It’s heart-wrenching watching all the footage of the current conflict in the Gaza Strip and the mass shooting in Israel that preceded it. Night after night we see images on the TV news that we wish weren’t happening.

But what irks me more is that with every new or newly-ignited conflict, the TV news no longer updates us on how other conflicts around the world are playing out. Who now knows what’s happening in Ukraine? And what about the women and girls of Afghanistan since the US withdrew its forces from the country and let the Taliban take over? What of them? We see and hear no news of them now... Did you even know there is a war in Sudan? Between Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, rival factions of the military government of Sudan. The world is in a troubled place. If only there was more the civilians of non-conflicted countries could do to stop the wars, stop the death and ease the heart-ache. Because it seems leaders of countries around the world cannot stop these hideous events from playing out. Shame on them.

C Smith, Pāpāmoa.