Emily Damari releases captivity surgery photos from Shifa Hospital

Former hostage Emily Damari released photographs documenting surgery at Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital while she was held captive by Hamas, stating publicly that her survival is a medical miracle. Damari was abducted from her home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza on October 7, 2023, and held in the Gaza Strip for 471 days before her release in January 2025.

Images Documenting Captive Surgery at Shifa Hospital

The newly published images show Damari lying on an operating table alongside medical staff inside Shifa Hospital. The photographs were recovered during Israel Defense Forces operations in Gaza. Damari marked three years since her abduction on the Hebrew calendar holiday of Simchat Torah by sharing the pictures on Instagram, noting she was seized alongside her close friend Gali Berman.

Describing the conditions during her medical treatment, Damari wrote that she was placed inside a blood-filled room with a corpse on the floor while a ‘doctor’ approached and introduced himself as Dr. Hamas, alongside ten other monsters pointing Kalashnikovs at her head. Damari required treatment for a gunshot wound in her hand and a shrapnel injury in her leg, injuries that ultimately led to the amputation of two fingers on her left hand.

Extended Medical Complications from Untreated Wounds

Damari detailed severe complications stemming from inadequate care during her 471-day captivity. Her leg continued bleeding from an open gunshot wound for four months inside Gaza. Stitches intended for removal after 14 days remained in her hand for a full year, according to her published account. Her mother, Mandy Damari, previously stated that Hamas provided virtually no medical care beyond a bottle of expired iodine, leaving her daughter stitched up like a pincushion and facing a high risk of infection.

Damari Thanks Family and Security Forces After Release

In her social media statement, Damari expressed gratitude to her family, security forces, the people of Israel, and fellow former hostages, specifically mentioning Romi Gonen.

Thank you to the Holy One, blessed be He, thank you to my family, thank you to the security forces for a true miracle, thank you that I survived the worst of all with the help of everyone who was there with me, and especially the one and only Romi Gonen!

Emily Damari