Brave Emily Damari will take years to recover from hellish ordeal at the hands of Hamas monsters, says dad of hostage

EMILY Damari volition instrumentality years to retrieve from the hellhole of Gaza aft being “mentally, physically and spiritually broken" by Hamas monsters, says the dada of freed youngster Emily Hand.

Tom Hand, 64, endured the aforesaid agony arsenic Emily’s mum Mandy earlier his eight-year-old girl walked escaped aft 50 days.

The schoolgirl is smiling again and showing signs of healing aft intensive therapy and counselling.

But Emily Damari is older and has endured an atrocious 470 days astatine the mercy of savages successful Gaza - and volition instrumentality longer to get anyplace adjacent backmost to her aged self, Tom fears.

Tom told however Emily’s mum Mandy Damarai volition person experienced an unthinkable outpouring of emotion erstwhile her girl runs backmost into her arms.

Tom - who travelled the globe campaigning for his daughter’s merchandise similar Mandy - “It’s unbelievable - it’s similar your child, your babe has been reborn.

“From that archetypal greeting, the adjacent measurement is you get transported to the infirmary successful Tel Aviv wherever they cheque them physically, observe them mentally and from past connected it’s a agelong process of therapies.

“They springiness you a country together, wholly dedicated to the household - there’s nary mode I would fto my Emily retired of my show for the archetypal fewer months and determination was nary mode she would permission me.

“You enactment glued unneurotic for a fewer months.

“The nightmares past for rather a portion but the main quality successful property is that their level of maturity goes up due to the fact that they’ve gone done worldly cipher should ever spell through.

“Her nightmares were astir being separated again from her friends and household and being successful the hands of these monsters.”

Tom believed Emily Damari’s suffering would person been overmuch greater than his daughter’s and that the healing process volition beryllium longer.

He told The Sun: “My Emily was held for 50 days but she was ne'er successful a passageway - she was supra crushed each the clip and wasn’t with the ‘hard-core’ Hamas.

“But Emily Damari - I don’t cognize - she was astir apt successful tunnels and has astir apt had a overmuch worse acquisition than my Emily ever did and for mode longer. Times ten…

“She’s besides older truthful her fears of being raped oregon tortured connected on a level mode higher than Emily’s truthful until she’s capable to speech and archer her experiences there’s nary mode of knowing what she went through.

“Emily, adjacent astatine 8 years aged understood precisely what had happened to her and knows afterwards what had happened to her and coped - it was the emblematic resilience of kids.

“My small miss was lucky, she was capable to bounce back, but immoderate of the different kids did not - they’re introverted, they don’t privation to beryllium with their friends and they enactment successful the house.

“I’m 100 per cent definite it’s going to instrumentality Emily Damari longer to commencement the process of being capable to speech astir what happened to her.

“We don't cognize what she’s been done but it's been a precise agelong play and she’s going to beryllium mentally broken, physically breached and spiritually broken.

“That magnitude of clip volition interruption your spirit, not knowing whether you are going to unrecorded that day, each time for 470 days. That takes a precise ample toll.”

Tom described the merchandise process Emily Damari experienced past nighttime - and told however his girl ne'er felt harmless until helium was successful his arms.

He said: “They’re taken retired of the tunnels and don’t cognize what the hellhole is going to hap to them.

“Even if the terrorists told them they were releasing them today, we cognize they play games truthful determination is inactive nary certainty there.

“So the archetypal anticipation comes erstwhile Hamas manus you implicit to the Red Cross truthful they deliberation ‘maybe this is real’ past they get handed to the Israeli army.

“But that’s much uniforms to they deliberation ‘are they conscionable playing with me?’

“It’s lone erstwhile they spot the look of their loved 1 that they cognize that they’re safe. That’s wherefore it’s truthful important that they invitation a adjacent household subordinate to that exchange.”

Tom told however recently freed Emily’s archetypal large occupation pursuing her merchandise volition beryllium ravenous hunger aft being starved by her evil violent captors.

Little Emily was a gaunt shade of her aged aforesaid erstwhile she was released successful November 2023 and her fare had to beryllium controlled to halt her gorging herself sick.

Tom said: “when she archetypal came retired she was starving - I mean she was ravenous.

“She wanted to devour similar a equine but the doctors successful the infirmary told america we had to mean her intake due to the fact that it would marque her sick and bash her damage.

“When she was taken she had chubby, eight-year-old girlie cheeks and erstwhile she came backmost you could spot her bony structure.

“Also, due to the fact that she hadn’t seen the prima for 50 days we had to dilatory reintroduce her to the sun, different she would conscionable pain up.

“But the biggest motion of her starting to retrieve was erstwhile she dilatory stopped whispering.

“She was inactive successful the framework of caput that if she spoke supra a susurration she would beryllium stabbed.

“They didn’t enactment it nicely. They said support you dependable beneath a susurration oregon we volition termination you with this weapon - they said that to an eight-year-old kid and her friend. That’s the benignant of radical we are dealing with.”

Tom said Emily Damari - similar his girl - volition request attraction from an array of therapists and psychiatrists.

The 28-year-old captive freed yesterday was changeable successful the manus and wounded by shrapnel - and had her beloved dog Choocha changeable dormant successful her arms connected October 7.

But Tom said Emily had benefited hugely from interacting with horses during therapy to rebuild her beingness and said pets are a immense assistance to traumatised victims rebuilding their lives.

Tom said: “I can’t recognise equine riding capable but Emily loves animals truthful we besides did canine grooming therapies.

“We besides tried performing connected signifier - thing successful which she would request to task her dependable to bring her backmost to normality.

“My proposal to Emily’s household would beryllium that if you person a favored past bring it on - it is the astir grounding happening and is large therapy.

"After that, the occupation is to reconnect them with their past - the nutrient that they like, you know, their favourite food, their favourite drink, thing to bash with their aged life.

“At the opening it’s intolerable - precise intolerable - to person thing similar a mean life.

“It's a precise agelong process of therapy, conscionable adjusting to being successful a nine again.”