After 15 months of destruction and bloodshed, a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas has finally taken effect in the Gaza Strip, ushering in an uneasy pause to the conflict that reshaped the Middle East. As part of the deal, Hamas will release three female Israeli hostages in the coming hours, the first tangible test of the fragile truce.
For the families of Emily Damari, 28, Romi Gonen, 24, and Doron Steinbrecher, 31, the nightmare that began last October when their loved ones were abducted by Hamas gunmen, may soon be over. But who are these three young women whose fates are now intertwined with the course of an intractable conflict?
The British-Israeli Caught in the Crossfire
Emily Damari, a dual British-Israeli citizen who grew up in southeast London, had been living in Israel’s Kfar Aza kibbutz near the Gaza border when Hamas militants stormed the community on October 7, 2023. Damari managed to send one final text message to her family, stating that the gunmen were closing in on her apartment, before she was seized along with 37 other Kfar Aza residents.
Witnesses later recounted how Damari, the only Briton among the captives, had been shot in the hand, injured by shrapnel, and bundled blindfolded into her own car as the militants escaped back into Gaza. In an interview two months after the abduction, Emily’s mother, Mandy Damari, expressed her anguish:
“I worry every day, I worry every second because in the next second, she could be murdered, just because she’s there.”
– Mandy Damari, mother of hostage Emily Damari
A Festival Turned Tragedy
24-year-old Romi Gonen, a former scouts counsellor, had been attending a music festival near the border when Hamas militants attacked, killing three of her friends. Shot in the hand herself, Gonen attempted to flee by car, managing to tell her mother by phone: “They shot me, Mom, and I’m bleeding. Everyone in the car is bleeding.” Her empty vehicle was later found abandoned, the phone signal traced into Gaza.
In a painful twist, a hostage released in a prior truce informed Gonen’s family that while Romi was alive, her wounded hand was in dire condition, immobile and discolored after months in captivity without proper medical care.
Abducted from Home
Veterinary nurse Doron Steinbrecher, 31, was violently snatched from her home in Kfar Aza, still in her pajamas, when militants breached her kibbutz’s security. With her last words “they’re here” to her family, Steinbrecher was hauled off to an unknown fate. Months later, she appeared in a hostage video, pleading for help.
For the shell-shocked families and a war-weary region, the ceasefire deal and promised release of Damari, Gonen and Steinbrecher represent a first fragile step on a long road to recovery. While the truce halts active fighting and eases the blockade on Gaza, many thorny issues remain unresolved.
Only time will tell if the agreement can succeed where others collapsed, but for three families, the countdown has begun for an improbable reunion that once seemed like an impossible dream. As the Middle East holds its breath, their painful vigil may soon be over, signaling that even in a land riven by conflict, the seeds of hope can still take root.
