(WXYZ) — Local leaders on both sides of the issue welcomed news of a ceasefire in Gaza. Both were surprised and relieved.
“I didn’t believe it,” said Arab American News Publisher Osama Sibliani.
“When this news came through, it was really, really a dream come true,” said Carolyn Normandin of the Anti-Defamation League.
Both Sibliani and Normandin followed the developments in Israel and Gaza closely since the escalation of the conflict following Hamas’ attack on October 7th, 2023—where 1,200 Israelis were killed and 250 were taken hostage. Both have personal connections to the lives lost and lives forever changed in the aftermath.
“Many of the people I know have friends and relatives that were killed that day, that were murdered that day,” said Normandin. “I have a very good friend whose cousin is an IDF soldier and was killed just a few months ago in this war. This has been a horrible, horrible situation.”
“My family were in one home, and Israel bombed their home, and they killed 12 women and four children and two older. One of the women was pregnant with twins,” said Sibliani.
More than 46,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israel-Hamas war, many of them being civilians.
The deal will halt the fighting and bloodshed in Gaza, increase humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians, and reunite Israeli hostages with their families after more than 15 months in captivity. Some Palestinians imprisoned in Israel will be released as well.
“The release of initially 33 hostages is really important. These are people who were inhumanely captured and cruelly held captive by Hamas and other terrorist groups for more than a year,” said Normandin.
And what about concerns this could be short-lived?
"We won’t know what happens until it happens. Not everything is finalized, and I’m almost afraid to be too excited until we see the first parts of these workings going on," Normandin says.
“Ending the conflict, you have to end occupation,” said Sibliani. “You have to create a Palestinian state where people can live free and equal to everybody in this world. Now we have a ceasefire. We do not have an end to the conflict.”
Statement from President Joe Biden:
Today, after many months of intensive diplomacy by the United States, along with Egypt and Qatar, Israel and Hamas have reached a ceasefire and hostage deal. This deal will halt the fighting in Gaza, surge much needed-humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians, and reunite the hostages with their families after more than 15 months in captivity.
I laid out the precise contours of this plan on May 31, 2024, after which it was endorsed unanimously by the UN Security Council. It is the result not only of the extreme pressure that Hamas has been under and the changed regional equation after a ceasefire in Lebanon and weakening of Iran — but also of dogged and painstaking American diplomacy. My diplomacy never ceased in their efforts to get this done.
Even as we welcome this news, we remember all the families whose loved ones were killed in Hamas’s October 7th attack, and the many innocent people killed in the war that followed. It is long past time for the fighting to end and the work of building peace and security to begin. I am also if thinking of the American families, three of whom have living hostages in Gaza and four awaiting return of remains after what has been the most horrible ordeal imaginable. Under this deal, we are determined to bring all of them home.
I will speak more about this soon. For now, I am thrilled that those who have been held hostage are being reunited with their families.
