Among the hostages held by the terrorist organization Hamas that have been released so far is an Israeli-Irish girl who was previously believed to be dead by her family. Other freed people report on their captivity in the Israeli media.
A nine-year-old Irish-Israeli girl who was believed to be dead was among the hostages released by the terrorist organization Hamas on Saturday. “Emily has come back to us!” her family wrote in a statement from the headquarters of the Forum of Hostages and Missing Persons late Saturday evening. “We cannot find words to describe our feelings after 50 difficult and complicated days. We are overjoyed to be able to hug Emily again.”
Emily Hand had turned nine during her captivity, which was celebrated with a party in Dublin a week and a half ago. After the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7th, the girl was initially thought to be dead. Her Irish-born father, Thomas Hand, tearfully expressed his relief in an emotional television interview that she had not fallen into the hands of Hamas because that would have been “worse than death.”
It was later said that Emily might have been kidnapped to Gaza after all. Last week, Thomas Hand made an emotional appeal calling for his daughter’s release and said the family was experiencing a nightmare.
The hostages released on Saturday evening were flown to a hospital in Israel after crossing the border. There, according to a report in the Irish Times, Emily was reunited with her father and her two half-siblings.
Post from Ireland’s head of government causes anger
Meanwhile, a statement by Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar about the girl’s release caused anger. Varadkar had written on Platform X: “This is a day of great joy and relief for Emily Hand and her family. An innocent child who was lost has now been found and returned and we breathe a sigh of relief.”
In Israel, this description was criticized as trivializing the hostage-taking by the Islamist Hamas. Benny Gantz, minister in Israel’s war cabinet, wrote at X: “Nine-year-old Emily was never ‘lost’ – she was brutally kidnapped and held hostage by the terrorist Hamas.” Israel’s Foreign Minister Eli Cohen also said on X that Israel wanted to summon the Irish ambassador because of the “outrageous statements.”
Reports from freedmen
In the Israeli media, those released reported about their captivity – or relatives gave their accounts. According to a report by Channel 12, hostages kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz said they were given little food and had to cook for themselves and their children. Food ran out in the last weeks of captivity; on some days they only ate flatbread and little rice.
They were not tortured or mistreated in captivity, but they were still afraid on the journey after their liberation. “Until the last moment we weren’t sure, we thought they were going to lynch us on the way to Israel,” one of the abductees said, according to Channel 12. The Red Cross vehicles in which they were sitting were pelted with stones.