A father thought his daughter died in Hamas‘ surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7, but learned weeks later she’s being held hostage.
Officials believe she’s being held in the Hamas-controlled tunnels of Gaza.
For more than three weeks, Tom Hand thought his 8-year-old daughter, Emily, was dead following Hamas‘ surprise terrorist attack on Israel. Given the alternative, he said he was „relieved.“
Emily was staying at a friend’s house in Kibbutz Be’eri the night of Oct. 6 and was there when the attacks of Oct. 7 began, Hand . Dozens were killed there as Hamas terrorists went house to house, slaughtering unexpected civilians shocked at an unprecedented invasion of their quiet community.
For days after the gunfire died down, Hand didn’t know where his daughter was. However, on the Tuesday after the attack, elders in his community brought him to a meeting and told him she was one of the hundreds killed as Hamas invaded kibbutz after kibbutz, slaughtering civilians in their rampage.
„How sure are you?“ he asked them. „95%,“ he said they told him. „That was good enough for me,“ Hand said.
