Thomas Hand speaking with CNN
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Thomas Hand lost his 8-year-old daughter, Emily, last Saturday in the Hamas terrorist attack on Kibbutz Be'eri. After learning about her death, Hand expressed feelings of relief that she was killed by the terrorists, as he believes that her death is preferable to her being taken captive by Hamas in Gaza.
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Hand waited anxiously for news about his daughter's unbearable situation, following the harrowing attack on the kibbutz around 7am on Saturday. The terrorists killed at least 100 Israelis on-site. He recounted that the kibbutz endured nearly 12 hours of continuous rocket and gunfire that day, during which he had no knowledge of his daughter's whereabouts or her fate, as she had gone to sleepover in a neighboring house, a practice she occasionally followed.
In a heart-wrenching interview with CNN last week, Hand broke into tears as he recounted the moment when he was finally informed his daughter's body was found. He said that his relief stemmed from the fact that she had not been abducted in the first place.
"They said, 'We found Emily. She's dead,' and I just went 'Yes!'," he said. "I went 'yes', and I smiled because that is the best news of the possibilities that I knew... 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. That is worse than death. The way they treat you. They have no food, they would have no water."
"She would 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," he continued.
Hundreds of Hamas terrorists who infiltrated Gaza border towns during last week's terror attack inflicted severe casualties on civilians and soldiers, leaving widespread destruction in communities and military bases.
In Kibbutz Be'eri, homes were destroyed, and vehicles were found burnt and riddled with bullet holes on the side of the road. "The youngest child we found was a murdered one-month-old baby, and the eldest victim was 85 years old," recounted Kobi, a 50-year-old volunteer for the ZAKA emergency service, in an interview with Ynet.