Nine-year-old Emma Katzor was in disbelief when she first saw hostage posters with Israeli children on them, and rushed back home to her mother to ask if they were real.
“I asked my mom, is that even allowed?” Emma recounted to The Daily Wire. “Are they, like, really catching children? She said, yes, and I felt very, very scared.”
Emma’s mother, Elana Katzor, grew up in Massachusetts, but moved to Israel to raise her kids. Her husband has been away serving as a reservist in the Israeli Defense Forces since Hamas’ brutal October 7 attack, leaving her home alone with her three young children, while pregnant.
ISRAELI FAMILY STRUGGLES AT HOME WITH COUNTRY MOBILIZED FOR WAR AGAINST HAMAS
She said the war has thrown her philosophy on parenting for a whirlwind when she had to decide what information to share with her children.
“I don’t lie to my children — I am of the belief that information doesn’t scare children, but the lack of information scares children,” Katzor said. “I didn’t mention the kidnappings because they didn’t ask me. And then all of a sudden the posters started showing up.”
Emma said she can’t help but think of what it would be like if she herself was taken hostage, and whether children held by Hamas were being cared for.
“Do they have diapers, shampoo? Do they have clothes? Do they have supplies? Do they have a house?” she asked. “It’s just very scary.”
Being alone with her three young children has been difficult for Katzor. She believes Hamas rocket launch times — which occur often at seven, eight, and nine at night — are part of psychological warfare against children.
“Our freedom of movement has been stressful,” she said. “I don’t drive anymore because I’m scared that I’m with three kids, I’m pregnant, there’s a siren, I have to pull over to the side of the road. I have to manage to get three kids out of the car on a highway.”
“It also tends to happen in the evenings right before bedtime,” Elana said. “Bedtime is more scary and it’s their way of terrorizing us.”
Emma said she was scared when she saw the posters of child hostages and had to ask her mom if they were real. (Photo by Kassy Dillon)
Katzor said she plans her daily routine around the possibility of a rocket attack, for example, only showering late at night when rockets are rare.
Emma says the rockets scare her, but she tries to stay calm for her little sister
“I say that it’s okay and that we’re winning and that we have a strong army and that we have a mother here,” she said. “That’s to make her feel like everything is okay.”
Although Katzor’s husband was able to come home for short visits and make frequent video calls, Emma said she’s been struggling without having her father around. At school, Emma said she writes letters with pictures for soldiers.
“Dear soldiers, I hope you come back with peace and I hope there is not going to be hurt people, like people who broke their arm or their leg,” Emma said she wrote in one letter. “I just hope that you have a good Shabbat.”