Hers was one of the smiling faces that appeared on television screens around the world in the heart-wrenching days following Hamas’ brutal attack on Israel back on October 7, 2023. Emily Hand, an Irish-Israeli citizen, was eight years old when she was brutally snatched from a sleepover at a friend’s house at the Be’eri Kibbutz and marked her ninth birthday while held in captivity in Gaza.
Emily’s father, Thomas Hand, was told soon after her kidnapping that she had died during the massacre. He heartbreakingly told reporters that the news was a relief to him, as the idea of her being in the hands of Hamas terrorists was too much to bear.
“They just said, ‘We found Emily, she’s dead,’ and I went, ‘Yes,’” he said.
“I went ‘Yes,’ and smiled because that is the best news of the possibilities that I knew. The best possibility that I was hoping for,” he said.
The first hug! Here’s the moment Emily Hand ran into the arms of her father.
And right after, Hila Rotem Shoshani ran into the arms of her uncle. Her mother is still being held hostage in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/c0sSvqaoNc
— Aviva Klompas (@AvivaKlompas) November 26, 2023
One year later, Thomas Hand says his daughter is finally smiling again and enjoying being back at school with her friends. According to Hand:
“Emily still gets scared of loud noises and wasn’t able to sleep alone for a long time after she came back.”
“She still has nightmares but counselling has helped and things are much better now.”
The world will hear Emily in her own words in the documentary “One Day in October,” which is scheduled to air Wednesday night on Channel 4 in Great Britain.
Emily recounted what happened that October morning when Hamas terrorists swarmed through the Be’eri Kibbutz:
“When they arrived, we just opened up. Because if we held the door they’d shoot and the bullets would hit us,” she told Channel 4 in a documentary to be aired on Wednesday.
“So we just opened the door.”
She continued, “They threatened us with a knife. If we resist, they’ll kill us. They put a blanket over us so that we won’t see and maybe run away. So we won’t know the way back.”
Thomas Hand, who also appears in the documentary, said he was advised not to press Emily for too many details on her ordeal. “I only get to know whatever little snippets come out. Like last night in the car, she just told me that she saw at least 12 dead bodies at the fence…people that she knows, dead at the side of the roads.”
Hand added that he would like his family to return to their home in the Be’eri Kibbutz if Emily is able to cope with being back at the site of her kidnapping. If families like his don’t return home to the kibbutz, he fears that Hamas will have won, “and that’s not gonna happen.”
In a separate interview, Thomas Hand showed a similar determination when talking of his plans to make Emily’s birthday this year a memorable one: “She spent her last birthday in hell, so I’ll be making sure she has a party to remember this year when she turns 10 on October 17.”
