Each morning, for 467 days now, Mandy Damari has awoken and repeated the same mantra to her feisty, charismatic daughter Emily.
‘Keep strong, keep alive – you are going to be OK,’ she tells the 28-year-old Tottenham Hotspur fan. Mrs Damari says she then gives her daughter an imaginary hug. ‘I hope she can feel it,’ the 63-year-old tells the Daily Mail.
On October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists attacked Emily’s home, shot her in the hand, murdered her friends, killed her pet dog Choocha, and kidnapped her into Gaza amid the largest slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust.
Aside from accounts from other hostages freed just six weeks later that she had lice and was living in filth, forced to use a bucket as a toilet – and a single sign of life last year – there has been no word.
‘It’s a nightmare, living a life like this,’ said Mrs Damari, the softly spoken mother who has travelled to the ends of the earth, meeting international powerbrokers, to fight for her daughter’s return.
‘What she’s feeling there – who knows. It must be ten times worse for her than it is for me.’
But after repeated failures by world leaders, this week a ceasefire deal was finally reached thanks in large part to the ‘pressure tactics’ of incoming President Donald Trump.
On October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists attacked Emily’s home, shot her in the hand, murdered her friends, killed her pet dog Choocha, and kidnapped her into Gaza amid the largest slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust

Mrs Damari, the softly spoken mother who has travelled to the ends of the earth, has met with international powerbrokers to fight for her daughter’s return

After repeated failures by world leaders, this week a ceasefire deal was finally reached thanks in large part to the ‘pressure tactics’ of incoming President Donald Trump. Pictured: At an event commemorating the one-year anniversary of the October 7 Hamas
Yesterday, Israel accused Hamas of reneging on parts of the deal, which delayed a vote on the plan in the Israeli parliament. But they overcame the impasse last night and it is expected to be implemented this Sunday – with Mrs Damari’s daughter reportedly on the list of those first to be freed.
Last night there were concerns, as reported by Israeli media, that the delay in signing off the deal might push back any hostages being released until Monday.
But still, it means Emily, the only living British citizen held in the Strip, could be home in days – and her mother would finally get that hug she has dreamt of for nearly 500 torturous days.
This week, the Surrey-born nursery teacher returned to her daughter’s abandoned home in Kfar Aza where she sent a message to Mr Trump.
The mother-of-four said: ‘President-elect Donald Trump, you have really made my dreams come true – a deal has been signed.
‘But it’s not over. My nightmare is still going on until I see Emily and all the other 98 hostages back in Israel with their families.
‘I have more hope now than I’ve had in the last 15 months. It would be the most wonderful feeling in the world if she’s coming back, the most wonderful feeling.
‘But I won’t believe it until I see and feel it for myself.’
Indeed, there were concerning signs yesterday when Israel’s security cabinet postponed its vote as Benjamin Netanyahu said Hamas attempted to ‘extort last-minute concessions’.

Emily, the only living British citizen held in the Strip, could be home in days – and her mother would finally get that hug she has dreamt of for nearly 500 torturous days. Pictured: Emily and her mother together in happier times

This week, the Surrey-born nursery teacher returned to her daughter’s abandoned home in Kfar Aza (pictured) where she sent a message to Mr Trump

Aside from accounts from other hostages freed just six weeks later that Emily had lice and was living in filth, forced to use a bucket as a toilet – and a single sign of life last year – there has been no word. Pictured: Mandy Damari speaks beside Lord Stuart Polak during a press conference in London
Talks appeared on a knife edge as the terror group was accused of objecting to part of the agreement that gives Israel a veto over the release of certain Palestinian prisoners. But mediators overcame the obstacles and Secretary of State Antony Blinken said: ‘I fully expect that implementation will begin … on Sunday.’
Sitting in the Kibbutz where she last saw Emily, Mrs Damari implored world leaders not to stop until all the hostages are back in their families’ arms.
She also asks that they get aid to the captives. The deal only agrees an initial 42-day pause to release 33 hostages in batches over seven-day intervals (the sick, women and children), before a much harder negotiation to free those who remain (mainly male civilians and soldiers) in exchange for the IDF leaving Gaza.
It means it would be months before all 98 are home.
‘We have to get humanitarian aid into them to keep them alive until they are returned to their homes,’ she said.
Mrs Damari, who lived two streets away in Kfar Aza, last saw her daughter the evening before the Hamas terror attack. She had been at a 29th birthday party and had a bit too much to drink.
‘She told me, “You don’t love me when I’m drunk,” ’ the nursery teacher recalls. While Mrs Damari assured her this wasn’t the case, when terrorists stormed their Kibbutz the following morning, she sent her daughter a text: ‘I love you even when you’re drunk.’
Emily replied with a heart emoji – the last communication they had. Mrs Damari, who is living in temporary accommodation near Tel Aviv, said it feels ‘very strange’ to return to her daughter’s home.

Mrs Damari, who lived two streets away in Kfar Aza, last saw her daughter the evening before the Hamas terror attack


Sitting in the Kibbutz where she last saw Emily, Mrs Damari implored world leaders not to stop until all the hostages are back in their families’ arms. Pictured: With Keir Starmer (left) and Foreign Secretary David Lammy (right)

A woman holds a placard with a photo of Emily Damari while attending a commemoration of the first anniversary of the October 7th attacks in Hyde Park
‘I know she’s only a few kilometres away from where I’m sitting and I can’t get to her,’ she said. While Emily was born in Kfar Aza, she loves her British roots and frequently visits England where she has watched Tottenham play. Supporters of the football team have rallied around, chanting at matches: ‘She’s one of our own – bring Emily home.’
‘The British public have been wonderful,’ said Mrs Damari, who grew up in Beckenham before travelling to Israel in her 20s where she met Emily’s father in Kfar Aza. They had four children, and stayed in the Kibbutz until Hamas’s massacre 15 months ago. Kfar Aza was among the worst hit. Some 64 residents were killed and 19 more kidnapped. Emily was cowering in the young adults section, which was stormed by Hamas, and after shooting her through the hand they kidnapped her into Gaza in her own car.
Mrs Damari was only saved that day because terrorists shooting her door inadvertently caused her lock to jam. Now she is left imagining the horrors her youngest daughter is experiencing. ‘Emily was shot through the hand and had shrapnel in her leg,’ Mrs Damari said. ‘I heard from the hostages that came out in November last year that despite this she still had the same optimism.
‘She was still leading them. But what she’s like now I don’t know, because that’s more than a year ago.
‘They are getting no humanitarian aid at all. I know at the beginning she was treated for her gunshot wound, but very shortly afterwards they just threw bandages at her and told her to treat herself.
‘She wasn’t given any other medication. As far as I know, no one’s been to see her. How she’s doing? I don’t know if the wounds are infected or not infected.’
Mrs Damari keeps reminders of her daughter around her. She wears a necklace with an illustration of her face on it, keeps a picture in her purse, and even has a doll that looks like her.
‘We call it “Little Emily”,’ she jokes. ‘It has a cap on like Emily’s, it looks like Emily, and it’s in my living room all the time looking at me.’
Now she is agonisingly close to seeing the real Emily once more.
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