Emily Hand, a nine-year-old Irish-Israeli girl, was at a sleepover in Hibbut Be’eri during the Hamas attack when she was captured alongside her friend Hilda on October 7, 2023.
Emily, along with other Israeli children and women, was handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross in Gaza in November after being held captive for 50 days.
Speaking to the Irish Sun, Emily's father Tom has revealed the youngster is as "noisy and boisterous as ever" and pledged to never complain about how loud she is being.
He said: "Emily still gets scared of loud noises and wasn’t able to sleep alone for a long time after she came back.
"She still has nightmares but counseling has helped and things are much better now."
Having spent her ninth birthday as a hostage, Tom said he was throwing his daughter "a party to remember" for her upcoming tenth birthday, which takes place later this month.
The little girl also lost more than 3kg while in captivity and was returned to her family almost mute having been threatened to be killed by her captors if she made too much noise.
A statement from the family following Emily’s release said the little girl had "come back to us."
"We can’t find the words to describe our emotions after 50 challenging and complicated days," they said.
"We are overjoyed to embrace Emily again, but at the same time, we remember all the hostages who have yet to return.
"We will persist in doing everything in our power to bring them back home."
In a statement just before she was released, Tánaiste Michéal Martin said he was delighted that Emily Hand, "a bright and beautiful young girl," had been released and will be reunited with her family.
* This article was originally published on Extra.ie.
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