Israel-Hamas war: Family of girl, 8, feared dead in attack given hope she may be hostage
Thomas Hand has spent weeks mourning the death of his eight-year-old daughter, Emily.
He was told by Israeli authorities that she was murdered in Kibbutz Be’eri, a close-knit community where Hamas carried out a massacre.
But today he is sitting on the balcony of a hotel overlooking the Dead Sea, reacting to the news his daughter is now believed to be a hostage in Gaza.
“We’re very, very happy,” he tells me, “that there’s a chance that she’s alive and will come out of it, no matter how broken, physically or mentally. We’re going to have to fix her. It’s going to take years, but we want her back.”
His eyes fill with tears as he says: “We want to hug her again. We want to see her dancing again, singing.”
Israel-Gaza latest: Gaza becoming ‘graveyard for children’
Emily and Thomas Hand. Picture supplied by family via Cordelia Lynch.
Emily Hand is thought to have been kidnapped and taken to Gaza
She was having a sleepover at a friend’s house when Hamas stormed in and started opening fire in the kibbutz.
Her half-sister Nathalie shows me video Emily filmed on the morning the attack unfolded, huddled with her friend and her friend’s mother in the basement of their home.
“We’re in the safe room with our toys,” she says, in a video filmed as they tried to hide.
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Initially, it was presumed she had been killed and that her body had been identified.
But her father says weeks later he was told there had been a mistake in identification and that there were no traces of Emily’s DNA found.
Thomas says two mobile phones belonging to her friend and her friend’s mother have also been tracked to Gaza.
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Thomas has been through a harrowing journey from mourning to now, hope. At the time of Emily’s presumed death he felt some relief, comforted by the notion she wouldn’t be suffering at the hands of Hamas any longer.
Now, he wrestled with picturing her being held in a tunnel. “I went from feeling the nightmare is over to, okay, I’m, I’m back in it. We’re all back in it now.”
But he is holding on desperately to the belief his “angel,” who he says has an “amazing internal strength and spirit” will return.
I ask what he will do if she does. “I won’t let her out of my sight,” he says as he weeps, “I just want to hold her and never let go”
“Super high-IQ revolutionaries” who are willing to work 80+ hours a week are being urged to join Elon Musk’s new cost-cutting department in Donald Trump’s incoming US government.
The X and Tesla owner will co-lead the Department Of Government Efficiency (DOGE) with former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.
And in a post on X, the official DOGE account put out a call to arms for people to sign up and help “dismantle government bureaucracy”.
The post said: “We are very grateful to the thousands of Americans who have expressed interest in helping us at DOGE.
“We don’t need more part-time idea generators.
“We need super high-IQ small-government revolutionaries willing to work 80+ hours per week on unglamorous cost-cutting.
“If that’s you, DM this account with your CV. Elon & Vivek will review the top 1% of applicants.”
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Elon Musk speaking at an event held at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. Pic: AP Photo/Alex Brandon
In a reply to an interested party, Mr Musk suggested the lucky applicants would be working for free.
“Indeed, this will be tedious work, make lost of enemies & compensation is zero,” the world’s richest man wrote.
“What a great deal!”
When announcing the new department, President-elect Donald Trump said Mr Musk and Mr Ramaswamy “will pave the way for my administration to dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies”.
Mr Musk has previously made clear his desire to see cuts to “government waste” and in a post on his X platform suggested he could axe as many as three-quarters of the more than 400 federal departments in the US, writing: “99 is enough.”
At least 10 people have been killed after a fire broke out at a retirement home in northern Spain in the early hours of this morning, officials have said.
A further two people were seriously injured in the blaze at the residence in the town of Villafranca de Ebro in Zaragoza, according to the Spanish news website Diario Sur.
Two people remain in a critical condition following the blaze. Pic: AP
They remain in a critical condition, while several others received treatment for smoke inhalation.
Firefighters were alerted to the blaze at the residence – the Jardines de Villafranca – at 5am (4am UK time) on Friday.
Several residents were treated for smoke inhalation. Pic: AP
Those who were killed in the fire died from smoke inhalation, Spanish newspaper Heraldo reported.
The residence is home to 82 elderly residents.
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The blaze started in one of the rooms, Fernando Beltran, the national government’s top official in the region, told reporters.
All of the victims were elderly residents, he added.
Relatives wait for news outside the care home. Pic: AP
Fire crews, paramedics and police officers remain on site, said a spokesperson for the regional government of Aragon who confirmed the fatalities.
It took firefighters several hours to extinguish the blaze, they said.
The cause of the fire is unknown and is being investigated.
At least 10 people have been killed after a fire broke out at a retirement home in northern Spain in the early hours of this morning, officials have said.
A further two people were seriously injured in the blaze at the residence in the town of Villafranca de Ebro in Zaragoza, according to the Spanish news website Diario Sur.
Two people remain in a critical condition following the blaze. Pic: AP
They remain in a critical condition, while several others received treatment for smoke inhalation.
Firefighters were alerted to the blaze at the residence – the Jardines de Villafranca – at 5am (4am UK time) on Friday.
Several residents were treated for smoke inhalation. Pic: AP
Those who were killed in the fire died from smoke inhalation, Spanish newspaper Heraldo reported.
The residence is home to 82 elderly residents.
Read more from Sky News:
Mass displacement in Gaza – people unsure where to go
Donald Trump picks vaccine sceptic as health secretary
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
The blaze started in one of the rooms, Fernando Beltran, the national government’s top official in the region, told reporters.
All of the victims were elderly residents, he added.
Relatives wait for news outside the care home. Pic: AP
Fire crews, paramedics and police officers remain on site, said a spokesperson for the regional government of Aragon who confirmed the fatalities.
It took firefighters several hours to extinguish the blaze, they said.
The cause of the fire is unknown and is being investigated.
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