Heartbroken Irish dad of Hamas hostage breaks down and reveals daughter must be thinking ‘why didn’t daddy come save me’

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THE heartbroken Irish dad of Hamas hostage Emily Hand broke down and said his little girl must be thinking: “Where’s my daddy, why didn’t he come to save me?”

Thomas Hand, 63, says he “prays” he gets back his girl – who turned nine last Friday – from the clutches of terrorists.

Thomas Hand said he is praying he get his daughter Emily back

Emily Hand was snatched from bed during a sleepover at a friend’s house in Be’eri Kibbutz and taken to Gaza

Thomas was initially told his little girl was killed during the October 7 attacks

He was initially told she was killed in the October 7 attacks which claimed 1,200 lives – but was later informed she was alive and had been kidnapped by Hamas.

Irish-Israeli Emily was snatched from bed during a sleepover at a friend’s house in Be’eri Kibbutz and taken to Gaza – then into Hamas’s 311-mile underground lair.

Thomas, originally from Dun Laoghaire in Dublin and raised in England, was speaking alongside relatives of other kidnap victims – one of whom hailed legendary wartime PM Winston Churchill in the fight against Hamas.

Thomas said: “You don’t know if she’s being fed or watered, or what about the toilet? She probably doesn’t even have a toothbrush.

“Just the sheer terror of a nine-year-old girl, down in those dark tunnels, never seeing the light of day… the sheer terror, panic, every hour of everyday.

“She must be saying everyday, ‘Where’s my daddy? Where is my daddy? Why isn’t he coming to save me?’

“And that’s what I’m living through, that’s what we’re all living through. An absolute nightmare.”

Thomas’s heartache gripped the world last month when he told how he “smiled” after being told Emily had died because death was a better fate than being held hostage by Hamas.

Thomas, wearing a T-shirt saying “Bring them home NOW!”, was speaking at a press conference at the Israeli embassy in London.

He added: “I pray I get Emily back.

“I don’t know what condition she’s going to be in but she’s going to be broken, very broken. Mentally and physically. And we will have to fix that.”

Speaking to The Sun, Thomas held a framed copy of our powerful front page from November 2 with the faces of 32 children who are among Hamas’s 240 hostages.

He said he is struggling to sleep and eat and said: “I’m having nightmares about the conditions she is in in the tunnel.

“I imagine seeing her… I can’t go there very often. My mind at night brings me there. During the day, I have to push it away. It’s too horrible.”

‘I MISS FEELING THAT’

Speaking about what he misses most about Emily, he added: “Every kid has their own little thing… hers was ears – that’s how she would send herself to sleep, by stroking your ear.

“I miss feeling that every night.”

Iris Haim, whose 28-year-old son Yotam – a heavy metal band drummer – was kidnapped from his home in Kfar Aza kibbutz, spoke of Churchill, who she called the “best leader”.

She said: “Winston Churchill looked Hitler in the eyes and said he would fight evil.

“Do not forget the British mission against this new evil. They are so cruel. It’s not army against army. It’s monsters against children.

“Remember Winston Churchill and his bravery, and your grandparents’ bravery.”

The Israeli Embassy said it believed 240 hostages are being held in Gaza, including at least 30 children.

MISSED BIRTHDAY

Last week an emotionally charged birthday party was held for Emily, who turned nine while held captive in Gaza.

Cakes were laid out on a table on what should have been one of the happiest days of the Irish-Israeli child’s life.

Instead, 50 members of the Israeli community gathered at a solemn vigil in London to celebrate the schoolgirl’s birthday in her absence.

There were bright-coloured balloons but party food sat uneaten on the empty seats in a powerful appeal for the hostages to be freed.

Children’s birthday music played through speakers, accompanied with chilling audio from Hamas’s October 7 terror operation — of militants shouting in Arabic and the sound of gunfire and kids screaming.

Forty plates sat on the table on a street near Trafalgar Square — each symbolising an innocent child held captive by terrorists.

Cupcakes were handed out by teary-eyed organisers and birthday invitations had a photo of little Emily’s face. Yellow ribbons were handed to passers-by, with tourists stopping to look at birthday banners and kids’ teddies.

Israeli graffiti artist Benzi Brofman painted a beautiful picture of her.

Thomas alongside Iris Haim (left), the mother of Yotam Haim, and Orit Meir (right), the mother of Almog Meir Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]

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