Emily Hand, who was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists during the October 7 massacre and was reported as having been killed, turned nine years old on Friday while in captivity in Gaza.The Irish-Israeli girl was abducted from a sleepover at her friend’s house in Kibbutz Be’eri, along with her friend’s mother, Raya Rotem.The IDF initially reported her as one of the dead. However, her father said at the time that he was comforted knowing she was not suffering among the hostages taken to Gaza.Weeks later, he learned that this was, in fact, her fate, as her body had not been found and an eyewitness reported seeing her being taken away in a Hamas vehicle.“Unofficial reports came in that she was found dead in the kibbutz,” said Emily’s father, Tom Hand, who is now living in a hotel on the Dead Sea with others evacuated from Be’eri. “I was relieved. I was relieved that she was dead and it was all over, it would have been pretty quick.”
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Tom Hand, a 64-year-old Irish immigrant who came to Be’eri in 1992 as a 32-year-old volunteer, worked as a printer in the kibbutz, where he met Emily’s mother, Liat.
Liat died when Emily was just two and a half, but the family had remained in the kibbutz where Hand’s first wife, Narkis, also lived. She was among the some 100 murdered residents on October 7 – 10% of the community’s population.
Many were shot along with their families or found dead with their hands bound. Rescue workers said some were burned alive. He had been at home and the gunmen never reached his house.
“You try to imagine the... best, you know. You hope that it was quick,” Hand said. “Crazy thought, for a parent to say but, yeah, it was a relief thinking that she wasn’t in Gaza.
“So now I know she is in Gaza and she’s alive. She’s going to be nine in the tunnels,” he said. “She won’t even know it’s her birthday. She’ll have no idea of night or day or time.”
“There’ll be no birthday party, no birthday cake, no friends around. But you know, yeah. Now we hope, now we pray.”
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Now that Hand has learned that Emily was alive, he said he had been forced into a complete mental shift.
“Okay, we’re going to get her back, we’re going to get her back. We’re going to get them all back.”
He said Emily is a fan of the American singer Beyoncé and he focused on staying strong enough to bring her home and thinking of ways to bring her enjoyment.“I’ll make sure I’ll get her to the next Beyoncé concert. Bring her to Disney World. I’ll spend all my money, every penny I’ve got to give her fun to make up for everything that she’s lost and everything she’s going through,” he said, fighting tears. “I’m going to give her the world.”He added that “we’re all waiting for her. We know we’re going to get you back. Be strong every day and wait, we’re coming to get you. We’re coming to get you home. We’re going to bring you home.”Reuters contributed to this report.