How Jewish and Palestinian Londoners are feeling now

While the devastating events of the Israel-Hamas conflict may be taking place 2,500 miles away, the repercussions have been felt by people from communities here in London. Emma Loffhagen speaks to the capital's diasporas

THESE have been, without a doubt, the worst days of my life,” Ben Rebuck tells me from his home in north-west London. “I am traumatised.” It was only five years ago that the 32-year-old was living in Tel Aviv, spending a few years working there as much of the Jewish diaspora do, before moving back to the UK. Now his mother and 87-year-old grandmother are among the thousands stuck there, sleeping in bunkers, afraid of what the days may bring. “A lot of Jews don’t agree with the [Israeli] government, just like we might not agree with the Tories here,” Rebuck says. “But I don’t think people understand the connection of the diaspora to Israel. If you hurt one of us, you hurt all of us.”

On October 7 the Palestinian militant group Hamas began its unprecedented and brutal attack on Israeli civilians, killing 1,400 people and taking hostages. The attack was the single deadliest day in Israel’s modern history and the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust, according to Israeli officials. Israel’s response has been a relentless pounding of the Gaza Strip, dropping thousands of bombs on the densely populated enclave, including on a United Nationsrun school. More than 5,000 Palestinians have been killed in the strikes, including more than 2,000 children, according to Gaza’s health ministry.