Little Hamas hostage celebrates 10th birthday at party she 'didn't think she'd see'

Brave Emily Hand is celebrating her 10th birthday on Sunday - the first since she was set free from a hostage inside

This time last year Emily was being held captive by terrorists for 49 days. Now Emily and her dad Thomas have been putting up balloons and pinning badges simply saying “10” or “Happy Birthday” on themselves. They’ve even put one on the collar of Emily's beloved dog Johnsey. Her delighted dad Thomas, 65, told the "This is the birthday party I thought and feared I would never experience. My agony has turned to joy. "When my lovely little daughter disappeared on October 7th last year I thought I would never be with her again. I knew the vicious attackers had killed over 100 of the people who lived on our kibbutz. At that time I publicly said something that I know shocked the .

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“I said I hoped my daughter was dead - as otherwise if she was kidnapped into Gaza she was likely to be subjected to the most terrible brutality at the hands of her crazed vile captors.

"Then a week later a carer told us she had seen Emily and her older friend Hila and Hila's mother being taken across the border into Gaza. I was horrified -- but desperate to see her again. no matter in what condition."

Thomas told the how different it had been on Emily's 9th birthday, which she spent in captivity. Last year he had bought balloons with Happy Birthday inscribed on them - and the Mirror saw them deflating inside his hotel bedroom.

But he is still worried about Emily. "Gradually things have got better for Emily - but it's two steps forward, one step back.

"The last year and a bit has been extremely difficult, not just for Emily and me but for my whole family, friends and even friends of friends.

"We, unfortunately, are not alone in our feelings of shock, horror, sadness and sense of loss. At our birthday party, there will also be some sense of sadness -- at who is not here.”

He added: "Emily has had to cope with the murder by terrorists on our kibbutz of Narkis, my ex-wife and mother of my two older children.

“Emily saw her as a surrogate mum. The loss of our close friends from the kibbutz -- and the loss of the kibbutz itself.

“The place had been like a paradise for Emily to grow up in, especially after she had lost her mother to cancer when Emily was less than three years old."

Among those missing from today's party is the British woman Leanne Sharabi, from Bristol.

Leanne as well as both their teenage daughters. Leanne, Noiya and Yahel were mercilessly gunned down inside their home on October 7 last year.

Leanne's husband Eli has been held captive for more than 400 days, among a handful who may still be alive. Also invited to today's birthday party are Hila Rotem Shoshani, now 14, and her mother. They were both kidnapped along with Emily, who had been at a sleepover with them.

"We had to do just what they told us otherwise we would have died right there," Emily confided.

She said that while they were being forced at gunpoint to walk across the nearby border into Gaza they had seen around a dozen dead bodies -- including some people she knew from her kibbutz.

She still wakes up occasionally with nightmares, often dreaming of escape or being chased. Her devoted dad always sleeps nearby.

But her life has turned around -- thanks largely to extensive psychotherapy, which has urged unusual methods to give her back a sense of control over her life.

That included the exhilaration of riding horses, going fishing with her dad, and going to theme parks, where - says Thomas -- she shows no fear on even the most scary rollercoasters.

Above all, she has enjoyed cuddling her beloved dog Johnsey. Thomas said: She often goes to sleep with her head resting on him.”

Thomas recalled how one Saturday morning, November 24 last year he suddenly got the call he had dreamed of.

The army was taking him, and andJohnsey, to the border with Gaza as Emily would be one of ten hostages to be released that night.

Tom had insisted he needed to bring Johnsey as Emily may be furious with her dad for "not saving her from the terrorist or not rescuing her", but she would feel only love and affection for her pet.

After a nerve-wracking delay, the exchange went ahead. Emily ran right past her pet dog and flung herself into her dad's embrace, a scene captured on video that melted hearts around the world.

"When she got back after her 49 days of captivity I realised that despite what she had gone through she was -- as I texted the (Sunday) Mirror from the border -- 'broken but in one piece'.

"There were alarming signs of what she had gone through. She could only whisper for many days - they had threatened to kill her with a knife if she ever raised her voice."

They both hope they will end up back on their Kibbutz Be'eri, where Thomas, a Dublin-born Londoner before he moved to to work in a printing shop on a kibbutz, spent thirty years of his life.

" I discovered a paradise -- until it turned to hell in just one day," he recalled.

He added; "As we hold our wonderful birthday party we are all still desperately waiting for the return of the rest of the hostages.

"There are still over 100 missing -- mostly innocent civilians kidnapped in the tunnels under Gaza by those murderous terrorists.

Thomas added: " I'm always aware that some trigger could send Emily spiralling into despair or anxiety. A huge highlight since she was set free has been our trip to Disneyland in Orlando. It was great to see that she still has the capacity to laugh and have fun. No doubt this birthday celebration will also help.”