2023-11-28 16:17:00
Father describes how his young daughter, Emily Hand, survived Hamas captivity
Thomas Hand, father of 9-year-old girl Emily Hand, who was one of the hostages taken by Hamas on October 7. (Credit: CNN)
Emily Hand had to run from house to house, forced by Hamas to move while Israeli forces attacked Gaza, her father Thomas Hand told CNN.
“It’s terrifying. Being pulled, dragged, pushed… probably under gunfire,” he said Tuesday.
It’s one of the details her daughter is slowly sharing regarding what happened following she was kidnapped on October 7 and taken to Gaza, a place she now calls “the box.”
“She’s slowly letting go, little by little,” Hand said.
“We’ll only know what she really went through when she speaks,” he told CNN. “I want to know so much information […] but you have to let them, when they are ready, tell it.”
Emily, who served 9 years in captivity, was held with her friend Hila Rotem-Shosani and Hila’s mother Raaya before the girls were released last Saturday.
Raaya cared for Hila and Emily as if they were her daughters, Hand said. And Hila’s separation from her mother two nights before the girls were set to be released – in contravention of agreements reached between Hamas and Israel – was “another step of cruelty,” she said.
From death to captivity and hope
Emily was at a sleepover at Hila’s house when Hamas terrorists stormed Kibbutz Be’eri. Hand remained trapped in her home for hours, unable to reach his daughter, as the community was devastated: some 130 residents dead and others captured.
About two days later, the kibbutz leaders informed him that they had seen Emily’s body. He told CNN: “They just said, ‘We found Emily. She’s dead.’ And I said, ‘Yes!’ and I smiled because it was the best news of the possibilities she knew… So death was a blessing, an absolute blessing.”
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