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Last remaining British hostage named by Hamas as one of three set to be released
19/01/2025
The last remaining British hostage in Gaza has been named by Hamas as one of three people set to be released on Sunday.
A ceasefire deal, which promised the phased release of hostages as well as a pause in the 15-month Israel-Hamas war, was delayed on Sunday morning and came into force at 9.15am UK time.
Hamas has named three hostages it plans to release from 2pm UK time, including British-Israeli Emily Damari, 28, who has been in captivity for 470 days.
A lawyer for her family said there has been no “independent verification” that she will be released.
Adam Rose told Times Radio: “No, we’ve not had any independent verification. I’ve seen what’s out in public, I’ve been in touch with the family, but not had specific confirmation yet, no.”
He said Ms Damari’s family are in an “impossible position”, adding: “Their daughter, their only daughter, now 28, was taken from her home on October 7 2023, she was injured in the process, and their world’s just been turned upside down while they’re waiting to find out what’s happened to their daughter.”
Mr Rose said the “ongoing torture” the family have been through is “unimaginable”.
He told Times Radio: “I think the idea that a close family member of yours, or of any of your listeners, is taken early in the morning from their home – I visited Emily’s little house on the kibbutz, bullet-ridden and burnt, last January – and it’s pretty unimaginable to think the terror she went through and the ongoing torture that her family has been put through for 470 days, almost 500 days now.”
The lawyer said he has told her loved ones to “prepare for the worst”.
He told BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg: “Our advice has always been until somebody is in your arms and being hugged and they’re alive and well, you have to assume that nothing is happening. And, I suppose, prepare for the worst.
“But hopefully Emily is well. Hopefully Emily will come out this afternoon. Hopefully she’ll be given medical care and then she’ll be hugged.”
The families of other British-linked hostages wait to hear about their loved ones.
London-based film-maker Sharone Lifschitz said she knew her father, Oded, was alive in Gaza in late October 2023 but has heard no news of him since.
“He was frail and he was shot in the hand,” she told BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg. “His chances are not great but we will know.”
She reacted to the news of Ms Damari’s expected release, telling the programme: “It’s incredible to imagine that Emily will be hugging her mum Mandy today. That’s wonderful.”
Two other hostages, Romi Gonen and Doron Steinbrecher, are set to be released on Sunday.
Cabinet minister Darren Jones said the UK is “hopeful” about the “fragile” ceasefire, but added: “There’s much more work to be done.”
Asked how confident he is that it will hold, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury told Times Radio: “We’re certainly very hopeful. It’s great that we’ve gotten to this position where a ceasefire has begun.
“Clearly it’s fragile, clearly there’s much more work to be done. We want the hostages released back to Israel for the fighting to stop, as we said, from the very start of this conflict.
“Then the most immediate priority will be making sure that the aid that has been put together is able to be released into Gaza to support the people who desperately are in need of it.
“Then we have that small window of opportunity, that hope that we might be able to get all the parties around the table once again, to focus on a permanent, two-state solution that could prevent this type of war and terrorism from returning to the region in the future.”
Shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel also described the situation in the Middle East as “fragile” as she urged all parties to “stick with the plan that has been outlined”.
She told Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips on Sky News: “The families in Israel must be just going through the most unimaginable anxiety right now, and the hostage names have now been released.
“The three hostages, Emily is clearly one of them, and her mother, Mandy – many of us have met Mandy, we know the family – but just the sheer anxiety and apprehension that they’ll be feeling it’s just extraordinary.”
Dame Priti went on to describe the ceasefire deal as “vital”, adding: “All parties are calling for it. Countries are calling for it. There’s a lot of hope that is really linked to this new deal and framework.
“I think, you know, everyone will urge both sides to, you know, stick with the plan that has been outlined, recognising it’s difficult, it’s very sensitive. We need to see the hostages released in this first phase, others to come out and clearly then work together in a constructive way for a better future for the region.”
Former prime minister Sir Tony Blair said the ceasefire deal “marks a crucial step towards ending the devastation” of the conflict since October 2023.
Published: by Radio NewsHub