‘I’m the happiest person in the world’: Emily Damari savours freedom
Freed captive Emily Damari shared her joy in freedom, posting her first comments on Instagram after being released from Gaza on Sunday.

Freed hostage Emily Damari (right) with her mother, Mandy, shortly after her release from Gaza on Jan. 19, 2025. Photo by IDF Spokesperson/TPS-IL
“I’m back to my life, my loved ones, I’m the happiest person in the world. I’m grateful to my family and my best friends,” she posted. “I was able to see only a glimpse of [everything you’ve all done for me]. My heart is broken with emotions.”
Her mother, Meirav Leshem Gonen, said Emily is “taking a moment to breathe it in and believe in this new reality” after 471 days in Gaza.
Emily, a 28-year-old Israel-UK national, was abducted from her apartment in Kibbutz Kfar Aza’s youth neighbourhood and was shot in hand. She was freed on Sunday after 471 days in captivity along with Doron Steinbrecher, Romi Gonen.
Later on Sunday night, Israel released 90 imprisoned Palestinian terrorists.
The first phase of the ceasefire will see 30 more hostages freed over six weeks in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian terrorists imprisoned in Israel. The exact number will depend on how many of the hostages are alive.
At least 1,200 people were killed, and 252 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage in Hamas’s attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border on October 7. Of the 95 remaining hostages, more than 30 have been declared dead.