The last British hostage in Gaza was freed by Hamas on Sunday after more than 15 months in captivity, as part of a long-fought ceasefire to end the ruinous conflict, which has claimed tens of thousands of lives.
British-Israeli Emily Damari, 28, was released alongside two other female captives and reunited with her mother, Mandy, on Sunday evening, after what the family described as nearly 500 “tortuous days” in captivity. Emily’s family said that she lost two fingers in the deadly 7 October attacks, and held up her bandaged hand in pictures after her release.
In footage taken in Gaza, cheering crowds of armed militants were seen handing over Emily, alongside her friend Doron Steinbrecher, 31, who was captured with her from Kibbutz Kfar Aza, and Romi Gonen, 24, who was seized from the Nova music festival.
The trio are now in Israel. They were assessed at Sheba Medical Centre in Tel Aviv, with doctors reporting that the women are in stable condition and will be monitored for a few days.
Later, in emotional images released online, Emily was seen hugging her mother and waving a bandaged hand, wounded when she was shot during her capture. Mandy, who also survived Hamas’s attack on Kfar Aza, thanked people worldwide for their efforts to bring Emily home.
“I want to thank everyone who never stopped fighting for Emily throughout this horrendous ordeal,” she said.
“While Emily’s nightmare in Gaza is over, for far too many other families, the impossible wait continues,” she added.
Sir Keir Starmer called the release “wonderful and long overdue” after Emily endured “intolerable trauma”.
“However, today also represents another day of suffering for those who haven’t made it home yet. So while this ceasefire deal should be welcomed, we must not forget about those who remain in captivity under Hamas,” he said.
“We must now see the remaining phases of the ceasefire deal implemented in full and on schedule, including the release of those remaining hostages and a surge of humanitarian aid into Gaza.”
David Lammy, the foreign secretary, said his thoughts were also with those still waiting to be reunited with their loved ones, including the families of UK-linked hostages Eli Sharabi, Oded Lifshitz, and Avinatan Or, who are slated to be released in the coming weeks if the ceasefire holds.
“We are clear, the deal must be implemented in full; all hostages must be returned, and aid must be allowed to flow into Gaza now,” he added, calling the ceasefire a “a credible pathway towards a two-state solution in which Israelis and Palestinians can live side by side in peace”.
Many hope the truce, brokered after more than a year of negotiations by the US, Qatar, and Egypt, will herald the end of the conflict that has ravaged Gaza, where Israel’s bombardment has killed more than 46,000 people and displaced more than 90 per cent of the 2 million population.
They also hope it will secure the release of nearly all 100 remaining hostages abducted from Israel during Hamas’s attack on 7 October 2023, during which over 1,200 people were killed.
According to the deal, in the first phase – which lasts six weeks – 33 hostages will be released in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians, including dozens of women and minors, in Israeli custody. Many have been held without charge.
Israeli forces are also set to withdraw to a buffer zone inside Gaza, allowing displaced Palestinians to return home, which some families attempted on Sunday amid the destruction.
The devastated territory, teetering on the verge of famine, is also expected to see a surge in badly-needed humanitarian aid, with as many as 600 trucks entering Gaza daily – far more than Israel allowed previously.
Families in Gaza, who have been displaced multiple times and have lost dozens of family members to Israel’s bombings, told The Independent that the ceasefire was a “glimmer of hope in a cycle of death”. But they also warned that it was just the start of a long process of rehabilitation and reconstruction.
“You are talking about people whose past has been erased, and every horizon of the near future has been wiped away,” said Essam Raja, 38, who is now living in a tent in the so-called humanitarian zone of al-Mawasi, which was bombed just before the ceasefire came into effect.
There are concerns that the shaky deal, which nearly floundered in the eleventh hour on Sunday morning, will collapse after the first phase is over.
Negotiations on the far more difficult second phase of this ceasefire are set to begin in just over two weeks, aiming for the release of the remaining hostages and more Palestinian prisoners.
There are fears that the war will resume before negotiations can proceed, especially as Mr Netanyahu faces growing pressure from extreme right-wing members of his coalition, including several ministers who resigned from his cabinet on Sunday over the deal.
Emily’s Surrey-born mother said her daughter was shot in the hand and taken to Gaza in her own car from Kfar Aza on 7 October, where her family lived. She was seized with her friends Gali and Ziv Berman, who remain in captivity, and Doron Steinbrecher, who was released on Sunday.
Ms Steinbrecher, 31, is a veterinary nurse with a chronic illness requiring daily medication, according to her sister, who spoke to The Independent last year. Yamit said that before Sunday, the only proof of life the family had seen was a Hamas video in January 2024 showing her begging for help.
Romi Gonen, 24, who was also freed on Sunday, was seized from the Nova music festival. Her sister, Yarden, said at a gathering for the hostages in the US last week that she had nearly escaped but was “ambushed”, shot in the hand, and “dragged by her hair” to Gaza. Her best friend was killed in front of her.
Ms Steinbrecher’s family thanked the international community for their support in freeing their “beloved Dodo”, who they said “begins her rehabilitation journey today”.
The family especially thanked incoming US president Donald Trump for his “significant involvement and support, which meant so much to us”.
Mr Trump’s inauguration is on Monday, and sources close to the negotiations told The Independent that it was a “cut-off point” that ultimately pushed the deal through. Mr Trump’s Middle East envoy was present in the final stages of the negotiations, alongside Joe Biden’s team.
In brief remarks as the hostages arrived in Israel, Mr Biden said, “They appear to be in good health.”
Concerns remain for the remaining hostages. Thousands of people gathered to watch the release on large screens at “Hostage Square” in Tel Aviv, a rally point for those demanding a hostage release deal. The crowd erupted into cheers, tears, and hugs as the images were shown on a big screen. Families of those not included in the deal said that while they were “thrilled” for those freed, they hoped the deal would hold long enough.
“For the families of the hostages who are not within the list of 33, it is a long struggle ahead of us,” said Udi Goren, whose cousin Tal Chaimi was killed on 7 October. His body was taken by militants to Gaza and would only be released in the second phase.
After the release of the hostages, 90 Palestinian prisoners were due to be freed later on Sunday. In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, families and friends gathered excitedly as cars honked and people waved the Palestinian flag.
According to Al Jazeera, 90 Palestinians were due to be released on Sunday, including 69 women and 21 minors and teenagers.
They are part of a list of 734 Palestinian prisoners the Israeli justice ministry said would be freed in the deal’s first phase last week.
Among those slated to released are Shatha Jaraba, 24, who was arrested in August near Ramallah and held in Israel’s Damon prison where her family said conditions were “extremely difficult”. Her father Nawaf, 63, claims she spent five months on trial on the charge of “expressing an opinion” and said that another of his sons was being held in administrative detention which has been criticised by the UN as amounting to arbitrary detention. “In general level, this release comes on the ruins of homes, houses, blood and great sacrifices in Gaza,” he said as he waited for her to be released from prison.
“But we are happy because she will be among the first group of female detainees.”
Eman Nafa, the wife of Nael al-Barghouti, a member of Hamas in the West Bank and the longest-serving Palestinian prisoner, who has spent more than 40 years in Israeli jails, said she was concerned amid reports that some of those released may be deported out of the occupied Palestinian territories.
Rana, the older sister of Palestinian detainee Raed al-Hajj Hamad, who is also on the list to be released over the next six weeks, said they feared “the truce will not last” long enough to see him freed.
His family say Raed was arrested in Gaza in 2004 when he was 21 and sentenced to 20 years in jail. They said he finished his term last January but remained in prison because of the war.
“Everyone fears that the truce will not last for six months. We are all anxious and afraid. We, the people of Gaza, love and want to live in peace and return to our homes to rebuild them.”
