Mother of British Hamas hostage makes plea to the nation one year on

by · Mail Online

The mother of a British hostage who has been held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip for nearly year has made a desperate plea to the nation. 

Mandy Damari, a 63-year-old primary school teacher from Surrey, had her world torn apart on October 7 last year after her daughter Emily, 28, was taken from Kibbutz Kfar Aza by Hamas terrorists. 

Mandy has spent the last year lobbying Israeli and British politicians for the safe return of her daughter, the only British hostage to remain in Hamas' hands. 

In a short snippet shared with media outlets, Mandy was heard saying: 'I would like to feel that the British public were behind her and the British government are behind her and they were saying there was a British hostage held captive in the terror tunnels by Hamas in Gaza.

'I want them to know that she's there and to advocate for her release unconditionally and immediately

'She's a young woman who knows what's happening to her. If there's a way to put her on social media, see her out there, remind people that she's there, make sure she's not forgotten.

Mandy Damari (pictured) has spent the last year lobbying Israeli and British politicians for the safe return of her daughter
Mandy's daughter Emily was taken from her home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza on October 7 
She was shot and taken in her own car to the Gaza Strip 

'She's my daughter, I love her to the moon and back. There's no way I'm giving up on her. That's my job now, to get my daughter back alive.'

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Earlier this week, she travelled to Downing Street to ask Sir Keir Starmer 'to use every ounce of his influence' to bring Emily home.

'Diplomatic pressure, negotiations, humanitarian efforts — whatever it takes,' she says. 'We cannot let another day pass. We cannot afford to lose any more lives to this nightmare. We don't need tea and sympathy, we need actions not words.'

On October 7 last year Emily was taken from her home of Kibbutz Kfar Aza near the Gaza border, where she was born and raised.

Her beloved golden cockapoo, Choocha, was shot dead in her arms, while the attack left her with a gunshot wound to the hand.

On Monday it will be a year since the biggest slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust, the October 7 attacks in which 1,200 were slain in cold blood by Hamas terrorists. Pictured: A man walks past a giant billboard featuring portraits of Israeli hostages held in Gaza since the October 7 attack
Mrs Damari says she has been left 'a desperate, panicked, and disillusioned parent, who is terrified for the life of my child'
The Tottenham Hotspur fan is still being held under the watch of Hamas terrorists

She was kidnapped alongside twin brothers Ziv and Gali Berman, 27, and remains somewhere in the Gaza Strip, deep underground in a tunnel.   

Mandy said she has been let down by the British government and the international community.

She said following a previous visit to see Sir Keir last month, where she urged him to use 'his power and his position to secure the hostages release', the following morning she 'suddenly got so angry'.

'Why do I have to ask all these heads of governments to do things to get Emily out,' she wrote.

'They are supposed to be intelligent people who take care of their citizens' wellbeing - they go to the best universities, have degrees, even Master's degrees - aren't the answers obvious to them?'