It can be extremely difficult, and an act of bravery, to write about personal loss amid a war that is affecting millions of people. In our lead story, two Monitor correspondents – Dina Kraft in Israel and Ghada Abdulfattah in Gaza – share how the news of the past few days, of hostages killed and homes leveled, transformed their lives forever. I hope you’ll read their heartfelt accounts, and embrace these two journalists as we at the Monitor are – and, in doing so, honor the humanity of all those caught up in the conflict raging around them.