Hamas terrorists say last Brit hostage in Gaza is earmarked for release but refuse to say if she is alive
HAMAS terrorists say the last Brit hostage in Gaza is earmarked for release — but refuse to say if she is alive.
Emily Damari, 28, is second on a list of 34 names issued by the terror group.
She was shot in the hand and suffered shrapnel wounds to the leg when kidnapped from the Kfar Aza kibbutz village in Israel 15 months ago.
Freed hostages later revealed, however, that Spurs fan Emily had helped cheer up other captives in the Gaza terror tunnels.
A total of 251 were abducted in the October 7 outrages in 2023 but it is thought that fewer than 50 still live.
An unnamed Hamas official confirmed the group had agreed to release the 34 — but needed “a week of calm” to contact the captors “and identify who is alive and who is dead”.
It also wants Israel to release hundreds of Palestinians held.
A source close to Emily’s family said they did not view the Hamas hostage lists “as official or authoritative”, adding: “It’s not clear if Emily is slated for release.”
The list of hostages Hamas claims to have agreed to release also includes the youngest Israeli hostage Kfir Bibas, it has been reported.
At just nine months old, baby Kfir was snatched during the October 7 massacre alongside four-year-old brother Ariel and mum Shiri from Nir Oz Kibbutz.
His dad Yarden Bibas gave himself over to Hamas thinking he was saving his family.
In a heartbreaking interview with documentarian Alan Duncan for The Sun, Yarden’s traumatised cousin, Yifat Zailer, told how he gave up his life to save his family only to be taunted by Hamas who claimed they had died.
The Bibas family was expected to be released as part of the brief and only ceasefire-hostage negotiation in November 2023.
Instead, baby Kfir turned one last January and remains the youngest hostage to be taken by Hamas.
The tod’s second birthday is coming up in just days.
Kfir could now potentially be released alongside his brother Ariel.
List of hostages Hamas says will release
WOMEN AND CHILDREN:
- Romi Gonen, 23
- Emily Damari, 27
- Arbel Yehud, 29
- Doron Steinbrecher, 31
- Ariel Bibas, 5
- Kfir Bibas, 1
- Shiri Silberman Bibas, 33
- Liri Albag, 19
- Karina Ariev, 20
- Agam Berger, 21
- Danielle Gilboa, 20
- Naama Levy, 20
REST OF THE MEN:
- Ohad Ben-Ami, 58
- Gadi Moshe Moses, 80
- Keith Siegel, 65
- Ofer Calderon, 54
- Eli Sharabi, 52
- Itzik Elgarat, 70
- Shlomo Mansour, 86
- Ohad Yahalomi, 50
- Youssef Hamis Ziyadne, 54
- Oded Lifshitz, 84
- Tsahi Idan, 50
Source: Times of Israel
Israeli officials have pledged not to halt their Gaza operation without a finalised deal.
Hamas, with its leadership wiped out and ranks decimated, is still demanding the total withdrawal of Israeli troops and a permanent ceasefire.
But Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu insists fighting will resume to completely destroy the Iran-backed Islamist group.