Heartbreak for Hamas victims’ fathers: Emily Hand’s parent pleads with the terror group to ‘show humanity’ and release the girl in time for her ninth birthday as Shani Louk’s father says he’s ‘happy I know she is dead and not suffering’ in Gaza

• Thomas Hand pleaded with Hamas to release his eight-year-old daughter Emily 
• Nissim Louk said he’s ‘happy’ to know daughter Shani is dead and not suffering

Two heartbroken fathers have described how they have been living a nightmare ever since their daughters were taken from them by Hamas during the terror groups’ bloodthirsty raid on Israel.

Thomas Hand, whose eight-year-old daughter Emily is thought to be among the 240 hostages held by Hamas, today pleaded with the terror group to ‘show humanity’ and release the little girl in time for her ninth birthday in two weeks. 

He had believed for weeks that Emily had been slaughtered by the terrorists as they rampaged through Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7 – but earlier this week, the grief-stricken father was told the schoolgirl is likely being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza.

Mr Hand, his voice breaking, today pleaded with the terrorists to ‘show some compassion, some humanity’ and release his daughter along with the other children they captured. 

For Nissim Louk, he spent weeks helplessly hoping that his daughter Shani Louk had survived the Hamas terrorist attack on the Nova electronic festival. 

But then he saw a horrific video showing his daughter lying motionless in the back of a truck while being paraded by Hamas terrorists, with the thoughts of what they were doing to her filling his days. 

After weeks of waiting, Mr Louk and his heartbroken wife Ricarda were told by Israeli soldiers they had found Shani’s skull and she had been killed ‘on the spot’ by Hamas terrorists as she fled the festival in her car with friends. 

For Mr Louk, that has provided some sense of solace – to know that his daughter isn’t suffering unknown horrors at the hands of Hamas terrorists. 

‘It is very hard as a father, but on the other hand I am happy,’ Mr Louk told Piers Morgan Uncensored. ‘Why am I happy? At least I know she is dead, I know she was dancing all night before and she was having the time of her life… she is not suffering.

Thomas Hand, whose eight-year-old daughter Emily (pictured) is thought to be among the 240 hostages held by Hamas, today pleaded with the terror group to ‘show humanity’ and release the little girl in time for her ninth birthday in two weeks

For Nissim Louk, he spent weeks helplessly hoping that his daughter Shani Louk (pictured) had survived the Hamas terrorist attack on the Nova electronic festival. After weeks of waiting, Mr Louk was told Shani had been killed ‘on the spot’ by Hamas terrorists

Ms Louk’s motionless body was paraded by Hamas gunmen after the festival attack in Israel. It was unclear if she was alive in the video, although her mother later stated that she was alive and being held in a Gaza hospital

‘I don’t want to think what they are doing to these beautiful girls that are in Gaza. It is crazy. They are psychopaths, they are sadistic people, the whole world has seen it.’ 

Mr Louk added: ‘Sometimes it is better to know your daughter is dead and she didn’t suffer… it gave me some peace and some peace of mind. It is very, very difficult.’

For Mr Hand, he had believed his daughter Emily had been one of at least 130 people killed in the deadly massacre at Kibbutz Be’eri, where she spent the night of October 6 to October 7 at a sleepover at her friend’s house.

In the aftermath, the Irish-born father said in an emotional interview that he was glad to hear that his daughter was dead, as he was more terrified of how she would have been treated by Hamas terrorists.

But after a month of mourning, her family on Sunday revealed Israeli authorities have told them the schoolgirl is a hostage of Hamas, and is likely being held somewhere in in the besieged Gaza Strip. 

Mr Hand on Monday admitted his regret over originally saying he was ‘glad’ Emily was dead, explaining he fears he might have ‘put her in danger’.

Today, Mr Hand pleaded with the Hamas terrorists to ‘show humanity’ and release his little girl before her ninth birthday next Friday. The heartbroken father said he hoped she was being taken care of. 

When asked how he thinks Emily will be coping, Mr Hand told Good Morning Britain: ‘She’s a very strong individual, physically and mentally. I hope she’s in a group with someone who will take care of her nicely.

‘We hope to get her back before her birthday if possible,’ Mr Hand, his voice cracking with emotion. ‘That would be fantastic, to give her a proper birthday.’ 

He said Emily will have no idea of what day it is, meaning she’s ‘not even going to know it’s her birthday’ next Friday.

Pleading directly with the Hamas terrorists who have been holding his daughter inside Gaza for more than a month, Mr Hand said: ‘I hope they can show the world that they have got some compassion, some humanity, some pity and at least start releasing the babies and children. I think it would be good for them.’ 

Mr Hand revealed on Monday that he had been told by investigators at Kibbutz Be’eri that there was no evidence his daughter had been killed there. 

He said that no blood was found around or near the house that matched the DNA of Emily or her friend. Mr Hand explained: ‘They were dragged to Gaza, we presume.’ 

Mr Hand, his voice breaking, today pleaded with the terrorists to ‘show some compassion, some humanity’ and release his daughter along with the other children they captured

Irish-Israeli Emily Hand was reported to have been among at least 130 people killed in the deadly massacre at Kibbutz Be’eri

Pictured: Emily Hand, eight, had stayed the night at a friend’s house on Friday, October 6, her father Thomas said

He added that two mobile phones, belonging to Emily’s friend and her mother, have been tracked to Gaza, which he said is only ‘an indicator’ as the phones could easily have been stolen.

Mr Hand has said he now struggles with imagining where Emily might be, suggesting the terrorist group might be holding her in its network of tunnels.

He said the family had begun the mourning process when they were told Emily was likely not dead. 

‘I went from feeling the nightmare is over to, okay, I’m back in it. We’re all back in it now,’ he said.

For Nissim Louk, that nightmare of not knowing whether his daughter was dead or being held by Hamas terrorists in Gaza, is now over. He was told last week his daughter had been killed ‘on the spot’ by the terrorists.

Mr Louk said Shani had been dancing with her friends at the Nova electronic festival near Kibbutz Re’im on October 7 when the Hamas gunmen began shooting anyone they saw. 

The heartbroken father said Shani and her friends tried to escape the massacre in their car but ten minutes later they were met by armed Hamas terrorists who shot at the vehicle, killing his daughter ‘instantly’. He said his daughter ‘did not suffer’.

For more than three weeks, Shani’s family had been helplessly waiting for news that their beloved daughter had survived the Hamas attack and could be released by the terrorists.

Mr Louk later saw his daughter in a harrowing video, where Shani’s half-naked body was splayed in the back of a truck, surrounded by terrorists and jeering crowds who spat on her.

After seeing the video, Shani’s family hoped in vain that she was still alive, albeit in a critical condition, inside a hospital in Hamas-controlled Gaza.

But after more than three weeks of not knowing what happened to Shani – whether she was dead or alive – her heartbroken parents received the knock on the door they had been dreading: Israeli soldiers had found fragments of her skull, meaning Shani was among the 270 people killed in the horrific massacre. 

Shani had been dancing at the music event along with her friends on October 7, not noticing the black-clad paragliders descending on the fields surrounding the festival with their grenades and machine guns.

But the young revellers soon heard the sound of air raid sirens and saw the rockets streak overhead. 

Nissim said his daughter and her friends tried to escape in Shani’s car, but the terrorists shot at her car, killing his daughter ‘instantly’.

For Mr Louk, knowing that his daughter was killed instantly as she tried to flee the festival and didn’t suffer has provided some sense of solace.

For Mr Louk, knowing that his daughter was killed instantly as she tried to flee the festival and didn’t suffer has provided some sense of solace

Shani Louk, 22, was kidnapped from Israel to Gaza by Hamas terrorists on October 7 from the Nova music festival near Kibbutz Re’im. Hamas gunmen took at least 200 hostages and killed about 1,400 people during the dawn raid

Shani Louk (right) is pictured alongside her cousin

Nissim and Ricarda Louk, the parents of Shani Louk, 22, are photographed in their home in Srigim-Li On, Israel, last Tuesday

‘It’s not easy for a father to lose his child,’ Mr Louk said. ‘But I am happy – at least I know she is dead. I know she is not suffering. I don’t want to think what they are doing to these beautiful girls that are there in Gaza.’ 

The nightmare that Mr Louk had been living has now evolved into a new one. Shani’s parents and siblings – Amit, 20, Or, 14, and Adi, 25 – are unable to bury her because they only have skull fragments.

Mr Louk said: ‘I hope for the sake of the world, that it will not happen to anyone in the world what we have experienced because it is difficult for a father to bury a child. 

At the moment we don’t have even the body, because they took the body and I don’t want to think what they did to the body.’ 

The heartbroken father said he believes his daughter is now ‘a symbol’ for the horrors Hamas terrorists inflicted on the 1,400 Israelis they massacred. 

‘I think my girl was the symbol because she looked so beautiful and pure and so nice in the newspapers,’ Mr Louk said. ‘And on the other side of the newspaper, you could see how the Hamas terrorists, in a sadistic, crazy and brutal way, threw her in the back of a pickup when her legs were broken and a wound on her head.’

Shani’s mother Ricarda said last week that seeing the video of her daughter’s lifeless body in the back of that truck, surrounded by jeering terrorists who spat on her, was like living through a ‘horror movie’.

‘If you saw the video, you can imagine how I felt,’ Ricarda said. ‘You feel like you’re in a horror movie, when you see your own daughter being transported like this by those barbarian people and everybody celebrating and spitting on her. 

‘It’s like you’re in a bad movie and you want to wake up. It’s devastating.’

Ricarda and Nissim had believed Shani was still alive at that point after receiving messages from a source saying she was being treated in hospital for a head injury. 

For weeks, Ricarda, bolstered by the hope her daughter was alive, and her family urged the German government to intervene. But on Monday, ‘we got the news that she died,’ Ricarda said after soldiers knocked on their door. 

Amit said: ‘When you see soldiers in the house, you know it’s bad news.’ But the 20-year-old said he feels some relief to know that Shani was killed instantly and that unlike many other families in Israel, he knows where she is and that ‘she’s not suffering anymore’. 

For Shani’s family, they say they will remember her for her happiness, how much she loved music, with her little brother Amit describing his sister as an ‘angel’. 

Amit said: ‘She loved music. She loved tattoos. She was an artistic person by nature… In the way she was talking and the way she was moving. In the way she danced. There was no dark side, only pure angel.’ 

Shani is now among the 270 people massacred by Hamas terrorists at the festival, where survivors described how the gunmen went ‘tree by tree’ executing victims. 

Survivors of the attack posted clips of the ordeal to social media, showing how they were forced to hide under bushes and record hushed farewell messages to their loved ones as they watched victims get killed one by one.

Many lay still in sheer terror for more than five hours before they heard the sound of armed rescuers speaking in Hebrew.

Terrifying video shows Hamas gunmen immediately opening fire on hundreds of terrified Israeli festivalgoers when the terrorists saw them running for their lives across a field.

Video taken from a terrorist’s truck shows the rampaging gunmen driving along a road, covered with the bodies of their already slain victims and their bullet-riddled cars, and unleashing more horrors that defy belief.

Within seconds of Hamas terrorists seeing hundreds of terrified Israeli festivalgoers running for their lives across a field, the gunmen ruthlessly shot them one by one without hesitation, sickening new footage shows

It was here that the gunmen, their ears pricking at the sound of crackling gunfire up ahead, saw hundreds of screaming youngsters running across the next field from the Supernova festival where they had seen their friends shot dead by Hamas terrorists 

It was here that the gunmen, drawn to the sound of crackling gunfire up ahead, saw hundreds of screaming youngsters running across the next field from the Supernova festival where they had seen their friends shot dead by Hamas terrorists.

Without hesitation, two gunmen raised their assault rifles and began firing shots one after the other at the fleeing revellers. Within seconds, dozens of other terrorists jumped out of their pickup trucks and began taking potshots too. 

Some fire from a machine gun-mounted truck, while one gunman jumps onto the bonnet of a slain victim’s abandoned car to shoot over the trees at the screaming revellers, mowing them down one by one with their hail of bullets.

The sickening sound of gunshots continues for 40 seconds –  the terrorists unrelenting in their savagery. Apparently deciding that there were no more victims to shoot, the gunmen are seen turning back to their trucks before the video cuts out.

Moments before they had launched this particular attack on their victims, many of whom were in their twenties or early thirties, the gunmen had already shot dead scores of revellers who had tried to flee the massacre in their cars.

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