Mum's 'living nightmare' as Brit daughter, 28, held hostage for 12 months after Hamas attack

Monday marks a year since the Hamas terror attack on Israel, which left more than 1,200 people dead and hundreds kidnapped, including Brit Emily Damari.

Victims of Israel's deadliest single terror incident on October 7 are still grappling with the traumatic memories and surrounding terrors a year on. British mum Mandy Damari, age 63, is struggling with the "nightmare" since her daughter Emily, 28, was taken from Kibbutz Kfar Aza, near Gaza, on that day.

Tomorrow marks the one-year anniversary of the deadly rampage by Hamas around Gaza, where approximately 1,200 people were killed and 250 abducted, many of whom remain captive in the Gaza Strip.

The atrocity prompted the conflict known as the Gaza war, which resulted in the deaths of nearly 42,000 Palestinians. Hostilities have spread to Lebanon, where Hezbollah has launched strikes against Israel in solidarity with Gaza, fuelling anxiety about a broader war — with an anxious populace fearing a comprehensive conflict between Israel and Iran after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sanctioned return strikes.

While Spurs enthusiast Emily languishes in a Hamas confinement tunnel, her mother Mandy, a nursery teacher from Surrey, lamented: "It is breaking my heart a little more, day by day. Soon there will be nothing left of my heart - or Emily."

Tormented by the ongoing crisis above and in the expansive Middle East, Mandy is beseeching the UK government to do all in its power to rescue her daughter, who sustained a gunshot wound to her hand during the abduction. She beseeched: "Diplomatic pressure, negotiations, humanitarian efforts - whatever it takes. We cannot let another day pass.", reports the Mirror.

"We cannot afford to lose any more lives to this nightmare. We don't need tea and sympathy, we need actions not words."

As the world approached October 7, Mandy's pain was shared globally. Israeli Maya Alper, 25, now resides in a Guatemalan community, thousands of miles from the horrific Nova Festival attack near Gaza that she narrowly survived.

On that fateful day, as the first shots rang out, she concealed herself in a bush, paralysed with fear while Hamas militants mercilessly killed her friends and attempted to take her life, the "black hatred" in their eyes hauntingly visible. She remained hidden for six gruelling hours until Israeli forces arrived, unaware that her younger brother, an IDF soldier, was engaged in combat with Hamas barely a mile away.

Maya captured a remarkable video during the ordeal, maintaining composure under the sound of helicopters, as she declared to the lens: "I am so f*****g proud of myself..." celebrating her miraculous escape. In a conversation with the Mirror, she recounted the chilling encounter with the Hamas gunman: "I have never seen such eyes, it is so hard to forget. It was pure black and there was no colour. I saw them killing my friends and this is all so f****d up because I have huge compassion for the people of Gaza and of course my own people who have been through a lot in the past year."

Maya, a "breathing" therapy teacher who has endured a harrowing experience, shared: "Some people don't see things the way I do and that is fine. Everyone's individual truth is their truth. Now I am okay with not being okay."

She reflected on her tumultuous journey: "First, I couldn't stop crying and screaming and wondered what was happening to me."

"Then I stopped fighting it and instead of pushing it away I remembered my breathing work. On the ninth day of suffering like this I couldn't stop crying. I cried for 15 hours straight. Now I am at the point where the darkness is going and I am letting the light back in."

In preparation for a significant anniversary, she explained her process of healing: "I recently burned the clothes I wore at the festival in a sort of ceremony. I did it."

Maya spoke about her best friend in Guatemala, an Iranian woman whose relationship with Maya would cause great trouble with her family: "My best friend in Guatemala is an Iranian woman, whose family, she says would 'kill her' if she knew they were close."

The determined therapist sets aside time to honour those friends she lost: "I choose to take a day for my friends who died and I think about them every day and I can choose to remember that I made it out of there and celebrate my life."

Regarding her thoughts on the war, she commented: "There are people who want death and others want life."

"The minute people stop choosing sides and understanding then we may reach peace, put all our energy into protesting against the killing. I grew up with Arab friends. I have dated Arab people, I am happy with that and just want an end to all this hatred."

In Tel Aviv, we encountered 55 year old businessman Eli Shtivi, reeling from the kidnapping of his photographer son, Idan, 28, following the brutal murder of his friends by Hamas gunmen at the Nova Festival. Since that harrowing day on October 7, Eli has lost a significant amount of weight due to stress.

The father of four shared with us: "This is crazy and horrible but I believe in hope and that maybe the situation will change. I love Idan very much and I want him back desperately. Every day I touch his bed in a sort of ceremony and I talk to him."

With visible emotion and a shaky voice, he revealed: "I tell him 'Idan you are strong and I miss you. I know that you are strong. One day you will come back to me. I believe Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar knows the hostages are valuable and they will survive because of that. I believe and I hope that this war will be over in weeks."

Stories of resilience are emerging among the chaos, including that of a British expat living in Israel. On October 7, as Israeli communities known as Kibbutzim came under siege, one of the gravest impacted was Be'eri, home to 60 year old Brit Simon King.

Taking shelter in a fortified room for over a day with his wife Zehavit, 52, and two teenage sons, Simon recounts "lying on the floor" in total darkness, the terrifying sounds of gunfire and explosions punctuating the silence until they were finally evacuated.

They've since moved to a prefabricated mobile home in Kibbutz Hatzerim, roughly a 40-minute journey from Be'eri. Mr King, reflecting on the anniversary, shared: "I think the acceptance of what's happened, people are kind of getting their head around it slowly."

He noted that conversations often drift back to the events of the seventh, with many still piecing together their experiences.

A year on from the Israel-Hamas conflict, he expressed astonishment at his family's survival: "It totally amazes me how we all got out alive," said Mr King, who hails from Worcestershire but has called southern Israel home since 1984. Recounting the harrowing 36 hours trapped during the war, he described the terror: "It was pitch dark most of the time, because there was no electricity, so all we could hear were explosions, gunshots, automatic rifle fire, shouting."

The sounds of chaos were constant: "We could hear running. We could hear the siren going off. It was very frightening. We were in there for 36 hours. We were lying on the floor together, whispering, reading text messages."

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Despite the initial struggle to cope, Mr King emphasises the importance of resilience: "In the beginning, it was really, really difficult. If you let it get to you it will definitely get you down."

Now, he focuses on seizing each day, affirming: "I live for the moment."

Tonight, Samer Sinijlawi, a Palestinian activist from East Jerusalem, expressed his belief that peace between Israel and Palestinians is achievable - but only if the current leaders are ousted. Speaking to the Daily Mirror, he said: "The main problem with the current situation is that Israel and Palestine has stuck to the slogan of choosing a war of no choice instead of a peace of no choice."

He continued: "This idea that only war will fix the problems between Israel and Palestine is not the case, of course. The problem is not in the mainstream, which actually wants peace. The issue is that the majority of Israelis and Palestinians actually want a settlement."

He added: "By their very nature Israelis and Palestinians want to co-exist. But without being rid of these leaders we will be stuck in this circle of violence. They will be pushed out whatever happens - Mahmoud Abbas for the Palestinians will be pushed out and with Netanyahu he is unlikely to win the next elections. And then we will see."

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