Editor’s Note: The first three hostages were released shortly before the February Reflector went to press. The following are some key details about the three. Reflector digital also has detail on the four hostages released the weekend of Jan. 25-26 and updates on the first three women released.
On Jan. 19, Jews around the world, especially in Israel, expressed joy and were overwhelmed with emotion to welcome Romi Gonen, Emily Damari, and Doron Steinbrecher, back home after 471 days in captivity somewhere in Gaza.
The three women whom Hamas held hostage returned to Israel as a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war went into effect on Sunday morning, Jan. 19.
The women exited on their own from a Hamas vehicle, according to footage streamed from Gaza. Representatives of the Red Cross met them there in preparation for returning them to Israel, where their families and medical professionals were waiting.
The women, civilians abducted when Hamas terrorists invaded southern Israel, were the first hostages freed from among 33 set for release over six weeks, according to a ceasefire deal struck.
- Emily Damari: The only British citizen to remain in Gaza, Damari, 27, was shot on Oct. 7 but seen alive in Gaza by other hostages who returned. She was abducted from Kibbutz Kfar Aza.
- Romi Gonen: Taken hostage from the Nova music festival, Gonen, 24, was shot on Oct. 7 but seen alive in Gaza by other hostages who returned.
- Doron Steinbrecher: Taken hostage from her home at Kibbutz Kfar Aza, Steinbrecher appeared alive in a video released by Hamas in January 2024.
In videos shared, they all were seen tearful and smiling while embracing their mothers when they were greeted by them.
“Love, love, love,” Emily Damari wrote in an Instagram story shared online Jan. 20 thanking her family and friends for their support. “I have returned to my beloved life.”
Damari’s mother Mandy said her daughter was “in much better health than we expected,” in a statement released via the Hostages and Missing Families Forum Monday morning.
In a WhatsApp voice message shared with Hebrew media, Gonen told her friends, “This is Romi, who returned from captivity. Thank you all, I have no idea what you did, I’ve only seen a tiny drop, but you’re the best, I appreciate it so much. Sending you all hugs and kisses, and God willing we’ll meet again soon.”
Before Sunday, Romi was last heard from at 10:58 a.m. October 7, 2023, as she and her friends tried to escape the Hamas assault on the Nova music rave near Kibbutz Re’im.
Romi had been on the phone with her mother, Meirav Leshem Gonen, since the terrorists attacked the outdoor event at 6:30 a.m., telling her shortly before she was kidnapped that she had been shot and was bleeding.
No official announcement was been made about their condition before their release, but Romi Gonen’s father told an Israeli radio station that he understood that his daughter would be returning alive. Their mothers were called to Reim, near to the site of the Nova massacre, to be reunited with the women.
Every day for over 15 months, their families, friends and Jews everywhere were thinking about them, praying for them, and advocating for their release. As well as the remaining 95 hostages being held,
