“God Forbid.”
Shortly after sunrise on the morning of Saturday 7 October, a message pings on 200 phones of the Be’eri mothers’ WhatsApp group.
Minutes later another message lands: “We have a terrorist on the stairs. Call someone.”
Hamas gunmen had just begun a day-long rampage through this kibbutz in southern Israel, and over the next 20 hours the women channelled their horror, disbelief and reassurances through the chat – as militants roamed the neighbourhood shooting residents dead and setting fire to homes.
