Beaming, laughing, weeping, 3 freed hostages finally reunite with loved ones
Israel at warBritish PM on release: 'Wonderful, long-overdue news'

Beaming, laughing, weeping, 3 freed hostages finally reunite with loved ones

UK-Israeli Emily Damari reveals she lost 2 fingers on Oct. 7; Romi Gonen thanks her community in voice message; Doron Steinbrecher’s family thanks public in name of ‘our heroic Dodo’

Emily Damari (right) and her mother, Mandy, hold a video call with family members after her return from Hamas captivity, January 19, 2025. (IDF)
Emily Damari (right) and her mother, Mandy, hold a video call with family members after her return from Hamas captivity, January 19, 2025. (IDF)

The three Israeli hostages released Sunday on the first day of a ceasefire deal with Hamas reunited with their loved ones for the first time in 471 days, crying, laughing and getting used to being free women after a 15-month nightmare.

Emily Damari, 28, Romi Gonen, 24, and Doron Steinbrecher, 31, met their mothers shortly following their release from the Gaza Strip and underwent initial medical assessments at a complex set up by the IDF near the Gaza border at Re’im Base, before being airlifted to Tel Hashomer Hospital in central Israel to reunite with the rest of their families and begin to recover.

They were welcomed outside the hospital by hundreds of people lining the roads, cheering and singing songs as the vans carrying the trio arrived.

The Prime Minister’s Office released photos and video of the three women meeting with their families at the hospital in Ramat Gan. Damari, wrapped in an Israeli flag, was seen emotionally embracing her relatives; Gonen was folded into in a group hug by her family members as she walked into a hospital room decorated with fairy lights; and Steinbrecher wept as she embraced her family members in the halls of the hospital.

The three women were expected to stay in the hospital for several days for evaluation and treatment. Hospital director Dr. Yael Frankel-Nir said that their physical condition was good enough to allow them to focus on reuniting with family members “and to postpone delving into medical issues for a few hours.”

Minutes after the release, images posted to social media showed Damari on a video call with her family after reuniting with her mother.

The images showed a bandage on Damari’s hand after she was wounded during Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel. Smiling, she held up her bandaged hand as she waved to relatives who were visibly moved to see her.

According to her family, the British-Israeli dual citizen lost two fingers after being shot by Hamas terrorists during the onslaught, when she was seized from Kibbutz Kfar Aza. The gunmen who burst into her home shot her dog, she reportedly told her family and friends in her first conversations with them on Sunday evening, and she was hit, too, as she tried to comfort her dying pet.

Released hostages (L-R) Doron Steinbrecher, Emily Damari and Romi Gonen reunite with their mothers shortly after returning to Israel after 471 days in Hamas captivity in Gaza, January 19, 2025. (IDF)

“I want to thank everyone who never stopped fighting for Emily throughout this horrendous ordeal, and who never stopped saying her name. In Israel, Britain, the United States, and around the world,” Damari’s mother, Mandy, said in a statement shortly after meeting her daughter.

“While Emily’s nightmare in Gaza is over, for too many other families the impossible wait continues. Every last hostage must be released, and humanitarian aid must be provided to the hostages who are still waiting to come home.”

With the country glued to images coming from Gaza as the three former hostages made their way back to Israel on Sunday, Channel 12 news aired footage of Damari’s friends from Kfar Aza celebrating.

Waving flags and chanting, one of the former hostage’s friends lifted the news correspondent onto his shoulders as they cried tears of relief at her release.

Hours later, outside the hospital in Ramat Gan, her friends told Channel 12 that Damari had leaned through the window of the vehicle to greet them as she passed by after arriving by helicopter from the Gaza border.

“She’s happy and she’s as healthy as she can be… she’s a fighter, she’s strong,” one of her friends said.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer described the release as “wonderful and long-overdue news.”

Starmer said that despite the news, the day “also represents another day of suffering for those who haven’t made it home yet.”

“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.”

Meanwhile, Steinbrecher’s family published a statement voicing “our heartfelt gratitude to everyone who supported and accompanied us along this journey.”

“A special thank you to the people of Israel for their warm embrace, unwavering support, and the strength they gave us during our darkest moments. We also extend our gratitude to [US] President[-elect Donald] Trump for his significant involvement and support, which meant so much to us,” they said.

“Our heroic Dodo, who survived 471 days in Hamas captivity, begins her rehabilitation journey today. We will continue to stand with all the families and do everything in our power until all of their loved ones return home.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​”

Gonen sent out a voice message to residents of her hometown of Kfar Vradim.

“This is Romi, who returned from captivity. Thank you to all of you,” she said. “I don’t yet have a clue what you have done. I’ve seen a tiny, tiny part, but you’re the best, I appreciate you more than anything and am sending you hugs and kisses. With God’s help, we will meet soon.”

Gonen had apparently been held together with Damari in captivity, and according to Channel 12 told Emily’s mother: “You don’t understand what your daughter was to me all this time.”

It is believed that 91 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by the IDF.

Hamas released 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November 2023, and four hostages were released before that. Eight hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 40 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the Israeli military as they tried to escape their captors.

Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the body of an IDF soldier who was killed in 2014. The body of another IDF soldier killed in 2014, Oron Shaul, was recently recovered in an Israeli military operation.

In total, some 1,200 people were murdered and 251 kidnapped, mostly civilians, when thousands of terrorists burst across the border into Israel by land, air and sea on October 7, 2023. PJC

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