FAMILY'S NIGHTMARE
Tearful Irish dad of girl, 8, taken hostage in Gaza reveals heartbreaking wish for ‘terrified’ little girl
Emily Hand, who was originally thought to have been killed by Hamas, is believed to be a hostage in Gaza
THE dad of a young Irish-Israeli girl taken hostage in Gaza has opened up about his heartbreaking wish for his "terrified" daughter.
Emily Hand, 8, was feared dead after a Hamas attack but it is now believed that she is a hostage in Gaza.
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After mourning the loss of his daughter, Dublin man Tom Hand told he’s “very happy” she may still be alive.
Tom opened up about her ninth birthday coming up next week and told how his little girl will have no idea.
He said tearfully: “We want to hug her again. We want to see her dancing again, singing again.”
The devastated dad broke down admitting she will probably come out “broken”.
Tom said: “That there's a chance that she's alive and will come out of it, no matter how broken, physically or mentally.
“We're going to have to fix her. It's going to take years I’m sure, but we want her back.”
Tom had previously submitted Emily's dental records, his DNA samples and photos of her for identification.
Within one week, the Irish Embassy in Israel confirmed that DNA tests have led authorities to believe Emily was not among those killed.
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Tom said: “I just want to hold her and not let go.”
Emily, who's from Kibbutz Be’eri, had gone to a friend’s house for a sleepover the night before the attack.
Tom recalled: “Once I was told that Emily was dead shocking as it was, how awful it was and then find out Natali's mum was dead.
"I thought my family nightmare was over, that we could just begin the normal procedure of grieving.
“And we did. We started to grieve and then the new information came that actually she's probably not dead she's probably been taken to Gaza.
“So that was hard. It was hard to take, because immediately your mind starts thinking how she would have been taken, what conditions she's living in now.”
He revealed that her friend’s phone and her friend’s mother's phone have been tracked to Gaza.
Tom has appealed directly to Emily’s abductors and begged them to let his daughter go, telling how she loved “singing, dancing, acrobats and piano”.
With his eyes filled with tears, he sobbed: “We want to hug her again. We want to see her dancing again, singing.”
Tom said his daughter is an “angel” with an amazing internal “strength and spirit”.
BIRTHDAY FEARS
Tom told how it was Emily’s ninth birthday coming up next week and spoke of his trauma at the prospect of his girl marking the milestone in terror.
He explained: “It’s her birthday this month, on the 17th, and she’s not even going to know it. No cake, no party, no friends.
“She will just still be there living in terror everyday. We just want her back. We want to see her again.
“We want to love her again, hug her again, kiss her again. Never let her out of my sight.”
Tom also admitted his “regret” over originally saying he was “glad” Emily was dead.
He explained: “In some ways I regret that interview because of some of the things I said. Some things that might have put her in danger.
“We move on. Now [there’s] the strong possibility that she’s in Gaza being held captive. Now it’s hope, we can only hope that we can get her back alive.”
Opening up about his harrowing journey from mourning to hope, Tom admitted “it was extremely hard” to grapple with the news Emily may be a hostage in Gaza.
He said: “Going from your daughter is dead to knowing she’s alive but in Gaza was very, very hard to take in and digest.
“Our family nightmare was over, and then we had to go back into the nightmare of knowing there’s a possibility, a strong possibility, that she’s in Gaza alive somewhere.
“We’ve got the hope that she’s alive and that somehow we will get her back — that we’ll be able to hug her, kiss her, fix her. She’s not going to be the same person that left here. We’ll have to fix her.”
HOPEFUL NIGHTMARE
Tom described the dramatic twist surrounding Emily’s fate as both a new nightmare and a rekindling of hope.
He said: “The only real evidence [that she’s in Gaza] is that she hasn’t been found dead, nor her friend where she was sleeping that night, or the mother of her friend.
“There’s no evidence they were killed . . . so we have to presume they took them as a group.”
Tom told how the Israeli Defence Forces recently shared new intelligence on Emily’s fate.
He said: “She is more than likely in a tunnel somewhere under Gaza. [I am] extremely worried about her.
“What conditions she has been held in . . . your imagination is horrible.
“The unknown is awful, the waiting is awful. That is what we have got to do now, just pray and hope that she comes back in some broken state so that we can fix her. We will fix her somehow.”
Tom is now dreaming of the possibility of a reunion with the daughter he had believed was dead.
He said: “In my head, I can see like a beach scene, her running to me, and me running to her, picking her up, never letting her go.”
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Tom said he is now torn between hope and despair, anguished by what Emily might be enduring, but praying once more for her safe return.
Asked in a TV interview if he had a message for her, he said: “If Emily is watching, just to let her know we love her. We’re all waiting for her to come back safely.”
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