‘I went through hell’ – Emily Damari recalls Gaza torture, captivity

Ex-captive Emily Damari recounts appalling conditions in Hamas tunnels, with a hole for a toilet and no running water.

By World Israel News Staff

Former Hamas hostage Emily Damari has described her horrific ordeal in captivity, including being confined in a cage alongside other kidnapped Israelis, in an interview with the British outlet The Daily Mail.

Damari, 29, was abducted from her home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza on October 7, 2023. During the abduction, she was shot by terrorists and lost two fingers on one hand.

A dual British-Israeli citizen, Damari recounted being dragged into a humid underground tunnel and shoved into a cage with other hostages, including an eight-year-old girl.

“Sometimes there would be up to six of us at a time, squeezed into a tiny cage just two meters by two meters,” she told The Mail, adding that the overcrowded conditions made it impossible to sit down.

The hygiene in the tunnels was appalling, she said.

“They let you go to the bathroom once or twice a day – it’s just a hole in the ground. It stinks,” Damari recalled.

“There is no running water, just a gallon jug with water in it.”

Damari, who is a lesbian, said she feared her captors would discover her sexuality and murder her.

“I hid that part of myself because I knew it was worse than them knowing I was Jewish or Israeli – they would kill me,” she said.

She also described fending off romantic advances from her captors, who repeatedly questioned why she was not married.

“I told them I have three brothers who don’t allow me to go on dates with guys – I need to wait for the one,” she said.

As negotiations between Israel and Hamas stall, Damari urged President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to secure a deal to free the remaining Israeli hostages still held in Gaza.

“They are probably in a cage,” she told The Mail, adding that Hamas is “abusing” the captives.

“There isn’t much water. It’s probably unimaginably hot for them.”