Emily Damari reveals new images of Hamas captivity: ‘It is nothing short of a miracle’

Former Israeli hostage Emily Damari released new images Saturday showing the horrific conditions she endured during her captivity in Gaza by Hamas terrorists, saying that her survival despite severe injuries was “nothing short of a miracle.”

“Three years ago at this hour, on Simchat Torah, I was deep, deep inside the Gaza Strip,” Damari wrote on Instagram, referring to the Hamas Oct. 7 attack, which coincided with the Jewish holiday.

“I was kidnapped together with the best friend I could have asked for, Gali Berman, who came to be with me during the most terrifying moments of my life,” she recalled. “The moments when I rediscovered the meaning of the phrase ‘fear of death.’ The photos ... Location: Shifa Hospital, in the hands of the terrorists I will never forget,” she continued.

Hamas terrorists kidnapped Damari from her home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, one of the hardest-hit Israeli border communities during the Oct. 7 massacre. She was seriously injured and lost two fingers after being shot during her abduction.

Damari was released in early 2025 after 471 days in Hamas captivity. During her captivity, she underwent an improper surgery at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, a Hamas hub during the war.

She recalled her experience at the hospital in her Saturday post.

“I’m inside a disgusting room full of blood, with a body on the floor next to me. A ‘doctor’ approaches and introduces himself as ‘Dr. Hamas,’ with another 10 monsters beside him, AK-47s pointed at my head, and I’m just praying to God to protect me in this situation,” she wrote.

“People who understand even a little about medicine can see from the pictures that the fact I’m here at all is a miracle,” she added.

“For four months, my leg continued bleeding inside Gaza with an open gunshot wound. Stitches that are supposed to be removed after 14 days remained in my hand for 365 days. And here I am.”

Damari credited God, her family, the Israeli people and her fellow hostages for her unlikely survival in Gaza. She specifically praised fellow former hostage Romi Gonen.

“Thank you to the people of Israel, who never stopped fighting for us for a moment, so that we could return to you, hug you, tell you our stories and recover with you forever,” she wrote in her post. “I love you, and more than anything, I love life,” the former hostage concluded.

“It is nothing short of a miracle that she did not develop a life-threatening infection,” her mother Mandy Damari said.

In September 2025, Emily Damari spoke to Mosab Hassan Yousef about her captivity in Gaza and her encounter with former Hamas leader Izz a-Din al-Haddad. She said that before the Oct. 7 attack, she had wanted to read Yousef’s biography, Son of Hamas, to better understand the Islamist group that ruled Gaza. “I told Romi Gonen at the time that this book should be read,” she said. “It could have brought me even sharper to the situation.” Al-Haddad was later killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza in May 2026.