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An out-of-date bottle was all that was supplied to her, she said, despite losing two fingers on her left hand, and carrying the unhealed wound in her leg.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 after the phone call, her mother Mandy Damari said: “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.”
On the call, the prime minister asked about Emily’s condition after her return.
Mandy replied that she “seems to be doing pretty well psychologically” although she had a long road ahead of her with her physical injuries.
In a statement to Sky News, UNRWA said: “We at UNRWA are relieved that hostages have been released. We hope all other will be released too.
“It is also a relief that Ms Damari has finally been reunited with her family.
“Claims that hostages have been held in UNRWA premises, even if previously vacated, are very serious.
“We have repeatedly called for independent investigations into claims of misuse and disregard of UN premises by Palestinian armed groups, including Hamas.”
Emilywas released on Sunday 19 January, alongside fellow female hostages Romi Gonen, 24, and 31-year-old Doron Steinbrecher, as part of the opening phase of a Gaza ceasefire deal, which has continued this month with more captives being freed in return for Palestinian prisoners being released.
Image: Emily Damari was freed after 15 months as a hostage. Pic: PA
Three more hostages to be released
A further three Israeli hostages set to be released on Saturday have been named by Hamas.
Ofer Kalderon, Keith Samuel Siegel and Yarden Bibas will be released, Hamas armed wing spokesperson Abu Obeida said.
Yarden was kidnapped alongside his wife, Shiri Babas, and their two sons, four-year-old Ariel and 10-month-old Kfir.
He is believed to be the only family member left alive – in November 2023, Hamas said his wife and children had died in an Israeli airstrike before the current ceasefire.
A Spanish military jet with a defence minister on board suffered a GPS “disturbance” while on the way to Lithuania, according to Spanish officials.
The military aircraft was flying near Russia’s Kaliningrad enclave on Wednesday morning when the incident is reported to have happened.
Margarita Robles was the minister on the flight, according to Spanish officials.
A commander onboard the Spanish plane said such incidents are common when flying near Kaliningrad, both for civil and military aircraft – and military satellites could also be used to navigate.
A Spanish defence ministry spokesperson said: “There has been an attempt to disrupt the GPS signal, but as our aircraft has an encrypted system, it was not affected.
“It must be common on this route and also with commercial flights. It is not because it is our aircraft.”
Ms Robles was due to have a bilateral meeting with her Lithuanian counterpart Dovile Sakaliene during a visit to the Siauliai airbase on Wednesday, according to the Spanish government’s agenda.
The plane was also carrying relatives of Spanish airmen forming part of the new NATO air defence mission on Europe’s eastern flank.
It was launched earlier this month after Poland shot down drones that had violated its airspace.
The Spanish contingent last week intercepted eight Russian aircraft operating over the Baltic Sea, Spain’s defence ministry added in a statement.
Ms Robles, 68, has been Spain’s defence minister since 2018.
In June, she said Spain was “absolutely committed” to NATO and the European Union.
Image: Ursula von der Leyen speaks in Lithuania on 1 September. Pic: AP
Then in August, the minister said Spain would work to “invigorate” the European fighter jet project, known as FCAS.
It came after Spain revealed it was no longer considering the option of buying US-made F-35 fighter jets and would refocus its defence spending on buying European-made equipment.
At the end of August, a plane carrying European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen suffered GPS jamming as a result of suspected Russian interference, an EU spokesperson told Sky News.
Estonia and neighbouring Finland have also previously blamed Russia for jamming GPS navigation devices in the region’s airspace.
Russia has denied interfering with communication and satellite networks.
Israel killed 22 people – including nine children – in strikes on Gaza City today, Palestinian officials say.
Gaza civil defence spokesman Mahmoud Bassal described the killings as a “horrific massacre”.
Video purportedly from the scene of the attack on the Souq Firas area of the city showed the bodies of children being pulled from the rubble.
A total of 51 people have been killed across Gaza today, according to hospital medics in the Hamas-run territory.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, said the oxygen station at Al-Quds Hospital in Gaza had stopped operating “due to Israeli occupation forces firing at it”.
“Operations are currently being conducted using pre-filled oxygen cylinders, which are sufficient for only three days,” the group said.
“Occupation forces are currently stationed at the southern gate of the society’s Al-Quds Hospital in the Tal al-Hawa neighbourhood of Gaza City, preventing anyone from entering or leaving the hospital.”
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At least 14 people have been killed in an area of Taiwan popular with tourists after Super Typhoon Ragasa lashed the island nation, with Hong Kong and mainland China braced for impact.
The powerful storm – the strongest in years – has forced thousands to flee their homes, with flights cancelled and schools and businesses shuttered as about 70cm (28 inches) of rain has fallen on eastern areas.
At least four more people were reported to have been killed in the Philippines, where nearly 700,000 people were affected by the super typhoon in the main northern region of Luzon.
The deaths in Taiwan were reported in the eastern Taiwanese county of Hualien, which is popular with tourists.
At least 129 people are missing after a town, Guangfu, was flooded by a deluge from a barrier lake which burst its banks on Tuesday afternoon.
Around 60 million tonnes of water was released, the Taiwanese government said, the equivalent of a major reservoir in southern Taiwan.
Image: A man stands near a military vehicle on a road filled with mud brought by flooding in Hualien, Taiwan. Pic: Reuters
Taiwan’s fire department said all the fatalities and missing people are from Guangfu.
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One resident, a postman who gave his family name as Hsieh, told Reuters news agency the water hit like a “tsunami” which swept his car into his living room.
Late on Wednesday morning, a new flood warning sounded in Guangfu, where shouts were heard from residents and rescuers of “the flood waters are coming, run fast”.
Elsewhere, Dama, a village of around 1,000 people, has been completely flooded.
Its chieftain, Wang Tse-an, told Reuters many locals are still stranded there, adding: “It’s chaotic now. There are mud and rocks everywhere.”
Regions across Taiwan have sent at least 340 soldiers to Hualien to help rescue efforts.
In Guangfu, troops operating from an armoured personnel carrier to avoid the thick mud on the streets went door-to-door handing out water and instant noodles.
Ragasa is set to hit China’s Guangdong province, where more than 370,000 residents have been evacuated, on Wednesday.
Hong Kong’s storm level is at its highest level of 10 as people reported being woken by fierce winds in the early hours.
Parts of a pedestrian bridge’s roof were blown away, hundreds of trees were knocked down across the city and more than 30 injured people were treated at hospitals.
A video that showed waves of water crashing through the doors of a hotel and flooding its interiors went viral in the financial hub, where warnings of hurricane-force winds of well over 120mph have been issued.