The mother of the only British and Israeli hostage still held by Hamas on Gaza has asked the UK why it is not “fighting at every moment to secure their release”.
Emily Damari, 28 years old, was shot and taken across the border from an Israeli Kibbutz into Gaza on 7th October.
Mandy Damari, the mother of Mandy Damari, said that her daughter’s “plight appears to have been forgotten” at a London event commemorating the attacks one year ago.
In a statement, Prime Minister Sir Keir starmer said that the UK “must unambiguously stand with the Jewish Community”.
The dual national is one of 97 hostages still unaccounted for.
Her mother spoke at the Hyde Park Memorial event and said: “[Emily] has been a daughter of two countries, but nobody here has mentioned the fact that a British female hostage is still being held by Hamas. I wonder sometimes if people know there is even a British woman in there.
Imagine for a second that Emily were your daughter. Try to imagine what she is experiencing.
“Since the 7th of October last year, she was held hostage by Hamas terrorists inside the Gaza terror tunnels. She was tortured, kept in captivity and isolated, unable eat, talk or move without permission.”
Emily, who was born in Israel to a British mother and lived there with her, told the crowd how she loved to visit her “second home” across the sea, the UK. Her mother said that Emily loved to watch Spurs games, go to the pub, shop at Primark, and even see Ed Sheeran perform.
Her mother begged Britain and other countries for more to be done to secure the release her daughter and the other hostages.
“How can she still be in prison after a year?” Why doesn’t the entire world, including Britain, fight every minute to secure her freedom? She’s a member of their family.”
She said that some of the women, children, and hostages who were released as part of the hostage-deal in November told her Emily was still alive. She also spoke about how Emily helped the other hostages to remain positive in the worst times.
“Everyday is hell, not knowing what Emily goes through. I know from the hostages who returned that they had been tortured, abused sexually and starved. Every minute lost is another moment in which unimaginable suffering, or even death, can occur.
BBC News has contacted the UK Foreign Office to get a comment.
Other hostages who have British relatives are Eli Sharabi, Oded Lifschitz and Avinatan or. Nadav popplewell, a British-Israeli, was also kidnapped by Israeli soldiers on 7 October. His body was recovered in Gaza in August.
Families of Israeli hostages met Sir Keir on Monday and Foreign Secretary David Lammy, calling on them “to do more” to bring their loved ones home.
A press conference told that the prime minister had agreed to free and return the hostages immediately.
On Sunday, he stated that the country must “unambiguously” stand with the Jewish Community and described the 7th October as the “darkest moment in Jewish history since Holocaust”.
“As a dad, a husband and a brother, I was unable to imagine what it would be like to meet the families who lost loved ones in the past week. “Their grief and pain is ours and it’s shared by homes all over the country,” Sir Keir stated.
He also reiterated the call for a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon.
The Hyde Park event was organised by the Board of Deputies of British Jews, among other groups. Thousands of British Jews, supporters of Israel, and British flags were waved with chants of bringing them home.
Many of the people in the crowd have family or friends living in Israel. They were shocked that the hostages had not yet been released after a year.
Tzipi Hotovely, Israeli ambassador to the UK, told the crowd that “We will do everything we can to bring these people home.”
Michael Wegier, Chief Executive of the Board of Deputies of British Jews told BBC News that the British Jewish community was traumatised, just like the Jewish community in Israel and other parts of the world.
“There are about 30,000 Jews living in Israel from Britain.” We have many friends and family in Israel and we visit them often. So, we take the events there very personally.
Glasgow also held a vigil in memory of the victims of Hamas’ attack, where hundreds gathered on the steps of Kelvingrove Art Gallery.
A man was filmed damaging an old Jewish memorial in Hove on the eve 7 October.
Sussex Police responded to a video that had been shared on X, as well as other social media platforms. They confirmed the incident is being treated like a “hate-crime”.
Tens of thousands pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched through central London on Saturday, calling for an immediate cessation of hostilities in Gaza and a stop to the escalating Middle East conflict.
Israel launched a campaign in Gaza as a response to an unprecedented attack by Hamas gunmen on southern Israel, which took place on 7 October. During the attack, approximately 1,200 people died and 251 were taken hostage.
According to the Hamas-run Health Ministry, at least 41,870 Palestinians have died in Gaza since that time.
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