Hostage's Mother Plans Return to Gaza Village Despite Security Fears

Mendi Damari, mother of former British-Israeli hostage Emily Damari, has revealed her intention to return and live in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, the community from which Hamas terrorists abducted her daughter. Despite ongoing security concerns and the possibility of another October 7th-style attack, Damari, 63, expressed her determination to rebuild her life in the kibbutz, located less than a kilometer from the Gaza Strip, where she lived for 35 years.

Damari acknowledged deep uncertainty about the safety of returning but insisted she would not be permanently driven from her home by the terrorists who devastated her community. Her daughter, Emily, who was kidnapped from her apartment during the October 7, 2023, massacre and held for 471 days, was released in January 2025. Mendi Damari, originally from Kent, UK, has been unable to return to her home since the attack that killed 64 residents and saw 19 abducted.

"I made the decision quite early on that I wanted to move back. I love my home, or at least I loved it. I don't really want to go and start again. And where will I start again? Where will I find a beautiful place like Kfar Aza?" Damari wrote. Her decision was initially met with resistance from Emily, who warned of Hamas's potential return. "When I told my daughter Emily I wanted to go back to Kfar Aza, she said, 'You're crazy. They're going to come back,'" Mendi recalled. She also recounted threats from Emily's captors, who promised to return and repeat the massacre.

Damari's house is undergoing renovations but still lacks electricity and water. She hopes to return sometime in 2027, joining a small group of residents committed to rebuilding the nearly destroyed community. Before October 7, approximately 350 families lived in the kibbutz; currently, only about 50 residents remain, with many families unwilling to return due to loss or young children. "It's a very difficult decision because there is no absolute peace right now. Hamas has not been dismantled, most likely," she stated, noting that the sounds of explosions across the border persist.

She admitted her initial decision was based on an assumption of greater safety and peace post-war, questioning if she was foolish to return. Damari also described the psychological scars of October 7, including a lack of memory of some traumatic events within her home, where she hid in a dark safe room while terrorists rampaged. She later discovered a severely wounded soldier had died on her dining table, an event she does not recall. Her dog, Chucha, was also killed by Hamas during Emily's abduction. Despite the trauma, Damari remembers Kfar Aza as an ideal place for raising children, with amenities and a close-knit community, describing life there as "95 percent paradise."

Residents had grown accustomed to rocket attacks and increased security measures but never imagined a border breach and massacre. "Nobody in their wildest dreams thought that something like October 7 would happen." A point of contention for both mother and daughter has been the kibbutz's decision to demolish and rebuild Emily's destroyed apartment rather than preserve it as evidence. Emily wished for her apartment to remain as it was, but the kibbutz voted for its reconstruction. Damari noted that the kibbutz has rebuilt most homes and public spaces, aiming to make it a "brilliant place" and "95 percent paradise again."