An Irish dad living in Israel who said it was a “blessing” that his daughter died instead of being kidnapped by Hamas now says he regrets his words after learning his soon-to-be 9-year-old is alive and being held hostage by the terrorists.
Emily Hand’s father, Thomas, said Monday he is clinging to hope that the 8-year-old is alive — and regretted expressing relief when he thought she died in Hamas’ surprise attack at Kibbutz Be’eri on Oct. 7.
“In some ways, I regret that — just because of some of the things I said — some things that might have put her in danger — we move on,” he told BBC in Israel.
In interviews after the attack, when he believed his little girl was among the fatalities because of an “identity mistake,” he called her death the “best possibility,” saying what Hamas does to people in Gaza “is worse than death.”
The dad noted this week that it will be his daughter’s birthday this month — but that she likely won’t even know she’ll have turned 9 because she has been living under Hamas’ torment now for an entire month.
Emily Hand, an 8-year-old Irish Israeli girl who was reported to have been killed by Hamas, is now believed to be alive and a hostage in Gaza. Family Handout
Emily’s devastated father, Tom Hand, says she will turn 9 years old while being held hostage by Hamas. Family Handout“She is more than likely in a tunnel somewhere under Gaza,” Hand said to CNN, recalling how an official from the Irish Embassy in Israel told him tests indicated Emily’s DNA was not found among victims in the kibbutz.
“It’s her birthday on the 17th of [November]. She will be 9,” her father said. “She won’t even know what day it is. She won’t know it’s her birthday. There will be no birthday cake. No party, no friends. She will just be petrified in a tunnel under Gaza. That is her birthday.”
Hand previously said his daughter was at a sleepover with a friend Friday night into Saturday when terrorists snuck into Kibbutz Be’eri and slaughtered more than 100 people.
Her father previously hoped she had been killed instead of being tortured by Hamas terrorists. CNN
Emily’s father, Tom, has said he thought his daughter was dead because of an “identity mistake.” CNN
Emily was initially believed to have been killed by Hamas at Kibbutz Be’eri on Oct. 7. Tom Hand via CNNThe father, who was born in Dún Laoghaire and is not Jewish, had come to Be’eri 30 years ago as a volunteer, planning to stay for just a few months — but never left.
He fell in love with Narkis, a member of the kibbutz, and they had two children, Natalie and Aiden. After their divorce, Tom married Emily’s mother, Liat, who died of breast cancer five years ago.
He was reportedly in the process of applying for an Irish passport for Emily at the time of the attack.
Now the devastated father told BBC he just wants his daughter back “to love her again, hug her again — and never let her out of my sight.”
