India, March 10 -- On October 7, 2023, many attendees at the Nova Music Festival, held near the Gaza border, were enjoying the event, with some reportedly under the influence of illegal recreational drugs like MDMA or LSD, when Hamas gunmen launched a brutal and unexpected attack.

The assault marked the beginning of a deadly conflict between Israel and Hamas, adding another chapter to the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian struggle. Neuroscientists who worked with the survivors from the festival claim that that MDMA may have provided them some psychological protection against trauma of the attack, according to a BBC report.

The initial tests by scientists at Israel's Haifa University suggest that the drug is associated with more positive ...