11-Year-Old Former Hostage’s Heartbreaking Plea to Bibi: "Save Them Now!"

At a poignant rally in Kibbutz Hatzerim on Wednesday, 11-year-old Emily Hand, a former hostage freed from Gaza, delivered an impassioned plea to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, urging him to negotiate a deal to release the remaining captives, as reported by The Times of Israel. Speaking to members of her devastated Kibbutz Be’eri, now temporarily relocated to Hatzerim until their community is rebuilt, Hand, who was kidnapped at age 8 on October 7, 2023, said, “Bibi, I’m speaking to you directly, go make a deal now, because this can’t go on.” She described the harsh conditions of captivity, stating, “The pictures of the people around us aren’t just pictures. These are people who were kidnapped to Gaza, and some were murdered. Just think for a moment about the word ‘kidnapped.’ Who would have believed that we would have to say that people from our own country were kidnapped?”

Hand, abducted alongside Hila Rotem Shoshani and Raya Rotem by Hamas terrorists, was released during a weeklong ceasefire in November 2023. She shared the personal toll of her ordeal, noting, “Opening the fridge is a privilege. Going to sleep in a bed is a privilege. On that black Saturday, I had plans to meet friends, to dance in the studio with my sister, to cook food. But no. That didn’t happen, because instead, I got a one-way ticket to Gaza.” Having lost her mother to cancer at age 2, Hand faced further tragedy upon her return when her father, Thomas Hand, informed her that her “second mother,” Narkis Hand, was killed on October 7. She lamented, “It doesn’t make sense that we’re going to Hostage Square, visiting cemeteries, sometimes flying abroad, all because of what happened. Our hearts have been held captive there for far too long.”

Shaked Haran, whose father, Avshalom Haran, was murdered on October 7 and whose seven family members were taken hostage but later freed, also spoke, calling the past 593 days “our struggle.” She said, “It’s hard, exhausting, and Sisyphean, but it’s ours. It’s not fair that after everything we’ve been through as a community, we still have to fight. But that’s the reality.” Haran emphasized collective action, stating, “I’m reminding us here, too, we have each other. We must continue to be there for one another, for the families of the hostages. Unlike any natural process, here time does not ‘heal all wounds.’”

The October 7 massacre saw Hamas kill 101 people at Be’eri, including 90 kibbutz members, from a population of about 1,000. Across Israel, 1,200 were killed, and 251 were taken hostage, with 57 still in captivity, alongside the body of a soldier killed in 2014. Be’eri survivors Natali Ben Gal and Inbal Bechar also spoke, reinforcing the community’s resilience.