The half sister of eight-year-old Irish-Israeli girl Emily Hand, who is understood to have been abducted by Hamas during the 7 October attacks, has said it has been "a hell of a rollercoaster" since they discovered that Emily was not dead as they had been led to believe.
Emily's father, Dubliner Tom Hand, was told by the authorities after the Hamas attack on 7 October that his daughter was among the dead.
However, it has emerged that the authorities now believe that Emily was not killed, and was most likely abducted and is being held by Hamas in Gaza.
Natali Hand has issued an appeal to the Irish Government to help "get her back".
Speaking to RTÉ's News at One, Natali said that if there is any possibility that Emily is still alive, she will do "anything" to bring her home.
"We are like zombies. We have no tears left. We are just broken and now we got hope back. We are strong now and we will do anything," she said.
Natali said the thought of Emily suffering is a constant nightmare for the family.
I have so many videos of her laughing and singing, Natali said, and I just want to hear it again.
She has sent a message to her sister to say: "We are on our way."
Natali said that her mother was murdered during the 7 October attacks and she has heard of many atrocities committed to people she knew and loved.
I saw my mother's house after it happened, she said, and everything was burned to ashes, her safe room was "all ashes".
"All of Israel has a loss or someone they know, something happened to them. We are all grieving, all of the country."
Natali said she hopes she can visit Ireland with her brother, father and Emily in the future.
We have always been proud of our dad and we have relatives in Ireland, she said.
Emily has a great sense of humour and she got it from our dad for sure, she added.
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The Taoiseach said that for for "understandable reasons" he didn't want to comment on any individual case when asked about Emily.
Leo Varadkar said there are around 40 Irish citizens in Gaza and that "we are doing out best to get them out and we are doing that through contact with the Israeli authorities and governments in the area such as the government of Egypt and the government of Jordan".
He added: "The Tanaiste has been in touch with the Iranian authorities too so very much top of our mind at the moment is Irish citizens who are held in Gaza for one reason or another and very much a priority for us to do anything we can to facilitate their release."
Additional reporting: Jennie O'Sullivan
