Father recounts welcoming the news his 8-year-old girl is dead, rather than held in Gaza

The father of an eight-year-old girl who had been missing since Saturday’s Hamas onslaught in Kibbutz Be’eri near Gaza has welcomed the news that she is dead rather than being held hostage in the Strip, in a heartbreaking interview with CNN.

Thomas Hand says he waited for two days to hear about his daughter Emily’s fate, after she slept at a friend’s house the night before terrorists massacred more than 100 people in its early morning attack.

“They said: ‘We found Emily. She’s dead,’ and I just went ‘Yes!’ I went ‘yes,’ and I smiled, because that is the best news of the possibilities that I knew,” he says, trembling.

“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,” he says.

“They’d have no food. They’d have no water. She’d be in a dark room filled with Christ knows how many people. And terrified every minute, hour, day, and possible years to come. So death was a blessing. An absolute blessing.”

In a heart-wrenching interview on @CNNsitRoom, CNN reporter Clarissa Ward speaks with @WolfBlitzer about a grieving father who finally received confirmation of his daughter's tragic death during the Hamas attack. Watch: pic.twitter.com/F9Yh3lW5KI

— CNN (@CNN) October 12, 2023