Israeli girl, 5, returns to kindergarten after 49 days in Hamas captivity

A five-year-old Israeli girl has returned to nursery for the first time since being released from Hamas captivity.

Emilia Aloni and her mother Daniel were taken hostage by Hamas in Nir Oz on 7 October while visiting Emilia’s aunt, Sharon Aloni-Cunio.

The three family members, in addition to Sharon’s three-year-old twins Emma and Yuli and their father David Cunio – were released in the brief ceasefire at the end of November.

Read more: Who are the Israeli hostages released by Hamas?

Israel’s ministry of education shared a video of Emilia’s first day back at her kindergarten on X, formerly Twitter, adding, “there is nothing more exciting than this”.

The video shows her being embraced by classmates and a member of staff.

At 11am during Hamas’ attack on the kibbutz, Daniel sent a “last message” to her family which said there were terrorists in the house and she was afraid they would not survive.

Daniel and Emilia spent a total of 49 days in captivity.

They were two of 23 Israeli hostages released on 24 November.

In a letter published after they were released, Daniel thanked Hamas “for the many hours you spent as caregivers” and said she and her daughter were taken care of.

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But her cousin, Liam Adam, called the letter “propaganda” and urged followers not to believe it.

Ruthy Munder, 78, was taken into captivity by Hamas and said she spent the entirety of her time with her daughter, Keren, and grandson, Ohad Munder-Zichri, who celebrated his ninth birthday in captivity.

Speaking to Israel’s Channel 13, she said they initially were fed “chicken with rice, all sorts of canned food and cheese” and slept on plastic chairs.

But she then said “the economic situation was not good, and people were hungry” as they were held hostage.