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Even though the women did sometimes receive medical help or medications, they spent significant stretches of time without daylight, confined to underground space, N12 added.
By MATHILDA HELLER JANUARY 20, 2025 22:02
Israeli forces collect released Gaza hostages Emily Damari, Romi Gonen and Doron Steinbrecher on January 19, 2025
(photo credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)
The three women released from Hamas captivity on Sunday shared their first testimonies from their captivity with N12 exclusively on Monday, cleared for publication by the military censor.
Doron Steinbrecher, Romi Gonen, and Emily Damari relayed that they were initially held together but were later separated. They revealed that they were only informed of their release on Sunday morning: "We couldn’t believe it when we were told we were about to go home."
According to their testimonies, they were at times housed in humanitarian shelters designated for displaced Gazans.
Even though the women did sometimes receive medical help or medications, they spent significant stretches of time without daylight, confined to underground space, N12 added.
One of the women underwent a medical procedure without anesthesia. She told N12 she thought she would die in Gaza.
The women said that they spent 15 months cooking and supporting each other.
They also added that throughout their 471 days in Gaza, they were exposed to television and radio broadcasts and were able to follow their families’ struggles for their release.
"We saw your fight; we heard our families battling for us," they recounted.
This meant they also learned of the October 7 massacre.
One of the women told N12, "We understood that our families survived, but we discovered we had lost many friends."
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Final moments in captivity
They also spoke of their terror in the final moments of captivity as they were transferred to the Red Cross. "We were terrified during the transition from the terrorists’ hands to the Red Cross," they told N12, and mentioned being surrounded by the hostile Gazan crowd.
The testimonies given to N12 also revealed new details about Emily Damari’s time in captivity. Emily spent significant amounts of time with Romi Gonen, being transferred together dozens of times between various hiding places, both above and below ground.
Romi, a trained medic, provided critical care to Emily’s injuries, including two lost fingers from being shot during the October 7th massacre and a leg injury.
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