Former Hamas hostage Emily Damari has released previously unseen photographs from Gaza’s Shifa Hospital, recounting the medical neglect and armed intimidation she endured after her abduction. Shared on Instagram on Saturday, the post marked three years since her kidnapping on the Hebrew calendar.

Damari described being brought into a blood-covered room with a body lying nearby. A man introduced himself as “Dr. Hamas,” she recalled, while roughly ten gunmen pointed Kalashnikov rifles at her head. She had suffered injuries to her hand and leg during the October 7 attack.

According to Damari, her leg continued bleeding for four months. Stitches in her hand that should have been removed after two weeks remained for an entire year. Two of her fingers were amputated.

Reflecting on the photographs and the condition of her wounds, she wrote that “the fact that I’m here today is a miracle.”

Damari was kidnapped from her home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza and spent 471 days in captivity. She returned to Israel on January 19, 2025, alongside Romi Gonen and Doron Steinbrecher, during the first release under a ceasefire agreement.

After undergoing corrective surgery at Sheba Medical Center in March 2025, Damari said the treatment had significantly reduced the pain she had endured. In that earlier account, she said her captors had provided only expired iodine and bandages after the initial procedure, leaving her without basic care or clean water. Despite the lasting damage, she described her injured hand and scars as symbols of “freedom, hope, and strength.”