Israeli child held hostage by Hamas spends 9th birthday in 'tunnels of Gaza,' father shares

Emily Hand, who turns 9 years old on Friday, Nov. 17, is one of 32 children who were taken hostage by Hamas during its Oct. 7 terror attack on Israel. Her father, Thomas, was told early on that she had been killed. (Tom Hand via CNN)

Emily Hand, a young girl being held hostage by Hamas, will turn 9 years old on Friday "in the tunnels of Gaza," her grief-stricken father, Thomas Hand, told Fox News Digital in an interview this week in New York City.

"No party. No friends. She won’t even know if it’s day or night. There’s no light down there. So she won’t know it’s her birthday," Hand said.

Her birthday will be marked here in America with billboards that go on display in Times Square and Madison Square Garden in Manhattan at 8 a.m. on Friday. 

Emily was only 2½ years old when her own mother died of breast cancer and has been raised by her dad and others in their tightly knit kibbutz since then. She was at a sleepover at a friend’s house in the kibbutz of Be’eri in southern Israel when Hamas launched its Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

Even at nine, she is older than many of the hostages as he youngest was just 9 months old when snatched away as a trophy of terror. 

Thomas Hand’s suffering over the past 40 days has made international headlines. He was first told in the days after the terror attack that his little girl was dead and said in one interview that he welcomed it because it was better than her being held captive and tortured by Hamas.

Officials told Hand "in all probability she's in Gaza because there was no blood in the bomb shelter and there was no blood in the house that matched Emily's DNA," he said.