Emily Damari, who was held hostage by Hamas for 471 days, has expressed her deep gratitude towards Tottenham Hotspur Football Club and its supporters for the immense support they showed throughout her captivity.
The 28-year-old Spurs fan, who was released alongside two other women on Sunday, was pictured holding a team scarf at home, thanking fans for their consistent campaigning on her behalf.
She was particularly moved by the regular sight of yellow balloons released during Spurs matches and the yellow ribbons tied around the stadium, according to her family.
And in a touching moment during the North London derby earlier this week, Tottenham fans joined forces with rival Arsenal supporters to advocate for Ms Damari and other hostages' releases.
A statement revealed: “The 28-year-old Spurs fan, who can't wait to come back to London to see her favourite team play at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, was so touched to hear about all the amazing people who regularly released yellow balloons during matches and tied yellow ribbons around the stadium and is so proud to be known as 'One Of Our Own'.”
Damari can't wait to come back to London to see her favourite team play at the new Spurs stadium
Emily’s release, along with fellow female hostages Romi Gonen, 24, and 31-year-old Doron Steinbrecher, is part of the opening phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal which began on Sunday morning.
"Her wish now is for the remaining 94 hostages, including the eight British linked [captives], to come home as soon as possible,” the statement added.
In a statement on Monday, her mother Mandy, 63, a nursery teacher who grew up in Beckenham, south-east London, said Emily was doing ‘much better than any of us could ever have anticipated’.
Later, she added: ‘Emily is in high spirits, on the road to recovery. She is an amazingly strong and resilient young woman.’
It comes after the trio shared their first post-release testimony via a joint statement vetted by the military.
One of the three, who was not identified, wrote: “I didn’t think I’d return, I was certain that I’d die in Gaza.”
