The family of Israeli girl Emily Hand (8) believed for weeks that she had been murdered in Kibbutz Be’eri, where Hamas terrorists carried out a massacre on October 7. But recently the family has a glimmer of hope again: Emily may have survived the horror and is being held hostage in Gaza. “We are very happy that there is a chance that she is still alive,” said her father Thomas Hand, who mourned his daughter’s death for weeks.
LOOK. Father of Emily Hand (8): “My daughter is going to celebrate her birthday in a tunnel under Gaza”
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“Pain, sadness, constant fear of dying…” Children in Gaza go through this hell
Israeli authorities initially told the father that Emily had been killed at Kibbutz Be’eri, where she was staying with a friend at the time of the attack. However, several weeks later, Hand received a message stating that an error had been made in the identification process and that no traces of Emily’s DNA had been found. This was reported by the British channel Sky News, which spoke to Emily’s father in a hotel on the Dead Sea. “I went from feeling like the nightmare was over to, ‘Okay, I’m back in it,’” he says.
Earlier, as he came to terms with Emily’s sudden death, Hand tried to find comfort in the idea that his daughter would no longer suffer at the hands of Hamas. In an interview with CNN, which was conducted when he still assumed Emily had been killed, he said he was still “happy.” “This is the best thing that could have happened,” he said. “She could either be dead or in Gaza. And if you know what they do to people in Gaza… How they treat you there, that’s worse than death.”
“Amazing inner strength”
But with his daughter still possible being held in a tunnel in Gaza, he desperately clings to the thought that his “angel,” who he says has “amazing inner strength and a strong spirit,” will return. And when that happens, he will “never let her out of his sight again.” “I just want to hold her and never let go,” says Hand emotionally. “We are very happy that there is a chance that she is still alive and will come out, no matter how broken she is, physically or mentally. We’ll have to help her. That will take years, but we want her back. We want to hug her again. We want to see her dancing and singing again.”
LOOK. Noa Argamani’s father was also left broken after the kidnapping of his daughter:
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Tags: Believed dead Emily possibly held hostage Gaza IsraelPalestine conflict
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