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Video captures emotional father greeting 9-year-old daughter he believed Hamas had killed

November 26, 2023 | | Print Article

There are few happy stories coming out of the war between Israel and the Hamas terrorists in Gaza, but this is one of them.

Nine-year-old Emily Hand’s father, Thomas, believed his little girl was among those killed by Hamas on Oct. 7, but on Saturday, the Irish-Israeli child was one of 13 Israeli hostages released in the Disney pajamas she was wearing when she was taken.

Speaking to Fox News Digital last week, Tom said that Emily was forced to spend “her birthday in the tunnels of Gaza.”

“No party. No friends,” Tom said. “She won’t even know if it’s day or night. There’s no light down there. So she won’t know it’s her birthday.”

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar came under fire when he took to social media to say of Emily, “An innocent child who was lost has now been found and returned, and we breathe a massive sigh of relief.”

X’s Community Notes pointed out the obvious, that the child “was ‘lost’ when she was kidnapped from a kibbutz by Hamas terrorists.”

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Emily was staying with her friend Hila in the kibbutz of Be’eri in southern Israel. On October 7, Hamas terrorists kidnapped the two girls and Hila’s mom, along with roughly 240 Israeli civilians.

On Friday, the first day of the temporary ceasefire, 13 hostages were freed.

Thomas had last seen his daughter at dinner on the evening of Oct. 6 in the kibbutz’s communal dining room.

In the first hours following the savage attack, the father had been told his little girl had been killed. Later, Thomas realized she had been abducted.

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“We had an eyewitness seeing her being led away by the terrorists with her friend where she was doing a sleepover and the mother of that friend,” he said last week. “So it’s absolutely confirmed that she was taken away by the terrorists and is in the tunnels of Gaza now.”

Emily spent more than 50 days as a Hamas hostage.

According to former Israeli government speechwriter Aviva Klompas, “right after” Emily was embraced by her father, “Hila Rotem Shoshani ran into the arms of her uncle.”

Hila’s mother, “is still being held hostage in Gaza,” Klompas reported.

Video of Emily’s emotional reunion has since brightened social media.

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“A little moment of happiness in [a] world of madness is always welcome,” one user wrote on X.

According to the Irish Examiner, Emily’s mother had died of cancer when she was just two years old.

In a statement, Emily’s family remembered those who had yet to return home.”We can’t find the words to describe our emotions after 50 challenging and complicated days,” the family said. “We are overjoyed to embrace Emily again, but at the same time, we remember Raya Rotem and all the hostages who have yet to return.”

Emily and Hila aren’t the only children who are back in the arms of their family.

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Nine-year-old Ohad Munder also spent his birthday as a Hamas hostage.

Video released by Schneider Medical Center shows the moment he ran into his father’s arms after spending 49 days in captivity.

Ohad’s mother, Keren Munder, and his 78-year-old grandmother, Ruti Munder, were present to celebrate the bittersweet reunion. Ohan’s grandfather, Avraham Munder, is still being held by Hamas in Gaza, according to Mediaite.

Ice cream was on hand to help the little boy finally celebrate his belated birthday.

“Raise an ice cream to Ohad!” wrote Klompas on X. “He turned 9 as a hostage of Hamas. Today, he got to spend time with his friends and celebrate. May this boy know only sweetness in his life from this day forward.”

Melissa Fine
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