By Al-Fassel and AFP | 2023-11-20

An Irish-Israeli girl believed to have been taken hostage by Hamas who turned nine on Friday "spent her birthday in the Gaza tunnels," her father Thomas Hand, a widower, said during a Sunday (November 19) rally in London.

A birthday party was held for Emily -- one of the scores of hostages snatched by Hamas during its deadly October 7 attack on Israel -- in London on Friday, with organizers pleading for the two sides to show mercy to children in the conflict.

And in New York, the little girl's face was displayed in Times Square.

Emily was at a sleepover at a friend's house in Beeri kibbutz on October 7, when she and her friend's mother were seized, family and supporters said.

Based on initial information, Hand thought his daughter was dead, but the DNA tests didn't match, he said, on the sidelines of a protest for the release of the more than 200 people being held hostage by Hamas.

Later, an eyewitness saw her being "led away by the terrorists, into a van off to Gaza," he said.

His face gaunt, Hand says has lost 12 kg since his daughter went missing, adding he was exhausted and "shattered."

The Beeri kibbutz saw some of the worst atrocities when Hamas terrorists stormed across the border, killing around 1,200 people and taking hostages.

Israel unveils 'hostage' footage

Israel's military on Sunday released security camera footage it said showed hostages being brought into Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City on October 7.

Al-Shifa hospital has become a focal point for Israel's subsequent military operations in Gaza, with the army repeatedly saying Hamas uses it as a base.

The first clip, which appears to be time-stamped 10:53 a.m. on October 7, shows a man in shorts and a pale blue shirt being dragged through what looks like an entrance hall by five men, at least three of whom are armed.

In the second, seemingly time-stamped 10:55 a.m., an injured man in underwear is wheeled in on a gurney by seven men, at least four of them armed, as several men in blue hospital scrubs look on.

AFP was not immediately able to verify the footage.

"Here you can see Hamas taking a hostage inside... they're taking him inside the hospital," military spokesman Daniel Hagari said, describing the two men as hostages from Nepal and Thailand.

"We have not yet located both of these hostages," he added. "We do not know where they are."

"These findings prove that the Hamas terrorist organisation used the Shifa hospital complex on the day of the massacre as terrorist infrastructure," the military and intelligence services said in a statement.

Earlier Sunday the Israeli army said "troops exposed a 55-meter-long terror tunnel 10 metres deep underneath the Shifa hospital complex," which ran under the hospital and ended at a blast door.

Israel's army said Friday it had recovered the remains of a woman soldier held hostage by Hamas "from a structure adjacent to Al-Shifa hospital."

'Bring them home'

Clutching photos of their missing loved ones, hundreds of relatives of hostages marched into Jerusalem on Saturday to demand answers from the Israeli government.

The families, their faces etched with exhaustion and stress, were joined by thousands of supporters on the march which set out Tuesday from the coastal city of Tel Aviv, urging action to bring to the release of captives.

"Bring them home now!" the marchers chanted as they walked into Jerusalem, many carrying placards with the faces of the kidnapped.

One of the posters read: "Mum we're waiting for you. Come back."

The march was organised by Yuval Haran, whose father was killed and mother kidnapped to Gaza along with six other family members.

"I want the government to bring them home to us," said Dvora Cohen, 43, whose brother-in-law and 12-year-old nephew and are both believed held in Gaza.

"I want the world to help us, I want the Red Cross to do its job, to go into Gaza and see if they are alive, see what they need, if they are getting medical help," she said.

So far, the Red Cross has not been able to meet with any of the hostages, Israel's top diplomat Eli Cohen said this week, and the families say they have had no news from the government about negotiations to secure their release.

"We want answers," said Ari Levi, 68, who had two family members taken by Hamas from Nir Oz, a kibbutz community near the Gaza border: his cousin Ohad, 49, and Ohad's 12-year-old son Eitan.

Eitan was seen in social media footage from the day of the attack thrown onto the back of a motorbike and driven away by terrorists.