UK-Israeli Hostage Emily Damari Says Hamas Kept Her in UNRWA Site, Denied Medical Care
Revelations comes as Israel kicks out UNRWA staff over links to Gaza-based terror groups.
Released British-Israeli hostage Emily Damari revealed that Gaza-based terror group Hamas held her captive in facilities run by the UN Palestinian agency (UNRWA). During her 471 days in captivity, she was held hostage by Hamas in various facilities belonging to the UN agency. The 28-year-old hostage, who was shot by terrorists in the hand and leg on October 7, 2023, was denied necessary medical care.
The damning revelations were made during a phone call between Emily Damari’s family and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer after her release on Thursday. “In an emotional conversation with the PM this morning, the 28-year-old said she had been kept in facilities belonging to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency [UNRWA] and was not given medical attention, despite having been shot in the hand and leg during the violent kidnapping and losing two fingers,” the British newspaper Daily Mail reported
Emily, despite her serious gun wounds, was dragged by Hamas invaders from her home in southern Israel. Terrorists also killed her dog, Choocha, before her eyes by shooting him in the back of the neck.
The Sky News (UK) reported Emily’s revelations:
A British-Israeli hostage held by Hamas for 15 months in Gaza has told Sir Keir Starmer she was detained in a United Nations facility but denied medical treatment during her captivity.
Emily Damari, 28, was taken hostage after being kidnapped from her home on 7 October 2023 by Hamas gunmen who shot her in the hand and leg, as well as killing her pet dog.
While on the phone call with her mother, Emily told the prime minister she had been held for some time in United Nations facilities belonging to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) but was not given access to medical facilities.
An out-of-date bottle was all that was supplied to her, she said, despite losing two fingers on her left hand, and carrying the unhealed wound in her leg.
The pair asked Sir Keir to put maximum pressure on Hamas and UNRWA to allow the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to finally have access to the 82 remaining hostages still being held in the territory.
Writing on X, Damari’s mother, Mandy said:
Thank you @Keir_Starmer for calling us today and all your support in getting Emily home. Hamas held Emily in @UNRWA facilities and denied her access to medical treatment after shooting her twice. It's a miracle that she survived, and we need to get aid to remaining hostages now. pic.twitter.com/K5aZybh0K2
— Mandy Damari
(@DamariMandy) January 31, 2025
The damning revelation comes as Israel on Thursday banned UNRWA over its undeniable connections with Gaza-based terrorist groups.
The UNRWA’s foreign staff was kicked out of the country as the ban came into effect. “International staff working for the UN’s main agency serving Palestinians, Unrwa, have been forced to leave after Israel’s ban on the agency came into effect,” UK daily Guardian confirmed.
In March 2024, Israeli security agencies revealed the identities of hundreds of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorists within the ranks of UNRWA, with many of them taking part in the October 7 massacre. Nearly ten percent of UN agencies’ 12,000 staff in Gaza is affiliated with Hamas or other terrorist outfits, Israeli intelligence assessments show.
UNRWA BANNED: Today in Israel, UNRWA is over.
Why?
• UNRWA Teachers Union head Fathi Shari was a Hamas terror chief—and UNRWA “didn't know”
• UNRWA school principal Suheil al-Hindi is a Hamas leader—UNRWA “didn't know”
• UNRWA HQ powered Hamas terror server—UNRWA “didn't know” pic.twitter.com/6EWQJ85KDN— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) January 30, 2025
Hamas has been using the UNRWA facilities to cover up its vast network of underground terror tunnels. “Over thirty UNRWA facilities in Gaza have been found to contain terror infrastructures such as tunnel shafts, reflecting a deeply concerning, and possibly systematic, abuse of the status of these facilities for terrorist purposes,” an Israeli government report issued on Wednesday disclosed.
When Emily Damari was abducted by Hamas Muslim Brotherhood savages, they first murdered her dog Choocha. pic.twitter.com/wsPX3sfZ6P
— Avi Kaner ابراهيم אבי (@AviKaner) January 19, 2025
Trump admin halts UNRAW funding, slams “antisemitic rot” within the UN
Israel’s ban on UNRWA follows a funding freeze for the agency by the Trump administration. Reversing President Joe Biden’s decision to restore the UNRWA funding — frozen under President Trump’s first tenure — the incoming administration stopped all aid going to the UN body.
On his first day back in office, President Trump halted the U.S. funding for the UNRWA and other UN agencies by signing an executive order suspending all foreign aid programs for 90 days. In his executive order, the president noted that the “foreign aid industry and bureaucracy are not aligned with American interests and in many cases antithetical to American values” and “serve to destabilize world peace by promoting ideas in foreign countries that are directly inverse to harmonious and stable relations internal to and among countries.”
UNRWA is a Hamas front. Any country still funding it knows it’s subsidizing Hamas. pic.twitter.com/D21YRUzSD0
— Eylon Levy (@EylonALevy) January 31, 2025
Last week, at the confirmation hearing for the U.S. ambassador to the UN, President Trump’s nominee, Elise Stefanik, vowed to represent Trump’s “America first” and fight the “antisemitic rot” within the international body.
“If you look at the antisemitic rot within the United Nations, there are more resolutions targeting Israel than any other country, any other crisis combined,” Stefanik said. “We need to be a voice of moral clarity… for the world to hear the importance of standing with Israel.”
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Comments
Starmer won’t do anything.
I fear you are right. Indeed the Labour government has just funded UNWRA another £17m while cutting the same amount form support for specialist mathematics teaching at schools.
Oh, he might do something.
It will almost assuredly be the wrong thing.
Of course he won’t
He is a supporter of UNWRA/Hamas
Just look at how he supports the rape gangs and jails anyone who dares protest that FACT
He’ll probably have her prosecuted for hate speech.
They don’t need to let the Red Cross in anywhere, they’re dirty. Go in, get the hostages and level the place on the way out.
Not a nickel more of American taxpayer money for this group–they should be put on the terrorist list
At some point the USA must move beyond that initial step and slap some sanctions on the Nations which continue to fund and/or associate with corrupt international organizations. That’s the way to get lasting results.
It’s also a nice America First method.
Even Trump doesn’t have the.stomach for what I am really proposing. Sanctions imposed automatically on any Nation that works with, funds or has any association with this body. So that means sanctioning the UK.
By sanctions I mean halt to all VISA entry to the USA, ouster of all that particular Country nationals within 72 hours, freeze all foreign aid, freeze all military aid, no international wire transactions to that Country from USA, That’s to start and gets more painful from there. Next step is a total economic embargo and closing down all US military facilities permanently in preparation for hostilities in phase 3 in which we impose a blockade.
They tried that with the ICC. Democrats in senate blocked the bill. Every last one.
Meh. The way around that is zero out funding. Then let the d/prog decide if they want to shut down the rest of the Federal government by blocking the appropriations bills.
the UN is a den of thieves, con artists. I think that we need a replacement that are just close allies. I also think that we should kick the UN out of America and repurpose the facilities of prosecution of crooks in politics. Especially those who have committed treason. We can run it like J6, where they are tossed in jail for 3-4 years before being tried. It would be great if their assets became subject to civil damages. Think about Clintons, Obama’ Biden’s Pelosi & others having their money frozen while litigation proceeds
The corrupt and wretched U.N. should fairly be considered an ally and enabler of Muslim terrorist/Islamofascist groups and regimes, and, treated accordingly by morally upright persons and states.