British-Israeli Emily Damari, who spent more than 15 months in captivity in the Gaza Strip, said Monday she had “come back to life” after her release the day before as part of a truce deal with Israel .
“I thank God, my family, my parents, my closest friends in this world. I came back to life,” said the 28-year-old in a message posted on Instagram, widely reported on Monday by Israeli media.
“I am the happiest in the world just by living,” added the young woman.
Emily Damari was kidnapped in the Kibbutz of Kfar Aza, near Israel’s border with Gaza, the scene of a massacre on October 7, 2023 during the unprecedented attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in Israel.
After her release on Sunday, alongside two other young women, Ms Damari was photographed with two fingers missing.
Gal Kubani, a friend of Damari, who went to visit her on Monday at Sheba hospital in the suburbs of Tel Aviv, told AFP that the young woman had “come back really strong, smiling, heroic and courageous” .
-“We saw her, we lifted her into the air, all her friends. We kissed her, we cried, we were moved, we screamed,” said Ms. Kubani, 28.
“Really, seeing her standing on her feet, it was the most moving and joyful thing in the world,” she added, specifying that her friend was in “good health”.
Emily Damari was released along with Doron Steinbrecher, 31, and Romi Gonen, 24, in exchange for around 90 Palestinian prisoners in the first exchange of the ceasefire agreement, which came into force on Sunday.
A total of 33 Israeli hostages, 31 of whom were captured during Hamas’ attack on Israel, are to be released from Gaza during an initial 42-day truce, in exchange for around 1,900 Palestinians held by Israel.
During the October 7 attack, Hamas commandos and other Palestinian armed groups kidnapped 251 people, 91 of whom remain in Gaza after Sunday’s liberations, including 34 who were declared dead by the Israeli army.
