Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Dad in plea for release of 8-yr-old girl, Emily
THE Irish father of an eight-year-old girl feared to have been kidnapped and taken to the Gaza Strip has said the family are desperate to hold her again.
In an appeal to those who may have her, Dubliner Thomas Hand called for “some humane feelings of any kind” and for captors to release the children.
Emily Hand was at first feared to be dead after the Hamas assault on Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7.
But now the family have been told she may still be alive and being held hostage by Hamas.
Thomas pleaded: “I beg you on bended knees to please release the children, including Emily.
“At least the children... For God’s sake, have some humanity, some pity, some humane feelings of any kind, please.”
In an interview with Virgin Media News programme The Group Chat, Thomas said: “At first when they told me that she was probably dead, it was sort of a relief, in a way.
“But now I have to alter my head with this new information, and now I have hope that she’s alive, so we pray that she comes back – however broken, we can fix her.”
Emily was sleeping over at a friend’s house on the day of the atrocity.
Thomas added: “We started to grieve, and then the new info came. So that was hard to take, because your mind starts thinking how she would have been taken, what conditions she’s living in.
“She’s going to have her ninth birthday on the 17th of this month … she won’t even know it’s her birthday, she’ll have no cake, no party, no friends around, just another day of terror.
“When she’s back I won’t let her out of my sight, you know I just want to hold her and not let go.”
Her half-sister Natalie Hand said on Irish station RTE Radio One: “We’ve been informed by the military she’s kidnapped and alive.
“If there’s a high possibility of her being alive, even a small one, I will do everything I can.”
Ms Hand, whose own mother was killed in the Hamas attacks, said the family had been on a “hell of a roller coaster” over the past month.
She added: “We have no tears left. We’re just broken. And now we have hope back and we are strong now, and we’ll do anything.”
Emily has Irish and Israeli citizenship. Thomas moved to Israel 30 years ago. Her mum, Israeliborn Liat, died several years ago from cancer.