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Surrounded by cheering friends and family, and standing beneath the chupah with their beloved dog, Mayo, by their side, Emily Damari married her partner Danielle Amit in Tel Aviv on Thursday – the start of a joyful new chapter for the 30-year-old British-Israeli who survived 471 days in Hamas captivity.
It was a scene of happiness impossible to imagine nearly three years earlier. On 7 October 2023, Damari was shot and dragged from her home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza during the Hamas attacks, before being taken hostage into Gaza alongside twin brothers Gali and Ziv Berman.
While Emily endured captivity, her mother Mandy became one of the most determined and recognisable voices in the international campaign to bring the hostages home, travelling the world to press her daughter’s case with political leaders, foreign ministers and humanitarian organisations.
On Thursday, the campaigning and captivity belonged to the past as Emily was surrounded by family and friends, celebrating a future that for so long had seemed uncertain.
Alongside wedding guests Romi Gonen and Doron Steinbrecher, Emily was released on 19 January 2025, her bandaged hand becoming a global symbol of strength, resilience and defiance.
She began rebuilding her life and met Dani in the months that followed. The couple confirmed their relationship publicly on 1 June 2025 and became engaged in January 2026, one year after Emily’s release.
The wedding celebrations began with a dinner for family and close friends, before the couple exchanged vows beneath the chupah, followed by a party.
Fellow former hostages Liri Albag, Danielle Gilboa, Omer Shem Tov, Keith and Aviva Siegal and Gali and Ziv Berman also attended.
Emily’s mother, Mandy Damari said: “There are moments in a parent’s life when you look at your child and realise just how far they have travelled, and tonight, looking at Emily standing beside Dani, is one of those moments. Because there was a time when I wasn’t sure I would ever see Emily again.
“For 471 days, she was held in captivity. And during those endless days and nights, there were moments when the thought of standing here tonight, seeing my daughter alive, safe, happy, and standing beside the person she loves, would have been impossible to imagine.”
Describing the evening as more than a wedding, she called it “a celebration of life. Of love. Of hope. And of a future that, for a very long time, I wasn’t sure Emily would have.Tonight, I don’t want to look back at the 471 days. I want to look forward to all the days ahead.
“Because after everything, my daughter is here. She is loved. She is happy. And she is beginning a new chapter with you, Dani. And honestly, I don’t think any mother, or father, could ask for a more beautiful sight.”
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