“I have returned to the life I loved”: Ex-hostages send first messages after being captured in the Gaza Strip

As the nation tried to curb its curiosity and grant privacy to the three hostages freed from Hamas captivity in Gaza on Sunday, the messages shared by the women and their families sparked hope in Israel after more than 15 months of war and joy.

“Love, love, love,” Emily Damari wrote in an Instagram Story shared online Monday morning, thanking her family and friends for their support. “I have returned to the life I love.”

The Sheba Medical Center said on Sunday evening that Damari, 28, Romi Gonen, 24, and Doron Steinbrecher, 31, were in stable condition after being transported by helicopter from the Gaza Strip border to the hospital in the Tel Aviv area and were reunited with their families.

The women were the first of 33 hostages to be released in the next few weeks. This is part of the first phase of an agreement aimed at releasing the 94 hostages still held in Gaza and ending fighting in the Palestinian enclave.

The three women were released in a chaotic scene in Gaza City on Sunday evening when masked Hamas gunmen handed them over to the Red Cross amid a large, raucous crowd of mostly young men.

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Damari’s mother, Mandy, said in a statement released Monday morning via the Hostages and Missing Families Forum that her daughter was “in much better health than we expected.”

Emily Damari (right) and her mother Mandy after returning from 471 days of Hamas captivity at an IDF facility near the Gaza border, January 19, 2025. (IDF)

“Yesterday I finally got to hug Emily, like I’ve been dreaming of for a long time,” she said, thanking the public for their unwavering support of the Israeli-British dual citizen over the past 15 months.

“It was a great joy to join the rest of the world in catching a glimpse of Emily’s strength, determination and charisma when she was released,” she added.

However, she pointed out that her daughter still has a long road to recovery after losing two fingers when she was shot by Hamas terrorists during the attack on Kibbutz Kfar Aza. The gunmen who broke into her home shot her dog, she reportedly told her family and friends in her first conversations with them Sunday evening, and she was also hit as she tried to comfort her dying pet.

The former hostage wrote on Instagram that the outpouring of love and support left her “heart bursting with excitement.”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” she wrote. “I’m the happiest in the world, just like that.”

Damari’s post was signed with the “rock on” emoji, a nod to the gesture that now makes her hand permanent.

Former hostage Emily Damari is seen in a video call with her family after meeting with her mother at an IDF facility near the Gaza border on January 19, 2025. Emily is seen with a bandaged hand. She lost two fingers after being shot by Hamas terrorists during the October 7, 2023 attack. (decency)

In highly emotional images and videos from the release Sunday, Damari, Gonen and Steinbrecher were seen smiling excitedly as they were hugged by family members. Outside, friends and supporters celebrated and danced with Israeli flags.

Friends of Damari told Channel 12 that after she arrived at Ramat Gan Hospital, she leaned through the window of a passing vehicle to greet them.

“She’s happy and as healthy as she can be… she’s a fighter, she’s strong,” said one of her friends.

Released hostage Emily Damari arrives at Sheba Medical Center on January 19, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

In a WhatsApp voice message shared with Hebrew media, Gonen told her friends: “This is Romi who has returned from captivity. Thank you all so much, I have no idea what you did, I only saw a tiny drop but you are the best, I appreciate it so much. I send you all hugs and kisses and, God willing, we will see each other again soon.”

Before Sunday, Gonen was last heard from on October 7, 2023 at 10:58 a.m. as she and her friends tried to escape the Hamas attack on the Nova music rave near Kibbutz Re’im.

Gonen had spoken to her mother, Meirav Leshem Gonen, on the phone since the terrorists attacked the outdoor event at 6:30 a.m. and told her shortly before her abduction that she had been shot and was bleeding.

Leshem Gonen wrote on Facebook on Monday that the family was insulating itself from the excitement surrounding the release, which captivated Israeli society and attracted widespread international attention.

“In these hours we find ourselves in an alternative reality, disconnected from the outside world, where nothing exists except family,” Leshem Gonen wrote on Facebook. “In a second we’ll reset and be back,” she added with a smiley face emoji.

Romi Gonen meets with her family at the Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan on January 19, 2025. (Maayan Toaf/GPO)

Overnight, Leshem Gonen posted: “I and we will need a moment to breathe it in and believe in this new reality.”

There was no comment from the Steinbrecher family, but a friend told the Ynet news site that she appeared to be doing well.

“We saw Doron standing and smiling,” Ofer Oved told the outlet. “We all understand that it will take some time, but apart from the medical examinations, they make a good impression and we hope that they will soon return to us, to our Kfar Aza community that has moved to Ruhama.”

Like Damari, Steinbrecher was kidnapped from her home on Kibbutz Kfar Aza. The government has built temporary prefabricated houses for residents of another kibbutz, Ruhama, about 15 kilometers away.

Doron Steinbrecher (in black) meets with her family at the Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan on January 19, 2025. (Maayan Toaf/GPO)

Ynet reported that all three women were scheduled to undergo intensive medical examinations throughout the day on Monday. According to hospital staff, some of the tests were scheduled to begin Sunday evening but were postponed to give the former hostages more time to spend with their loved ones.

Sheba was expected to update the public about her conditions following the exams, the report added. The delay also resulted in a safety meeting being scheduled to take place Monday to Tuesday instead, according to the outlet.

“It will take a few more days to complete all the necessary examinations,” said the deputy director of the Ministry of Health, Dr. Sefi Mendelovich, on Sunday.

The hostage ceasefire agreement is the culmination of a lengthy international effort to get Hamas and Israel to agree to a deal to end the war sparked by the terror group’s Oct. 7 attack and release the remaining hostages. The first phase of the three-stage deal calls for the release of a total of 33 Gaza prisoners within 42 days in exchange for over 1,904 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, including several serving multiple life sentences for deadly terrorist attacks and murders.

Supporters and relatives of Israeli hostages held captive in the Gaza Strip since the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023 demonstrate in Tel Aviv on January 19, 2025. (Menahem Kahana/AFP)

The next releases under the deal are scheduled for Saturday, when four more female hostages are scheduled to be released. All of the hostages to be released in the first phase of the deal are so-called humanitarian cases – women, children, men over 50, and sick or injured men. Most, but not all, of the 33 are believed to still be alive.

Of the 251 hostages kidnapped by Hamas during the invasion and massacre in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, 91 are now believed to be in the Gaza Strip, including the bodies of at least 34 whose deaths were confirmed by the IDF.

During a week-long ceasefire in late November, Hamas released 105 civilians and previously released four hostages. Eight hostages were rescued alive by troops, and the bodies of 40 hostages were also recovered, including three who were accidentally killed by the Israeli military as they tried to escape their captors.

Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Gaza Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the body of an IDF soldier killed in 2014. The body of another IDF soldier, also killed in 2014, was recently recovered in Gaza in a secret Israeli military operation.

Emanuel Fabian contributed to this report.