Emily Damari opens up about abuse experience in captivity, suicide pact with fellow hostage

Emily Damari spoke to the Daily Mail on her suicide pact with Romi Gonen and the abuses she experienced in captivity of Hamas.

Emily Damari, a former Israeli, revealed in an interview on Friday with the Daily Mail that one of her captors treated her so cruelly that she was considering suicide.

“They were the worst people,” she said. “The worst family. They would make fun of us and made fun of us. They would say to us, “No one cares about you. They hid us food and told us that we never leave Gaza. »»

Explaining that she had concluded a suicide pact with Romi Gonen, the pair had decided to escape or end their lives to escape cruelty.

To avoid this spell, Damari told how she caught the goalkeeper who had demonstrated the slightest cruelty and told her that if the pair was not moved, “you are going to have two dead hostages.”

Despite the goalkeeper, a commander of the terrorist group, promising to move them, they remained under the control of the family for months. Despite the desperate situation, Damari said that she had a premonition that they would soon be released and asked Gonen to style her eyebrows, and she shaved her legs in preparation for their return to freedom.

From the moment she was taken on October 7

From the moment Damari was taken on October 7, she told how she prefers to die rather than being kidnapped and made a hostage.

When terrorists removed her from her house, with her friend Gali Berman, a terrorist pulled several of her fingers while killing his Chocha dog.

When the terrorist told him that he would take her to the hospital, Damari said how she “understood that it was not going to be an Israeli hospital” and said to her: “No, no, no, shoot me! I didn’t want to be kidnapped, I would prefer to die.

“I took his weapon, I put it at my head and said,” Turn me! ” Take me away! She said to the Daily Mail, explaining that she was only traveling quietly once the terrorist has placed a gun at the head of her friend.

After being transported to Gaza and separated from Gali, she was taken to the Al-Shifa hospital and declared by terrorists that she had more value for them living than dead.

‘Dr. Hamas’

A doctor presented himself as “Dr. Hamas” and then awarded his damaged fingers under general anesthesia, then sewn the nerves in his hand together, which made him significant pain.

After the amputation, she explained that she had been taken to the home of a terrorist and hosted with Gali Ziv’s brother, the terrorist’s wife and their six children. One of the children, only 14, bore a firearm, she said.

While she stayed in this house, she was only allowed to take a shower once and did not receive a change of clothes.
Ziv Berman and Damari were then moved after the house was affected in an air strike.

“I thought I was in paradise,” said Damari. “I saw a big ball of fire, then I saw nothing. Everywhere, it was dust. “

After 40 days with Ziv, the two were separated and she was transported while she was disguised in traditional clothes. She was taken to a “city” of tunnels in a small cage containing five female hostages, including an eight -year -old girl.

“It was stinking, warm, humid and humid. You don’t get used to it,” said Damari, describing how the walls were covered with cockroaches. “They let you go to the bathroom once or twice a day – you have a hole in the ground. It stinks … There is no running water, just a gallon jug with water. ”

Hide your sexuality

“We were completely surrounded by terrorists. Five girls. They have weapons. They are stronger than you. They can do what they want, when they want,” said Damari, explaining that she had to hide her sexuality. “I hid from myself because I knew it was worse than they know that I was Jewish or Israeli – they would kill me.”

She described how the terrorists would investigate her why she was not married, and she would explain the questions saying that she had three protective brothers.

Throughout his stay in captivity, Damari surveyed the guards and an opportunity asked a terrorist what he would do if his brother was gay. She said the guard replied that he would “kill him” because “he was sick”.

After three months in the tunnels, Damari explained that she had been moved and would remain in 30 different places.

Terrorists would use dashboard cameras as a fortune security cameras to monitor them and leave them in houses loaded with explosives so that they were killed if the FDI tried to save them.

While Damari has been moved several times, she remained with Gonen and the duo developed a close link. Gonen, who was shot in the arm, and damari support each other with tasks made difficult by their respective injuries.

A goalkeeper nicknamed Damari ‘John Cena’, after the famous WWE wrestler because she would finish between 400 and 600 sit-ups each morning despite the difficult conditions.

“The terrorists would call me Sajaya, it means that you are very confident, very strong,” she recalls. “I did everything just to survive. If they were sitting with me now and I could kill them – of course, I would be happy to do it. ”

At one point, she convinced a guard to give her her gun. While she discussed with her captive comrades killing the terrorist, she knew that it would seal their death. She said that even if she didn’t care about the impact it might have on her, she did not want to endanger others.

Although Damari is now free, she said that her greatest hope is that Gali and Ziv will also have this experience. “”

“They are probably in a cage,” she told Daily Mail. “They abuse them. There is not much water. It is probably unimaginably hot for them.”