‘Kidnapped by Hamas is worse’: Dad’s ‘relief’ at daughter’s death

A father has revealed it was a “blessing” his eight-year-old daughter was killed in a Hamas attack as nine-month-old babies are among the many children abducted by the terrorist group.

An Irish father living in Israel has described his “relief” when he learned that his eight-year-old daughter had died after a Hamas attack on a kibbutz, insisting it was a “blessing” compared to the alternative of her being kidnapped by terrorists.

Speaking to CNN, Thomas Hand recalled the moment that he was told his daughter Emily had died.

“They just said, ‘We found Emily, she’s dead,’ and I went, ‘Yes,’” he said.

“I went ‘Yes,’ and smiled because that is the best news of the possibilities that I knew. The best possibility that I was hoping for,” he said.

Eight-year-old Emily Hand was staying with a school friend when she was killed after Hamas terrorists stormed an Israeli kibbutz. Picture: Supplied

Mr Hand said that his daughter’s death was better than the alternative.

“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, that is worse than death,” the grieving father said.
“The way they treat you, they have no food, they have no water.

“She’d be in a dark room with Christ knows how many people and terrified every minute, hour, day and possible years to come,” he said.

“So death was a blessing, an absolute blessing.”

Thomas Hand said he was relieved when he learned his daughter died at the hands of Hamas terrorists, after he feared she was being held captive. Picture: Supplied

Mr Hand said his daughter was at staying the night with a friend when terrorists snuck into Kibbutz Be’eri early Saturday morning and murdered more than 100 people.

Mr Hand said he was not worried when the sirens went off, “until I heard the shots. And it was already too late.”

He said he was unable to get in touch with his daughter, her friend or her friend’s mother.

Fearing for his life, he ran.

“I had to think of Emily,” he said. “She already lost her mother, I couldn’t risk her losing her father, too.”

Terrorists snuck into Kibbutz Be’eri on Saturday morning and murdered more than 100 people including eight-year-old Emily Hand. Picture: Supplied

According to the New York Post, Mr Hand said he had come to Be’eri 30 years ago as a volunteer, planning to stay for just a few months — but he never left.

After his wife, died of cancer a few years ago, he and Emily were living on their own.

He described his daughter as the tallest in her class, and a talented dancer and singer.

“If I had known … I could have maybe ran, got her, got her friend, got the mother, brought them back to my place,” he said.

“But by the time I realised what was happening, it was already too late.”

Survivors told how the armed terrorists went door to door to kill residents, and would burn down any houses they weren’t able to get inside. Picture: Supplied

The kibbutz on the Gaza border was one of the first sites overrun by Hamas terrorists during Saturday’s attack at dawn.

Survivors told how the armed terrorists went door to door to kill residents, and would burn down any houses they weren’t able to get inside. But it was just one of the many kibbutzim attacked by Hamas in recent days, including Kfar Aza — where the terrorists slaughtered children and babies.

The kibbutz on the Gaza border was one of the first sites overrun by Hamas terrorists during Saturday’s dawn attack. Picture: Supplied

‘TAKEN BY BARBARIANS’: FACES OF STOLEN BABIES

Earlier, heartbreaking accounts have emerged about the sheer numbers of children and babies who are missing – presumed kidnapped or killed by Hamas – when the terrorist group attacked Israel over the weekend, with some of the youngest victims thought to be as young as young as nine-months-old.

Families in Israel and around the world are now desperately searching for their missing loved ones, and – in the wake of Hamas’ pledge to execute one hostage for every Israeli air strike that hits a Gazan home – are begging the abductors to spare the youngest lives.

The terror group, meanwhile, claims to have stockpiled “dozens” of captives in “safe places and tunnels and resistance” over the border in Gaza, Hamas spokesman Abu Obeid said in a Telegram post.

Shiri, her husband Yarden, and their two sons have been missing since Saturday. Picture: Supplied

ARIEL AND KFIR BIBAS

A brief video being shared widely online shows kindergarten teacher Shiri Silberman-Bibas clutching her sons – Ariel, 3, and nine-month-old Kfir – as the family is abducted by Hamas from their kibbutz in southern Israel Saturday.

The family – including husband and father Yarden Bibas – were hiding in a safe room when the terrorists converged.

Ariel, 3, and nine-month-old Kfir were abducted alongside their parents, the family said.

“I couldn’t believe the picture,” Silberman-Bibas’ cousin, Yossi Sneider, told the BBC of the harrowing footage.

“They’ve taken them without any food, without any diapers, without anything,” he said of the two young boys.

“We only hope that they didn’t separate them from their mother.”

Silberman-Bibas’ husband, Yarden, and her parents have also been missing since Saturday.

RAZ AND AVIV ASHER

Five-year-old Raz and three-year-old Aviv Asher are believed to have been taken hostage alongside their mother, Doron Asher Katz, and their grandmother, heartbroken dad Yoni Asher told the New York Times.

The girls and their mother were visiting their grandmother’s village in southern Israel when Hamas closed in, Asher explained.

“She told me: ‘There are terrorists inside the house’,” he recalled of his wife’s panicked, whispered phone call early Saturday.

Raz, age 5, and Aviv, age 3, were kidnapped by Hamas with their mother and grandmother, their heartbroken father said. Picture: Instagram

Asher thinks he recognised his wife, daughters, and mother-in-law in a video of hostages being bundled in the back of a pick-up truck, he told the Times.

“I can’t sleep — I’m living outside my own body,” Asher said.

“I have two little babies, two little girls. These little babies should not be held or kept by terrorists.”

Yoni Asher is now begging for the safe return of his wife and two little girls. Picture: Supplied

DAFNA AND ELLA

Divorced mother-of-two Mayyan Zin learned her daughters – Dafna, 15, and Ella, eight – were abducted by Hamas when a relative sent her photos on Telegram of the girls sitting on mattresses, apparently in captivity.

Zin later found a video of gunmen breaking into her ex-husband’s home in Kibbutz Nahal Oz while her sobbing children looked on.

Later, a second video showed the father being taken across the border into Gaza.

“Just bring my daughters home and to their family. All the people,” Zin begged.

YAHEL NERI SHOHAM, HAVEH SHOHAM, NOAM AVIGDORI

Eleven members of Israeli lawyer Shaked Haran’s family – including three children between three and 12 years old – have been missing since Hamas stormed their home at Kibbutz Be’eri early Saturday, a close friend told The Post Tuesday.

In addition to her parents, sister, and brother-in-law, Haran’s nieces Yahel Neri Shoham, 3; Naveh Shoham, 8; and 12-year-old Noam Avigdori, are believed to have been brought into Gaza.

The three young girls also have German citizenship.

“Someone picked up one of the phones in Arabic-accented Hebrew and said something along the lines of ‘Kidnapped’ and “Gaza’ and hung up,” family friend Rachel Gur told The Post of the family’s last communication from their missing loved ones.

Noya Dan, and her grandmother Carmela, were also taken by Hamas. Picture: Facebook

SAHAR AND EREZ KALDERON AND NOYA DAN

Siblings Sahar and Erez Kalderon and their cousin Noya Dan were violently taken from Kibbutz Nir Oz Saturday alongside their father and uncle and their grandmother, older sister Gaya Kalderon said.

A heartbreaking video shows Erez, 12, looking distressed while being manhandled by Hamas gunmen near a barbed wire fence.

“It was so hard to watch … I never felt like this, I don’t even have tears anymore in my eyes, I can’t cry because I cried so much,” Gaya – who was in Tel Aviv at the time of the attack – said of the footage.

Sahar, 16, and Erez, 12, were kidnapped by Hamas early Saturday, their older sister said. Picture: Supplied

A terrifying video shows a boy believed to be Erez being manhandled by Hamas gunmen. Picture: Supplied

“He had his pyjamas on, he just woke up in the middle of the night and someone came and took him.”

Shortly before terrorists stormed their home, Gaya said Sahar, 16, texted “Mum, I love you” in the family’s group message.

“I knew it is probably because she knows it is the end or something,” she said of the haunting final text.

Ofer, Sahar, and Erez were taken from one home, while grandmother Carmela, 80, and cousin Noya, 13, were abducted from another house nearby, Gaya explained.

Gaya’s mother and older brother were in another home, and were not taken.

“We just need them back. It doesn’t matter that we don’t have a home anymore, it is all burned, I just need them back,” the 21-year-old said of her missing family members.

BROTHERS AGED 16 AND 12

One desperate Israeli mother – who requested not to be identified for security reasons – says her 12- and 16-year-old sons were abducted by Hamas while on the phone with her, ABC News reported.

She has been unable to sleep or eat since around 6:30am. Saturday, when her sons called her from their father’s home on a kibbutz near the Gaza border, the woman told ABC’s Linsey Davis.

Eleven members of one family – including three children – are missing after Hamas stormed their kibbutz. Picture: Supplied

The boys were home alone, and called their mother from a safe room, she explained.

“I was on the phone to them every few minutes. Somewhere around half past 8:00 [a.m.], they started saying that they were hearing gunshots outside the house. I tried to calm them down, telling them it’s probably the army or our people shooting,” she recalled.

Eventually, she said, the boys told her that they think they heard someone breaking into the house.”

“It took another 10 minutes or so, and I could hear two or three people speaking in Arabic outside the door getting in,” the mother said. “My youngest, who’s only 12, [was] saying to them, ‘Don’t take me, I’m too young.’ That was it. The line cut off. That was the last time I heard from them.”

The mother is now living in a nightmare.

“They were taken from their homes, from their beds, by barbarians. I can’t really find another word for it,” she said of her sons’ abduction.

She later learned from another video that the boys’ father and his girlfriend were also taken.

“I’m only hoping that they’re together now,” she said.

– with the New York Post

Originally published as ‘Kidnapped by Hamas is worse’: Dad’s ‘relief’ at daughter’s death