Ireland in contact with ‘key interlocutors’ to seek Emily Hand’s release

The Government has no evidence that any Irish citizen other than eight year-old Emily Hand is among the hostages being held in Gaza, Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin has said.

Speaking in Beijing at the start of a four-day visit to China, Mr Martin said Ireland had spoken to “all the key interlocutors” in the region about Emily’s situation.

“We’re not aware of any other Irish citizen being held hostage by any group in Gaza. We were made aware of the situation in respect of Emily, and our ambassador in Israel has been in touch with the family. It’s very sensitive. That’s why we haven’t commented all along. Because in situations like this, one has to have, in this case young Emily’s wellbeing uppermost in how we deal with this,” he said.

“We know there have been discussions between the US and others around the hostage situation and key ministers in the neighbourhood, key countries in the neighbourhood. We’ve made key ministers aware of Emily’s situation.”

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The Tánaiste declined to say if any of the interlocutors he spoke to were in direct contact with Hamas but said that people were working to get hostages released and he was anxious that Emily should be included in any such process. He said he had no evidence to support the suggestion that Irish citizens in Gaza were being deliberately left off lists of people enabled to leave through the Rafah crossing into Egypt.

“Our ambassador in Israel, Sonya McGuinness and our ambassador in Egypt, have been very proactive on this issue. Which, by the way, underpins, again, the essential prerequisite to have ambassadors, to have diplomatic relationships, particularly in a time of conflict and in a situation such as this. I can’t stress that enough. The idea that we would, in the middle of all of this, break off diplomatic relations is something I can’t comprehend,” he said.

“I think there needs to be more reflection in public discourse around the importance of diplomacy, what it exists for. It exists to maintain access when you need it to help your citizens. It enables dialogue on issues that you’re concerned about. Particularly in times of conflict and war, it’s the most fundamental and basic of channels that people keep or countries keep intact to enable people to find a way out of this.

“Going way back over the last four or five decades, it was diplomatic channels enabled resolutions to war and to conflict, which ultimately leads to the betterment of all citizens.”

Earlier, Minister for Justice Helen McEntee said diplomatic channels must remain open and be engaged during the crisis in Gaza, rejecting calls from the opposition to expel the Israeli ambassador from Ireland.

“If we want to ensure that our diplomatic channels remain open, we need to make sure that we continue to engage with all diplomatic channels,” Ms McEntee said

[ Emily Hand’s sister says family ‘have hope back’ after suspected Hamas abduction ]

She said she would have no issue with the Israeli ambassador attending the next Fine Gael Ard Fheis, after opposition TDs criticised her presence alongside other ambassadors at Fianna Fáil’s Ard Fheis over the weekend.

Sinn Féin has called for the expulsion of ambassador Dana Erlich, which the government has rejected. Ms Erlich attended the Fianna Fáil Ard Fheis at the weekend along with 50 other members of the diplomatic corps. The Palestinian ambassador was also present.

Fine Gael holds a special conference this month, which ambassadors do not attend, and its next Ard Fheis is in April 2024.

Ms McEntee said “every effort” is being made to ensure Irish citizens in Israel and Palestine are safe and that Emily is released.

Ms McEntee said it was “absolutely unimaginable” what Emily’s family had been going through. She said it was an “extremely sensitive situation at the moment”.

It emerged on Sunday that Emily, who was believed to have been killed in the Hamas October 7th attacks in Israel, may still be alive and among those held hostage in Gaza.

Emily Hand’s father, Dublin-born Tom Hand, was informed along with other family members by Israeli authorities on Tuesday that it is likely the young girl was abducted, rather than killed, following the October 7th assaults.

Before the Hamas-led militant attacks last month, Tom and Emily lived in the Be’eri Kibbutz, a community in southern Israel not far from the border with Gaza.

The night before the attacks, Emily was staying at a friend’s house elsewhere in the kibbutz.

On the morning of October 7th, sirens sounded around 6.30am, warning of a massive rocket barrage from Gaza. Mr Hand entered his bombproof, secure room. “I could hear the gunfire getting closer. I rang my ex-wife on the kibbutz to make sure she was in a safe room and had locked the door and I told her to call the family where Emily was sleeping,” he said.

When he eventually emerged from his safe room, he was escorted by a senior member of the community to a room where a doctor was waiting, together with a psychiatrist and a social worker, and informed that Emily had been killed. “They just said ‘we found Emily, and she’s dead’.”

Mr Hand said he felt relief, despite the tragic news. “I knew the alternative for my daughter. I knew she’d either be found dead or kidnapped and taken to Gaza. And the thought of a little eight-year-old child in the hands of those animals... She’d be terrorised out of her life,” he said. “Can you imagine the sheer horror for an eight-year-old child?”

Mr Hand now understands his daughter was misidentified.

Mr Hand gave an emotional interview to CNN in the days after the October 7th attack and the presumed killing of Emily, making headlines around the world.

Mr Hand, who is not Jewish, was born in Dún Laoghaire. His family left Dublin for England when he was eight or nine, and in adulthood Mr Hand signed up as a kibbutz volunteer and was assigned to kibbutz Be’eri.

Until the Hamas attack, life in the kibbutz was “paradise”, Mr Hand said. “I couldn’t have asked for a better place or people.”

He fell in love with a member of the kibbutz, Narkis, and they had two children, Aiden (29) and Natalie (26).

After they divorced, Mr Hand married Emily’s mother, Liat, who died of breast cancer five years ago.

Mr Hand was in the process of applying for an Irish passport for Emily until last month’s attack derailed normal life in Israel. He had never taken her to visit his homeland.

He said Emily had a great life on the kibbutz. “She was very, very sociable and she loved music. She would sing in the house all day long and she loved dancing. She would watch videos of Beyoncé; she was her favourite and would pick up the moves really quickly. She was always chosen for the dance routines on the stage for the kibbutz for the holidays – always front and centre.”

The Department of Foreign Affairs said it was aware of Emily’s case and is providing consular assistance to the family. Emily’s sister Natalie said that Irish authorities have promised to do what ever they can to help.