I Survived

A harrowing yet hopeful account of a British Israeli former hostage’s 471 days in Hamas captivity in Gaza and the resilience that kept her alive to see freedom.

On October 7th, 2023, Emily Damari was captured by Hamas and held for an agonizing 471 days of fear, hunger, and perseverance. In this daring memoir, Damari describes her capture, during which she was shot twice, in the hand and leg, and lost two fingers. She details the twenty-eight places in which she was held, from ravaged apartments where she and her fellow hostages were bombed, to cages packed tightly with other captives, including young children, to the ninety days she spent deep underground in the tunnels of Gaza. 

As bombs rained down, her wounds festered, and food grew scarce and she feared the possibility of sexual assault and for the fate of her family. Amidst this horror, Damari navigated complex dynamics with her captors and forged an indelible bond with a fellow hostage, Romi Gonen, with whom she developed a sisterhood that gave both women the strength to keep going. 

Fearful that she might be outed as a gay woman, and living under the constant weight of war, starvation, and captivity, Damari discovered a profound strength she never knew she possessed. I Survived is a testimony to humanity’s endurance in the face of unspeakable deprivation.