No escape from grief and trauma and still no safer

EVERYONE has a haunting image that comes instantly to mind from the past 52 days in the Middle East.

- DARREN LEWIS

Mine include the bloodied babies carried hurriedly into hospitals already stretched to breaking point, arms limply hanging down from their bodies.

Another was the return of the nineyear-old Israeli girl Emily Hand whose father Tom initially assumed had been killed on October 7.

He'd famously expressed a warped gratitude, preferring that scenario to the thought of the treatment she might receive at the hands of Hamas.

During the prisoner exchange at the weekend, they were reunited.

None of us can begin to touch the sides of their joy and that of the other families back with their loved ones.

We have the privilege of closing the newspaper, switching the TV or radio off, or logging out of our social media feed when it all becomes too much.

For the families still kneedeep in the grief and psychological trauma of it all, there is no escape.