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Emily Hand included on list of hostages set for release

Emily Hand included on list of hostages set for release

Emily Hand is on a list of hostages to be released by Hamas, according to Israeli media.

The 9-nine-year-old Irish-Israeli is believed to be held captive by the group in Gaza.

The Israeli Prime Minister’s office named Emily and 49 other children and women who will be released in the first tranche of hostages as part of a tentative truce deal brokered in recent days.

Israel and Hamas have agreed a four-day pause in fighting - which will allow dozens of hostages to be released.

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The Government says it's doing everything it can to ensure the release Emily Hand, who was abducted 46 days ago.

Emily was kidnapped on October 7 during the Hamas raid into Israel which killed 1,200 people.

She was initially feared dead but Israeli intelligence later informed her father, Dublin native Thomas Hand, that she may be alive and in Gaza.

“We are particularly pursuing the case of Emily Hand, a young Irish-Israeli girl who we believe has been held hostage in Gaza by Hamas,” Taoiseach Leo Varadkar told Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald in the Dáil yesterday.

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"We're pushing, and using all our contacts and abilities, to ensure that that Emily Hand is along one of those to be released. That’s a major priority for us.

“And we're very strongly of the view that hostages should never be taken by anyone, in any conflict, anywhere, ever.”

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