I Survived

My 471 Days as a Hostage

De: Emily Damari

I Survived follows Emily Damari, a British-Israeli former border guard, as she vanishes from public view into captivity in Gaza. It starts with her chaotic arrival, still bleeding and taken to Shifa Hospital in Gaza City where she and some of the other hostages receive crude medical attention. Emily describes whom she met and what she did in the 22 different places she was held captive, from apartments—where at one point she was caged with several other hostages—to the 90 days she spent deep underground in Hamas tunnels. She details her story of survival; her fear of being outed as a gay woman; how she passed the long, stressful days as bombs fell outside; managed the agony of her festering wounds without painkillers and hunger pangs from when food supplies dwindled; the conversations she had with her captors and how she was treated by them; and the extraordinary bond she made with another hostage, Romi Gonen, and how their sisterhood forged in bondage helped keep one another alive.