Emily Damari’s mum reveals plans to return to kibbutz where Hamas kidnapped her daughter

Mandy Damari says she hopes to move back to Kfar Aza in 2027 despite fears of another October 7 attack, insisting: “The terrorists took so much. I don’t want them to take any more.”

The mum of British-Israeli former hostage Emily Damari has revealed plans to return to the kibbutz where Hamas terrorists kidnapped her daughter, despite fears that the group could launch another 7 October -style attack.

Writing in today’s Sunday Times, Mandy Damari, 63, describes her determination to rebuild her life in Kfar Aza, less than a mile from Gaza, where she has lived for 35 years. She admits she remains deeply uncertain about the safety of returning, but insists she will not allow the terrorists who devastated her community to drive her permanently from her home.

Emily, who was kidnapped from her apartment during the Hamas massacre on October 7, 2023, was released in January 2025 after 471 days in captivity. Her mother, originally from Beckenham, Kent, has been unable to return permanently to her home since the attack, in which 64 Kfar Aza residents were murdered and 19 taken hostage.

Mandy writes: “I made the decision quite early on that I wanted to move back. I love my house — I used to love it, anyway. I don’t really want to go and start over. And where would I start over? Where do I find a place as beautiful as Kfar Aza?”

Her decision has not been without opposition from Emily, who initially warned her mother that Hamas could strike again.

Mandy recalls: “When I first told my daughter Emily I wanted to return to Kfar Aza she said, “You’re mad. They’re going to come back.””

She says Emily’s captors repeatedly threatened another massacre, telling her: “at the next opportunity, we’re going to come back and do the same to you again. Move out, move out of Israel, because we’re going to come back and do it again and again.”

Although Emily briefly considered returning herself, she has since married and moved with her partner to a nearby city.

Mandy’s house is undergoing renovation, but still lacks electricity and running water. She hopes to return at some point in 2027, joining a small number of residents determined to rebuild a community that was almost destroyed.

Before 7 October, around 350 families lived on the kibbutz. Today, she says, there are only about 50, with many parents of young children and families who lost loved ones unwilling to return.

She writes: “It’s a very difficult decision because there isn’t total peace at the moment. Hamas is not disarmed, as far as I can see.”

Her uncertainty has grown as the sound of explosions continues to echo across the border, despite the rebuilding taking place around her.

“When I first made the decision, I thought it would be safer than it actually is right now. I thought the war would end, and there would be peace.”

She adds: “Have I made the right decision? Am I stupid going back to Kfar Aza?”

Mandy also describes the psychological scars of 7 October, revealing that she has no memory of some of the most traumatic events inside her own home.

Before 7 October, around 350 families lived on the kibbutz. Today, she says, there are only about 50, with many parents of young children and families who lost loved ones unwilling to return.

She spent hours alone in a darkened shelter as terrorists rampaged through the kibbutz, unaware of the scale of the slaughter outside.

She subsequently discovered that a badly wounded Israeli soldier had been treated on her dining table before dying, an incident she cannot remember.

“Someone died inside my house, but I didn’t discover that until later because I don’t remember anything.”

The kibbutz has managed to rebuild most of the houses, and all the communal spaces where everyone went. So it’s going to be a really brilliant place. It will be 95 percent heaven again.

She has sought psychological help to recover her memories but wonders whether forgetting has protected her from the full horror of what happened.

The destruction also claimed the life of her dog, Choocha, who was shot dead by Hamas during Emily’s abduction.

Despite the trauma, Mandy remembers Kfar Aza as an idyllic place to raise children, with a swimming pool, tennis court, football pitch and a close-knit community where youngsters could roam freely.

“Life on the kibbutz was 95 percent heaven,” she writes.

She describes how residents gradually became accustomed to rocket attacks, incendiary balloons and increasingly fortified buildings, never imagining that terrorists could overwhelm the border defences and massacre their neighbours.

“Nobody in their wildest dreams ever thought that something like 7 October would happen.”

One source of continuing distress for both mother and daughter is the decision to demolish and rebuild Emily’s devastated apartment rather than preserve it as evidence of the atrocities.

“Emily wanted her apartment on the kibbutz to be preserved as it is, to allow people to see the disaster that happened there. But the community voted to rebuild it.”

She writes: “The kibbutz has managed to rebuild most of the houses, and all the communal spaces where everyone went. So it’s going to be a really brilliant place. It will be 95 per cent heaven again.”