The family of the last remaining British hostage in Gaza are “hopeful” of being reunited after 471 days, but are preparing themselves for delays as they await her promised release.
Emily Damari, 28, who has joint British and Israeli citizenship, has been named as one of three female hostages due to be released by Hamas on Sunday at 4pm local time (2pm GMT).
A lawyer for Damari’s family told the Guardian they were travelling to the hospital where she was due to be transported on release and were “hopeful, but not getting excited yet”.
Adam Rose, representing the family, said: “They don’t know and we don’t know if any of the hostages being released today are dead or alive. We’re hopeful that they’re alive. We believe that the first hostages to be released are meant to be living hostages.
“They will be heading to the hospital now, where Emily and the other hostages will be taken to, and hopefully they will get to meet up very soon.”
The Damari family lived on the Kfar Aza kibbutz in southern Israel, which was attacked on 7 October 2023. Emily Damari is understood to have been shot in the hand and injured by shrapnel in her leg before she was blindfolded and bundled into a car to be driven to Gaza.
The other two hostages planned for release on Sunday are Doron Steinbrecher, 31, who was taken from her home in the same kibbutz, and Romi Gonen, 24, who was abducted from a music festival.
Rose said the family were preparing themselves for potential delays to the release. “There were delays in November 2023 when hostages were released. There were delays last night and then again this morning, getting the names of these hostages issued by Hamas to the Qataris and then on to the Israeli authorities. So one’s got to assume that there could well be delays,” he said.
Damari and the other released hostages will be picked up by the International Red Cross in Gaza, taken to the border and handed to the Israeli ambulance service, which will then take them to hospital.
Rose said Damari’s condition, and even whether she was alive, were still unconfirmed. “I guess we will have to see whether Emily walks to the ambulance,” he said.
Once Damari arrives at the hospital, she will be given a medical checkup and her relatives will have a chance to hold her for the first time in more than a year.
“We don’t know how she’s been treated for the past 15 months,” Rose said. “We don’t know if she’s been fed, if she’s had medication. We know she was injured when she was taken. I think she had bullet wounds to her leg and her hand from the attacks in October and we will have to wait and see how she’s doing.”
Damari’s mother, Mandy, also lived on the kibbutz and has been an outspoken campaigner for the release of hostages.
Rose said he expected that in their first moments together “she will hug her daughter, and there’ll be lots of tears”.
“For Mandy, Emily’s mother, I think it’s just been an incredibly traumatic time, and not something that she, or frankly, anyone, was ever prepared for. It takes a lot of time to come to terms with what’s happened. Mandy was at Kfar Aza on the kibbutz. It was her home as well on the day of the attack. And therefore, irrespective of her daughter being kidnapped, Mandy’s got her own trauma from the day to come to terms with, which, of course, she’s not had a moment to deal with because she’s been waiting to see her daughter again.”
Speaking of the impact on the Damari family, Rose said: “It’s extremely difficult. You don’t want to believe that something good will happen until it’s happened. You can’t just be pessimistic and negative, because you wouldn’t do anything. You have to have hope. So I think they continue to have hope that Emily will come out OK, and will be able to rebuild her life quickly, and as they will be able to rebuild their lives.”
A Foreign Office spokesperson said: “The UK government welcomes the reports that British national Emily Damari is on the list of hostages to be released by Hamas today. We stand ready to support her upon her release.
“We urge both sides to implement all phases of the deal in full and for all hostages to be returned.”
Source: theguardian.com
