Israel-Hamas war: Hostage Emily Hand reunited with father week after 9th birthday

It was an emotional day for Israeli families as 13 hostages were released by Hamas militants on Saturday.

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Emily Hand, who marked her ninth birthday on Nov. 17 while still in captivity in the Gaza Strip, and 13-year-old Hila Rotem were two of the younger hostages released, according to the Israeli Defense Forces.

Hand’s release was especially poignant because her family believed she had been killed during the initial Hamas incursion into Israel on Oct. 7.

According to the Times of Israel, Hand, whose mother, Liat Korenberg, died of breast cancer when she was 2 1/2 years old, reunited with her father, Thomas Hand. Both hold dual Israel-Irish citizenship. Rotem, whose mother remains a hostage in Gaza, reconnected with her uncle and another family member, according to the newspaper.

Emily Hand and Rotem were among seven children and six women handed over to the Red Cross representatives in Khan Yunis on Saturday and driven to the Rafah crossing, The Irish Times reported. After crossing the border to Egypt, the hostages were positively identified by Israeli security officials, according to the newspaper.

In a statement, the Hand family said they “have no words to describe our emotions after 50 difficult and very complicated days.”

“We are happy, but we don’t forget for a moment Raya Rotem who did not come home today and all the hostages who are still there.”

Irish Deputy Premier Micheál Martin said in a statement that “a bright and beautiful girl” had been released, adding that it was “a precious and deeply moving moment for the Hand family.”

Emily Hand was sleeping at her friend’s house in the kibbutz of Be’eri when Hamas militants attacked on Oct. 7, killing more than 120 residents and kidnapping many others, CNN reported.

Thomas Hand, in an anguished interview with CNN last month, originally was told by people in the kibbutz and a team of medical personnel that his daughter was dead.

“I went ‘yes!’ I went ‘yes’ and smiled. Because that is the best news of the possibilities that I knew. That was the best possibility I was hoping for,” an emotional Thomas Hand told the cable news outlet. “She was either dead or in Gaza. And if you know anything about what they do to people in Gaza, that is worse than death.”

On Oct. 31, Thomas Hand learned that Emily’s body had not been recovered and her DNA had not been among the blood and deceased people at the kibbutz, The Associated Press reported.

“I had to shift my whole brain and digest this new information,” Hand, 63, said, according to the AP. “And when they told me, I just went, ‘No, no, no no.’”

Thomas Hand told CBS News on Wednesday that Emily would probably not even know that Friday was going to be her ninth birthday.

“The sad thing about it is, she won’t even know what day it is,” Thomas Hand told CBS News. “She won’t know whether it’s night or day. She won’t (know) even though it’s her birthday.”

Uncertainty remains for the hostages still in Gaza. Hostages are scheduled to be released on Sunday and Monday, but Israeli commanders and Hamas have both said they expect fighting to resume when the four-day truce ends, Reuters reported.