The dad of 9-year-old Emily Hand, a young girl just released from being held hostage by the radical Islamist terrorist group Hamas, spoke with CNN in an interview on Tuesday, revealing the most “shocking” and “disturbing” aspect of his daughter’s release. I can’t even imagine the horror and absolute terror this poor child endured during her time as a hostage. The psychological trauma will leave an emotional scar that will never, ever go away, regardless of how much help and therapy she undergoes. You can’t get that level of peace back once it is gone.
The Daily Caller is reporting, “Hand was kidnapped from the Kibbutz on Oct. 7 alongside her friend and her friend’s mother while having a sleepover. Her father, Thomas, was initially informed his daughter was killed, telling CNN at the time that he was happy that she was killed because he could not imagine the horrors those who were kidnapped would face.”
Local authorities soon informed Thomas that, contrary to initial reports, Emily was alive and had been taken hostage by the savages in Hamas. The level of fear this man must’ve experienced at receiving this kind of news is hard to fathom. Parents know all too well just the thought of someone taking their child can induce panic attacks. To have it actually happen is a nightmare come to life.
“Thomas told CNN on Tuesday that upon his daughter’s return, he noticed her face was extremely thin, her skin was quite pale, but that she spoke in whispers,” the report continued.
“And all of a sudden the door opened up and she just ran. It was beautiful. Just like in — just like I imagined it, you know. Running together. I squeezed. I probably squeezed too hard. So only when she stepped back a little I could see her, her face was chiseled, like mine. Before she left, it was, you know, chubby, girly, young kid face. Yeah, she lost a lot of body weight. And the color, I have never seen her so white,” Thomas said in his conversation with CNN.
“The other and most shocking, disturbing part of meeting her was she was just whispering. Couldn’t hear her. I had to put my ear on her lips, like this close and say, what did you say?” he recounted.
Check out more from the conversation:
“‘I thought you were kidnapped’,” Thomas recounted what Emily said to him.
“She said ‘I thought you were kidnapped?’” CNN’s Clarissa Ward asked.
“She thought I was in captivity,” Thomas explained. “They thought they kidnapped me. She didn’t know what the hell happened that morning. So, she presumed everyone is kidnapped or killed or slaughtered. She had no idea.”
Psychiatrists at the hospital are “optimistic” about Emily’s recovery, according to CNN. Emily, however, “without indicating why” hid underneath her covers and began sobbing Monday night for an hour but would not talk to anyone about it, CNN reported.
There are probably a lot of reasons she’s expressing so much emotion at the moment. Things she experienced or witnessed chief among them, but also the decompression of no longer being in such a lengthy high-stress situation. It’s a lot for such a young, fragile mind to absorb.
Say a prayer for Emily’s recovery and for her family to provide her with the love, care, and support she needs in the coming weeks.
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