As rocket fire between Israel and Hamas shows no sign of stopping, those with family and friends on both sides of the border are desperately monitoring the situation from afar.
Many Israeli and Palestinian Australian familes are turning to social media for regular contact, and at times reassurance.
Mahmoud Elsabawi
He and his wife Dalya now live in peaceful suburbia on Melbourne's eastern fringe, but his parents, sister and extended family still lives in the densely populated Gaza City.
In volatile times, Mahmoud calls them on Skype several times a day.
"Make me scared too - every time I call (and) the phone doesn't answer - my heart nearly stop. What's happened? Are they gone or they still there?" he said.
Fifteen members of his family occupy one room in the house. Mahmoud's 64-year old father has a heart condition, and his teenage nephew endures psychological trauma but they go untreated as Gaza's hospitals prioritise bombing victims.
The family has a visa to visit Mahmoud (the family last reunited four years ago) but border crossings at Gaza are closed.
"I want to be like a normal human being and I want to be able to see my Dad and my Mum," Mahmoud says.
Naomi Orelowitz
These days, Naomi Orelowitz is rarely far from a mobile device. Her brother David Chester now lives in Israel, and the pair text and Skype regularly.
News of Hamas fired rocket attacks from Gaza make her nervous, and she says unanswered text messages are excruciating.
When the piercing sound of sirens rang out in Israel's largest city, David was boarding a bus bound for Be'er Sheva in Southern Israel.
"Every time we hear a rocket, I know that I automatically assume the worst. (When) I send an SMS and you don't respond it's just that 5 minutes where your heart drops," she tells her brother over Skype after some missiles were intercepted over Tel Aviv.
David often fills in his family on what it's like on the ground, saying "the siren was wailing for two or three times, continuous so it was a heavy, heavy raid. I heard about five or six explosions."
Many in Australia's Jewish communities have family and friends in Israel, and according to Zionist Federation Of Australia President Dr Danny Lamm, at times of particular volatility the community gels.
"People do want to get together, speak together hear the stories together," he told SBS.
David Chester now lives in Israel, completing a law degree, and he plans to stay.
For him and his family (and thousands like them) it will mean countless hours updating the situation via social media. For Naomi, the phone and tablet will always be close by.
"That would be the best news we could have that there's a cease-fire and there was peace and everyone was safe," Naomi says.
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