9-Year-Old Emily Hand Is Released, Only Speaks in Whispers

Stand for Israel | November 29, 2023

Hamas, hostages, teddy bear — People protest demanding the release of Israelis held hostage by Hamas terrorists in Gaza, in the southern Israeli city of Kiryat Malakhi, October 28, 2023. (Photo: Flash90)

Nine-year-old Emily is finally home with her father after being held in Gaza since October 7, but she still has a long road of recovery ahead of her. The Jerusalem Post reports that she will only speak in a whisper, and her father explains she’d been “conditioned not to make any noise” by terrorists:

“The most shocking, disturbing part of meeting her was she was just whispering, you couldn’t hear her. I had to put my ear on her lips,” disclosed Thomas Hand, the father of 9-year-old Emily Hand, one of the hostages, told CNN. “She’d been conditioned not to make any noise.”

Thomas’s anguish was palpable as he described the moment he reunited with his daughter after her release. “The most shocking, disturbing part of meeting her was she was just whispering, you couldn’t hear her. I had to put my ear on her lips,” he said. “She’d been conditioned not to make any noise.”

According to Hand on CNN, Emily told him she thought he had been taken hostage too. When he asked her how long she thought she was gone, Emily replied “A year.” He told CNN, “Apart from the whispering, that was a punch in the guts. A year,”