Ten year-old girl who survived being taken hostage by Hamas on October 7 calls for peace deal

A ten-year-old girl who was taken hostage by Hamas in the October 7 attacks has called for a peace deal to end the war.

Emily Hand was held by Hamas for 50 days after militants entered Israel on October 7, 2023, killing more than 1,200 people and taking 250 hostage in Gaza.

“I know what it’s like to be a hostage in Gaza and want everyone to come home and I want peace,” she told The Sun.

“I’ve never lived in peace in my life. I want to know what it’s like.”

Hand, a dual Irish-Israeli national, was one of 17 hostages freed in November 2023 under an agreement between Israel and Hamas.

Israel marked the two-year anniversary of the attacks earlier this week as peace talks continued between Hamas and Israeli delegations in Egypt over a ceasefire deal, which would include the release of the remaining hostages.

More than 67,000 people have been killed in Gaza by an Israeli offensive launched in the aftermath of the attacks, including 20,000 children, according to Gaza’s health ministry. Nearly 170,000 people have been wounded.

A two-year investigation by the United Nations (UN) recently concluded that Israel is committing a genocide in the Gaza Strip, which Israel has called “false” and “distorted”.

Hand’s 65-year-old father, Thomas, detailed the effects that the experience has had on his daughter in the months since her release.

“When she came home, she was a wreck and I was terrified that she would never get over what she’d been through,” he said.

“But she has not only got her voice back, she’s public speaking in support of the hostages still trapped.

“I was giving a speech in Hostage Square in Tel Aviv in front of thousands of people with Emily beside me when she suddenly said she wanted to say something.

“This was the girl who came back from Gaza speaking in whispers. I was so proud that she had come so far.”

Mr Hand initially believed she had been killed and said her death would have been a “blessing” as she wouldn’t have been held hostage. It later emerged she was alive.

Meanwhile, talks between Hamas, Israel and the US continued in Egypt on Wednesday on the details of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump’s 20-point peace plan.

Israel believes 20 of the remaining 48 hostages are still alive. In exchange for the bodies of each deceased hostage, they have proposed to return the bodies of 15 deceased Palestinians.

Israel says it will return 250 Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences and 1,700 Palestinian prisoners held after October 7, including all women and children.

On Wednesday, senior Hamas official Taher Al-Nounou said that negotiators from Hamas and Israel had exchanged lists of prisoners and hostages to be released upon the agreement of a deal. He expressed optimism about reaching an agreement.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum have backed calls for President Trump to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, saying that his efforts towards a ceasefire and hostage release had “brought us light through our darkest times”.