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She runs into his arms, he hugs her and after fifty days he can hug his daughter, kidnapped by Hamas: Thomas Hand has his Emily back. The nine-year-old was kidnapped by the terrorists from Kibbutz Be’eri while she was staying overnight in the house next door.
Now she is back, after being held hostage by Hamas for more than fifty days. And although father Thomas wants to know everything, he gives her the time to open up to him, he tells “CNN”. “We won’t know what she really went through until she decides to tell.”
“I probably pushed her too hard.”
So far, she has only said that the terrorists pushed and pulled her from house to house on the day of the kidnapping. Father Thomas Hand thought she was dead for a long time, but eventually the Israeli army discovered that she was one of the hostages. And then came the redeeming news that she would be released.
Father Thomas was waiting for them at a base. “Suddenly the door opened and she ran away. “It was beautiful, just as I imagined it,” he told CNN. And adds guiltily: “I probably squeezed her too hard.”
“She was conditioned not to make any noise.”
Captivity changed Emily. Her face is no longer girlish and plump, but angular, “like mine”. He’s never seen her so pale. And he was shocked when she spoke to him. ‘The most shocking and disturbing thing about meeting her was that she was just whispering and you couldn’t hear her. I had to put my ear to her lips,” he said. “She was conditioned not to make any noise.”
In captivity, the children were not allowed to make any sounds. She was only allowed to play cards, but was given plenty to eat. They were not beaten. Emily told her father that she thought he was also being held hostage.
She thought she had been kidnapped for a year
Emily is traumatized by being held hostage. She cried herself to sleep that night until her face was red and swollen. “She didn’t want to be comforted.”
When Hand asked her how long she thought she had been gone, she replied “a year.” “Aside from the whispers, it was a punch. A year.”
But Emily also shows the sides of the previous girl. When her father gave her his phone, the first thing she did was hear a Beyoncé song. “And she can laugh again.”
On the day of the kidnapping, Emily was with the girl next door Hila and her mother Raya. She is still being held hostage by Hamas. Hand says, “Please take her home.” (neo)
Source: Blick
I am Amelia James, a passionate journalist with a deep-rooted interest in current affairs. I have more than five years of experience in the media industry, working both as an author and editor for 24 Instant News. My main focus lies in international news, particularly regional conflicts and political issues around the world.
