Heartbreaking moment nine-year-old Emily Hand relives Hamas kidnap as terrorists snatched her at knifepoint on Oct 7
EMILY Hand has told of the harrowing moment she was abducted at knife-point by evil Hamas thugs.
The nine-year-old – one of the youngest hostages taken on October 7 – was on a sleepover at a pal’s home in Be’eri kibbutz when she was snatched.
In a rare interview, Emily told a new Channel 4 documentary: “When they arrived, we just opened up.
“Because if we held the door shut they’d shoot and the bullets would hit us.
“So we just opened the door.”
Hamas brutes then swept into the house before bundling Emily, her friend Hila Rotem-Shoshani and Hila’s mother Rayaa into a car.
Emily said: “They threatened us with a knife. If we resist, they’ll kill us.
“They put a blanket over us [in the car] so that we won’t see and maybe run away. So we won’t know the way back.”
Hila told the documentary One Day in October, due to air on Wednesday, how they were abducted by up to seven terrorists.
Rayaa added: “They grabbed me by the shirt and said ‘you’re coming to Gaza’.
“We saw corpses everywhere.”
Hila added that Emily kept asking what the terrorists were saying.
Emily – who was rushed from house-to-house by Hamas fighters during gun battles with Israeli troops – turned nine while in Gaza before her release in November last year.
Her dad Tom revealed to The Sun Emily had told him she was not – as believed – held in the labyrinth of Hamas terror tunnels dubbed the “Gaza Metro”.
But she instead faced greater danger being moved from one safe house to another at the height of Israel’s revenge blitz on the terror group’s 25-mile-long stronghold.
He said of the Hamas gunmen: “They were shouting ‘yala yala yala’ in Arabic – ‘hurry hurry hurry’ — at my terrified little girl as she ran for her life.
“They made her run from the Israeli army from house to house.
“She was constantly being moved – sometimes under fire – to stay one step ahead of the army.
“She must have been absolutely terrified – an eight-year-old girl being led by strangers from one blown-up shell of a house to the next in the middle of a war zone.”
A year on from the horror October 7 atrocity, Emily’s dad told The Sun how his little girl is “smiling again”.
She ran into Tom’s arms after 50 days in captivity traumatised and broken.
The wide-eyed waif’s weight had crashed, her clothes and hair were matted and filthy and she was unable to speak in more than a whisper.
Tom – who earlier had told the world his little girl was better off dead than in the clutches of Hamas savages – fought back his tears knowing he had to stay strong.
But now he says she is rebuilding her life.
Tom added: “Emily went through absolute hell but she’s a fighter – and she is smiling again.
How many hostages are still in Gaza?
ISRAEL believes around 101 hostages are still being held in Hamas' evil clutches in Gaza.
At least 36 of them are feared to be dead.
A total of 97 hostages remain unaccounted for after they were kidnapped by Hamas thugs a year ago.
And a further four people taken hostage in 2014 and 2015 are still being held.
According to Israeli figures, 251 Israelis and foreigners were abducted by Hamas on October 7 last year.
A group of hostages were released in November and another one in June.
“When she was released she was afraid to speak in more than a whisper because the terrorists had threatened to shoot or stab her if she made too much noise.
“But a year later she’s getting back to her old self and is as noisy and boisterous as ever – I never complain now no matter how noisy she gets!
“We have a new home in a new, safe, kibbutz further from Gaza and she’s back at school with some of her old friends and starting to enjoy life again.
“It’s awful remembering the dark times but I have to be thankful that I got her back and give her every chance to be happy and enjoy every day.
“Her recovery shows the terrorists that they will never beat her, they will never beat me, they will never beat the people of my kibbutz and they will never beat Israel.
“Hamas attacked us but they have succeeded only in making us stronger, more united and more determined.”