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Imagine Your First Shower in 470 Days.

Writer's picture: Melanie PrestonMelanie Preston

It is difficult for me to contemplate what could be going through these women's minds as I write this at 7:23am in Charlotte, North Carolina, about 90 minutes before their scheduled release in late afternoon Israel time.


I assume they don't know they are about to go home, as the most terrifying day for the hostages released a year ago - was the day they got out. They all thought they were about to be murdered - (and it can of course be their most dangerous day).


But I also know that all along, they have been told that Israel is gone, and that nobody is looking for them. They have been told either that they are being sent home tomorrow, or that they are never going home, and this is just 1% of the mental anguish I know about. A story I just finished reading came from Aviva Siegel who I have been playing phone tag with to hear her witness accounts from her time as a hostage in Gaza. She described witnessing (and hearing) one of the young women in there, beaten nearly to death.


She did not give a name - so it is one of ten women remaining - and so could be one of these three beautiful girls.


The mothers and sisters of these three young ladies - all spoke forcefully in Israel countless times over the past fifteen months about what these girls were being put through, and how any one of them could come home with a child. The most memorable of these can be read here.


They have also spoken at the UN, and all over the world, just like every other family has done.


Though imagining their last 90 minutes is a challenge, it was not a stretch for me to do just that for the first six months of their hell that began on October 7th. In fact, I was so consumed with the darkness that had come for them, that I not only flew to Israel that November, but I annoyed Israelis at the shuk (the market) and everywhere else asking how they were functioning at all. I couldn't comprehend how anyone was not obsessed with what the hostages were going through 24 hours a day seven days a week.


Until eventually I too had to stop living as if I was there - but they could not.


For 470 days.

--

Emily Damari's mother Mandy immigrated to Israel from England in her 20s after growing up in Surrey. She says Emily's personality is a mix of British humor and Israeli chutzpah.


Emily is a huge fan of Ed Sheeran and the Premier League football club Tottenham Hotspur. Their fans have been chanting her name during this time that she has been held in captivity.


Emily was shot in the hand on October 7th, blindfolded, and forced into her own car on October 7th with two of her friends and taken to the Gaza Strip. Her dog Choocha was murdered with a "gunshot to the neck."

Romi Gonen has captured the hearts of so many in Israel and around the world. Her infectious smile and frightening story has had her in the dreams of a friend of mine since October 7th. Romi's sister has held weekly events in Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, and her cousin Maureen Leshem in Canada has held various fundraisers to continue helping the family's endeavors to help their family's tireless fight to bring Romi home. Romi went to the Nova Music Festival and spent the entire morning of the attack on the phone with her mom, Meirav.


"They shot me, Mom. I'm bleeding," she told her Mom. "Everyone in the car is bleeding."


When the car was later found, there was nobody in it, and it was later discovered that Romi's best friend Gaya Halifa had been murdered. I would assume that this is something Romi wouldn't know for sure upon her return today.


Also later discovered, was a chilling recording of Hamas terrorists, debating over whether they should murder Romi or take her hostage.


After October 7th, her family had no idea for months of her status. Her phone was located tracked to be in Gaza but they did not know if she was dead or alive. It was only after hostages were released at the end of November 2023 that they learned she was in fact a hostage, but her health was extremely poor. They learned that the gunshot wound was in her hand which was severely injured and had limited functionality.


One can only imagine her suffering for the past 15 months if this was her condition at the beginning. As I write this, her release is timed for 54 minutes from now.

"They've arrived. They have me," Doron Steinbrecher sent her friends in an audio message at 10:30am on October 7th, as Hamas terrorists arrived at her apartment building in Kibbutz Kfar Aza.


This audio message came after four frantic hours of texts between her and her sister, Yamit Ashkenazi, who also lives on the Kibbutz.


Doron, a veterinary nurse, lives in the apartments for single residents, so was in touch with her sister who was packed into her saferoom with her two little kids, aged 3 and 6.


Their parents were in their own private home, elsewhere on the Kibbutz, also in their saferoom, and it was their property's garden that Hamas used as a sort of "headquarters" while they rampaged the entire Kibbutz, burning down homes, murdering their friends and neighbors and ultimately kidnapping their daughter Doron. For whatever reason, and quite miraculously, they did not enter their parents' home.


On January 26th, 2024, Hamas published a hostage video showing Doron, and two other female hostages, Daniela Gilboa and Karina Ariev.


Doron in her hostage video - January 26th, 2024
Doron in her hostage video - January 26th, 2024

May these three beautiful women, their parents, their brothers, sisters, entire families and all of their friends, find the courage and strength it will take to embark on this long and difficult journey of healing.


May their souls be cleansed from the hell and suffering they have endured.


--


The release is scheduled for eight minutes from the time of this writing.


--


In case you want to help:


October 7th brought me back to Israel, the country I made my home in 2004 for seven incredible years. Watching the celebrations in the US and abroad and experiencing the silence from my "friends" caused me to obliterate my savings flying back and forth to Israel to start this website and cover these events from the ground. I am saving to move back to Israel within the next month. To support my work and writing, visit my GoFundMe. Thank you and Shalom.





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Melanie Shuk.jpg

Melanie Preston left for Israel a month after the October 7th horrific terror attack. The trauma she and Israelis are enduring coupled with the sickening global pro-Hamas celebrations motivated her want to help in any way she could, to help humanize the situation on the ground in Israel in order to combat rampant disinformation.

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