The mother of a British woman, who was among those taken hostage by Hamas on October 7, has written a heartfelt letter to her daughter and urged UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer to ensure it's delivered in Gaza. Emily Damari, 28, is a British-Israeli dual citizen and was taken hostage from her home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, near the Gaza border, where she was born and raised, Daily Mail reported.
Mandy Damari, Emily's mother, travelled to Downing Street earlier this week and handed over the note for her daughter to Mr Starmer. She also urged the UK government to do more to bring Emily back home.
"It is breaking my heart a little more, day by day... Soon there will be nothing left of my heart - or Emily," Mandy, 63, was quoted as saying by the news outlet.
She said that most of the British people were still unaware that a UK citizen was still held hostage in Gaza. Hence, she urged Starmer to mention her daughter whenever the UK government talks about the hostages.
Requesting Starmer to use "every ounce of his influence" to get Emily back, Mandy said, "Diplomatic pressure, negotiations, humanitarian efforts — whatever it takes... We cannot let another day pass."
She said that the country can't afford to lose any more lives to the nightmare, adding, "We don't need tea and sympathy, we need actions, not words."
Here's Mandy's heartfelt letter for her daughter:
"Dear Emily,
I hope this note gets to you when you are alive and home with me, abba and all your family. And you'll see that we are all alive.
If it gets to you in Gaza know that we all love you and miss you and are sick with worry about what is happening to you every day and we are praying and meeting whoever we can to get you back home.
Please keep strong, keep praying and just be your beautiful self that I love to the moon and back. You will come home. And I promise that I'll never complain again about your perfume sticking to me when you're home.
Love you so much
Your Mum (who is always right!)"
In January this year, Dafna Elyakim, a released hostage, said in an interview with an Israeli TV channel that she and her sister were taken into underground tunnels by the Hamas militants where they met five other hostages. Besides Emily Damari, the other four mentioned by her are Liri Albag, Naama Levy, Romy Gonen and Agam Berger.
It is believed that Emily, kidnapped alongside twin brothers Ziv and Gali Berman, is still somewhere in the Gaza Strip, held hostage inside a deep underground tunnel. On Monday, it will be a year since the October 7 attack by Hamas militants in southern Israeli communities, killing at least 1,200 people and kidnapping over 250 others.
The report further said that Emily's beloved dog Choocha, a golden cockapoo, was shot dead by the Hamas militants in her arms, while she too suffered a gunshot wound to the hand.
