Thomas Hand, the father of 9-year-old Emily Hand, who was freed from Hamas captivity in the Gaza Strip in November, became emotional on Monday during an interview on British television when the presenter informed him that Hamas had released a new hostage video.
Host Piers Morgan asked Thomas for his response to the video, in which two captives were shown and which the Israel Defense Forces later described as “deeply concerning.”
In response, he shouted, “No!” recalling that some of the captives shown had been with his daughter in Hamas captivity. Emily wiped his tears and comforted him.
“They [the three hostages shown in the Hamas video] are from Kibbutz Be’eri, and Itay Svirsky was with Emily the whole first period of captivity; nothing happened to him then. Noa [Argamani] another of the captives in the video] is alive, and I hope it stays that way,” said Thomas.
Earlier that evening, an IDF spokesman said there was “serious concern for the lives of Svirsky and another male captive shown in the video.”
IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Daniel Hagari also announced that a sign of life had been received from Argamani. The IDF spoke with the families of the three captives, who have been held in Gaza for over 100 days.
During its Oct. 7 invasion of southern Israel, Hamas kidnapped 240 people, including foreign citizens. Israel believes 136 people are still being held in Gaza.
Originally published by Israel Hayom.
