From trying to explain the ubiquitous sound of bombs to toddlers to simply finding ways to survive, mothers on both sides of the Israel-Hamas war have endured a nightmare while trying to protect their children.
"We are losing ourselves, guys," Palestinian mother Jumana Shahin tearfully told NBC News foreign correspondent Raf Sanchez on TODAY. "We are losing our lives."
Sanchez spoke with Shahin and Israeli mother Dorin Cohen about the unimaginable circumstances they have endured on each side of the conflict while trying to keep their young children safe.
Cohen and her family were at home in Kfar Aza when Hamas militants burst through the border fence and stormed the Israeli village on Oct. 7 in one of their first targets in the attack that ignited the war.
"It was a lot of bombs, and then we heard voices of terrorists and shots, gun shots," Cohen said. "And then we understood that we have terrorists in the kibbutz."
Cohen, her husband and their two young sons fled the attackers behind the steel door of their safe room.
"My husband held the handle for 27 hours," Cohen said.
Unable to get inside, the Hamas fighters set fire to the home.
"We couldn’t breathe," Cohen said. "We don’t have water, and my baby cry because I am breastfeeding him and I didn’t have milk because I didn’t eat from the stress.
"I thought he was going to die. I didn’t know what to do because if I open the door, we’re all dying. And if I don’t open, just him."
The family was rescued by Israeli troops as their home burned to ash.
"They were shocked," Cohen said. "They couldn’t believe that anybody (was) alive in the house."
Israel has responded to the Hamas attack with hundreds of airstrikes on Gaza. More than 3,700 people have been killed and more than 13,000 have been injured in Gaza. In Israel, 1,400 people have been killed and 3,500 have been wounded.
When Israeli planes began to drop bombs in Gaza, Shahin and her family evacuated from their home in Gaza City with no plan to find safety.
"We came to the east of Gaza, and we really don't know where should we go," Shahin said.
Shahin's daughter, Sophia, turned 2 years old in the first week of the war.
"Sometimes I feel like guilty because she’s living such situation, and I can’t even celebrate her birthday," Shahin said.
Gaza has endured a humanitarian crisis amid a blockade by Israel that has prevented shipments of crucial supplies.
"There's no electricity, there's no food, there's no cleaning water, there's no medicine, there's no houses," Shahin said. "The situation is getting harder and harder and harder every day."
Both mothers have watched as their children's innocence is snatched away by the war.
"Sophia's always screaming because of the sounds of explosions," Shahin said.
The mothers have had to make up stories about what is creating the loud sounds outside.
"Big car," Shahin said. "That’s all what I can reply to her, but she can recognize the sound."
"We told him that we have storm outside so we can’t go out," Cohen said she told her son.
Their children are also having heartbreaking conversations with other children trapped in the same situation.
"The oldest one is different," Cohen said about her son. "He's crying, and he's very sensitive. And he's always telling his friend that our house destroyed and asking, 'Was your house destroyed, too?'"