The events may be far away, but the feelings of hopelessness and grief are with us

Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip: we need to protect ourselves from the psychological effects of being observers of a far-off war. Photograph: AFP via Getty Images I cannot be the only one who, when I see young children playing, is struck by the thought that if they were in Gaza they might have been blown to bits by now. The reaction illustrates the psychological effect on ourselves as observers of a far-off war. The effects are nothing compared to those on Palestinians of the war itself or on Israelis following the October 7th Hamas attack, a truly nightmare event....