THREE desperate mums of kidnapped kids dragged to Gaza wept yesterday as they saw their lost loved ones pictured in a moving appeal by The Sun.
Distraught Renana Jacob, Batsheva Yahalomi, and Hadas Kalderon asked to see our front page showing their youngsters among 32 child hostages snatched by Hamas.
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Emotion poured out as each, in turn, spotted the smiling face of their children — now enduring hell in the terror group’s tunnel lair.
Renana, 56, smiled then sobbed as she pointed to Or, 16, and Yagel, 12.
The mum, who was on the phone to her youngsters as they were snatched, told The Sun: “The last words I heard my son say were, ‘Don’t take me. I’m too young’.
“No mother should ever have to endure what we’re going through now. We don’t sleep wondering if they are sleeping.
“We don’t eat because we think about whether they’re eating and we don’t even shower as we don’t know if they’re being allowed to wash.
“I just want my son to do what all 12-year-olds do at home again — ride his bike and play football and bother me with phone calls.
“But I’ve heard nothing from them for a month now and every minute that passes makes a wound which will take years to heal.
“If they come home, we know they will never be the same again but we have to hope that they will be able to resume some kind of life.”
Directly appealing to the monsters holding her kids amid Gaza’s bomb-blasted ruins, Renana added: “I hope they are held deep underground. And I’m hoping the people holding them, since they have mothers, are supposedly human.
“Maybe they have children of their own and they will see their hostages as children. I hope they will treat them like children but most of all we’re begging them to release them.
“Children and babies should not be part of this war game. They should not be a bargaining chip.”
As Israeli bombs continued to fall last night amid mounting civilian casualties, she added: “Families on both sides are suffering and Palestinians are also hostages of Hamas.”
Batsheva, 44, her husband Ohad, 49, son Eitan, 12, and two younger children aged ten and 18 months, were at home in the Nir Oz kibbutz a mile from Gaza on October 7.
The family’s life became a living hell when Hamas invaded and Ohad was shot in the leg as he tried to stop them.
She later found out he was believed to be in Gaza, grabbed while searching for his family.
Pointing out Manchester United fan Eitan’s face on our Page One, she said: “I begged them to take me and leave our children. They ignored me.
I want all the children home…I want my family back.
Hadas Kalderon, mum of Sahar & Erez
“And now I can’t bear the thought of my son in danger and alone.”
She added: “We don’t wake up in the morning because we don’t have nights. We have nightmares. Life is a continuous nightmare.”
Batsheva said she and her children were marched away at gunpoint and slung across motorbikes that roared off towards the Gaza Strip.
She and the younger kids fell off a bike and fled when the terrorists were surprised by two Israeli tanks.
She said: “Our motorbike fell and this was the last time I saw Eitan.
“I ran away through the fields because the roads were full of terrorists — hundreds of them shooting, burning, looting and stealing TVs.
“I can’t stand the thought that Eitan’s alone there now. It’s breaking me. We’re here in London because we want the world to hear us and understand children are no part of this and should be freed.”
Hadas, 56, endured the agony of having five family members kidnapped from the Nir Oz and Kissufim kibbutz communities.
No mother should endure what we are going through.
Renana Jacob, mum of Or and Yagel
They included her mum Carmela Dan, 80, and autistic Harry Potter fan niece Noya, 12, who were killed.
Hadas yesterday begged for the safe return of children Sahar, 16, and Erez, 12 and their 53-year-old father Ofer.
She survived by using all her strength to hold shut a door as terrorists tried to break in and was rescued by Israeli forces.
Hadas said: “Hamas now have an opportunity to show their humanity, despite what they have done.
“I want all the children home. I want to see my girl buy new clothes and jewellery.
“I want to see my daughter like all 16-year-old girls, spending ages in front of the mirror and TikTok-ing.
“I want to see my boy riding his mountain bike, playing football and ping pong.
“I want to see them laugh.
We don’t have nights…we have nightmares.
Batsheva Yahalomi, mum of Eitan
“Their innocence has been taken from them but I want to promise them it will never happen again.
The mums saluted the support of Britain and Qatari go-betweens they met yesterday who are trying to negotiate their kids’ release.
But they blasted pro-Palestinian protesters who have torn down posters of Israeli hostages in the UK.
Renana said: “I’d urge the people tearing down the posters to think about what they would do if it was their own child.”
On behalf of the mums, she added: “We’d like to thank The Sun for your wonderful support. That front page passes on our message to the world.”
Each of the mums asked to take away a copy of The Sun with the Page One appeal for their loved ones.
23 killed in strikes
DAWN bombing raids killed 23 people in the Gaza cities of Khan Younis and Rafah, according to Palestinian health officials.
Images showed survivors being pulled from the rubble after air strikes had flattened homes as Israel hunts for the butchers of Hamas.
Ahmed Ayesh, who was among those rescued in Khan Younis, said: “This is the bravery of the so-called Israel — they show their might and power against civilians, babies, kids and the elderly.”
He spoke as rescuers used their bare hands to try to free a girl buried up to her waist in debris.
Israel says it is seeking to minimize civilian casualties and accuses Hamas of preventing Palestinians from leaving northern Gaza in order to use them as human shields instead.
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Nick Parker
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