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A devastated mother of a kidnapped British woman has revealed what the past year has been like since Hamas captured her daughter.
Mandy Damari, 63, said her life turned into a ‘nightmare’ after her daughter Emily was taken captive from a Kibbutz in Israel almost a year ago.
The militant group has held Emily Damari for 364 days following her kidnapping.
The 28-year-old Tottenham Hotspur fan was taken from her home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza near the Gaza border.
Mandy Damari (right) has been campaigning for the release of her daughter Emily for the past year
Emily Damari was injured when she was kidnapped from her home at a Kibbutz
She was reportedly shot in the hand while her golden cockapoo Choocha was killed.
Emily was taken away in her car and she is thought to be currently held in a Hamas tunnel.
‘We cannot let another day pass’
Mandy, a nursery school teacher from Surrey, has spent every waking moment over the past year to lobby for Emily’s release and meeting with officials.
Mother and daughter Mandy (right) and Emily
Speaking at an anniversary event commemorating the October 7 attack held at London’s Hyde Park, she told the crowd: ‘It is breaking my heart a little more, day by day.
‘Soon there will be nothing left of my heart – or Emily.’
She travelled to Downing Street on Monday to demand that the UK government takes action to free the last British hostage still held by Hamas.
Mandy handed a note to Prime Minister Keir Starmer addressed to Emily and pleaded with him to do everything in his power to get the letter to her.
She said today: ‘Diplomatic pressure, negotiations, humanitarian efforts—whatever it takes.
‘We cannot let another day pass.
‘We cannot afford to lose any more lives to this nightmare. We don’t need tea and sympathy, we need actions not words.’
In the heartbreaking letter, Mandy told Emily to ‘please keep strong, keep praying and just be your beautiful self that I love to the moon and back.
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People visiting the memorial site for the October 7 victims killed at the Supernova music festival by Hamas militants (Credits: EPA) (Picture: Abir Sultan/EPA)
‘You will come home. And I promise that I’ll never complain again about your perfume sticking to me when you’re home,’ she wrote.
It comes almost a year after the violence escalated between Hamas and Israel following the armed group’s attack and taking of hostages to Gaza, including British nationals.
Nadav Popplewell, a British national, was confirmed dead in June along with four others kidnapped months after they were captured by Hamas.
The attack by Hamas led to Israeli …read more
Source:: Metro
