‘Imagine for one minute your child, your helpless sensitive child, just disappears one day...’

A month on since Hamas raided their small village in Israel, three mothers tell Guy Walters about the terrible day their children were taken from them as their homes burned to the ground – and the unbearable pain they have lived with ever since

Left to right: Ofer Kalderon, Yagel Jacob, Eitan Yahalomi, Noya Dan, Sahar Kalderon (Getty/Supplied)

These women should not be here. They should be nowhere near this private location in central London, thousands of miles from their homes, talking to strangers. They should not be having to tell their stories to us, but they are stories that they know must be heard, no matter how painful. Telling how their children have been kidnapped, and family members murdered. We should not have to watch their tears or hear their voices tremble. It feels intrusive, a grotesque violation of their innermost agony. But just as they must speak, we too must listen, because if we do not, then there is no hope.

These three mothers, from a small village in Israel, are today at the centre of world events. Until a month ago, it is fair to say that none of them would have expected to spend their days talking to the world’s media, dealing with public relations executives, or lobbying ambassadors and politicians. In a sense, Renana Jacob, Batsheva Yahalomi, and Hadas Kalderon were ordinary women, but they most certainly no longer are.

Renana Jacob, Batsheva Yahalomi, and Hadas Kalderon describe how their children were taken from their homes (Guy Walters/The Independent)