything in its power to free Emily, giving the Prime Minister a letter for him to pass to her daughter.
“If it (the note) gets to you in Gaza, know that we all love you and miss you and are sick with worry about what is happening to you every day and we are praying and meeting whoever we can to get you back home,” she wrote in the letter.
Ms Damari was joined by other speakers in Hyde Park on Sunday including actress Tracy-Ann Oberman who told the PA news agency it was “heartening” to see thousands of people in attendance.
She added: “My message today is of community. Of standing together, of remembering our humanity – humanity for everyone, but also especially today, remembering those who were massacred on October 7 and the hostages who are still in captivity who we desperately need to bring back.
“We must not forget humanity. Humanity for everyone who is suffering. That is the Jewish way.”
Other attendees on stage included Ada Sagi, who was seized from her home by Hamas on October 7 and held hostage for 53 days in Gaza, and holocaust survivor Mala Tribich.
The pair took to the stage to light candles in commemoration of the attacks. Moments later, the crowd raised their own candles before observing a minute’s silence.
As people began to leave the event and make their way home, a small group of pro-Palestinian activists who had gathered at Speakers’ Corner began to shout “shame on you” and “live, live Palestine”.
One protester could be heard shouting “no-one wants you in the Middle East, go back home”.
The pro-Israeli side were seen shouting back as police formed a line between the two groups.
A member of the public, who was later seen in tears, could be heard telling an officer that the pro-Palestine group were displaying “a celebration of terrorism”.
