Damari informed Yousef she was held close to Hamas commander Izz al-Din al-Haddad, who she says referred to as hostages “gold” and will settle for exile for a deal.
Former Gaza hostage Emily Damari hosted Mosab Hassan Yousef, often known as the “Inexperienced Prince,” at her dwelling in Kfar Aza, the place she revealed new particulars about her time in Hamas captivity, N12 reported on Sunday.
Damari said she had needed to satisfy Yousef since she was taken by Hamas, including that she had needed to learn his ebook, ‘Son of Hamas,’ earlier than the struggle and by no means had the time.
“Possibly it might have made me sharper going into that state of affairs,” she mentioned.
Damari mentioned she didn’t wish to repress any recollections of her time in captivity.
“Quite the opposite, I wish to be taught extra. To not repress it. Studying what this loopy man did is a privilege for us.”
Mosab Hassan Yousef speaks at a screening of uncensored footage from the October seventh bloodbath in Israel by Hamas terrorists at United Nations on November 20, 2023 in New York Metropolis. (credit score: Noam Galai/Getty Pictures)
Upon her return from captivity, Damari informed her brother she wanted to learn the ebook, to know how her captors thought and operated.
“While you’ve been there, seen and skilled these individuals, these monsters, and then you definately learn this and be taught from it, you say: wow, that’s how they suppose, that’s how they see issues. All of it connects. It feels true. What’s written there takes me proper again,” she mentioned.
“Their ideology, their religion – he actually explains what they consider in and the way they function.”
Throughout their assembly, Damari informed Yousef in regards to the homicide of her canine and her kidnapping on October 7, 2023.
“They shot my canine, the bullet went into my leg, after which they simply took us outdoors,” she defined.
“I noticed possibly 50 or 60 terrorists within the neighborhood and requested myself what was occurring. Then they simply put us in a automotive and drove us into Gaza, in my very own automotive, with Gali and Ziv [Berman].”
Whereas the 2 spoke, they heard artillery fireplace from Gaza within the background. “How do you are feeling whenever you hear that?” Yousef requested.
“It’s wonderful, I grew up with it, I’m used to it,” Damari mentioned. “Inside Gaza, when the bombs have been actually shut, that was scary. However now it’s wonderful. I’m right here. Now we have a protected room.”
Senior Hamas chief spoke to Damari a number of instances, she claims
Damari shared how she was in a tunnel the place senior Hamas terror chief Izz al-Din al-Haddad was based mostly. “He was the boss,” she informed Yousef. In response, he requested her if he surrounded himself with hostages, and he or she confirmed.
Throughout her time in captivity, Haddad informed Damari about Hamas’s aims through the October 7 bloodbath, claiming that their objective was to convey again as many hostages as doable, however that they didn’t consider they might infiltrate to this point into Israeli territory.
Yousef asserted that Haddad is the one one who has the facility and affect to succeed in a ceasefire settlement, commenting that US President Donald Trump, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Qatar, and Hamas leaders in Doha do not need this capacity.
Damari additionally claimed that Haddad mentioned he’s “wonderful with the concept” that Hamas leaders could be exiled and another group would rule the Gaza Strip. Yousef said that is the primary he had heard that Haddad could be prepared to trade energy for protected passage.
