CLIFTON, N.J. – Palestinian and Israeli Americans in the Tri-State Area are eagerly awaiting word that the Israel-Hamas ceasefire will begin Sunday.
The world is watching for the deal to be finalized.
Israeli media says the last-minute dispute with Hamas has been resolved, and the Israeli cabinet is expected to vote on the deal Friday. The first round of hostages could be released as soon as Sunday.
Palestinians in New Jersey eager for ceasefire to start
Just days after the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, New Jersey resident Ahmad Alwuhidi’s home in central Gaza was reduced to rubble.
“When the attack happened we were just having our breakfast peacefully in our backyard,” Alwuhidi said. He said his mother and 21-year-old sister were killed in the missile strike. Since then, he left the country. His father and siblings are still in Gaza.
“I can only contact them every three weeks. They are living in a makeshift tent,” Alwuhidi said. “This announcement will give me the space to mourn the loss of my sister and mom, so I was, like, euphoric, and at the same time, heartbreaking.”
That feeling was echoed at the Palestinian American Community Center in Clifton, where the executive director says her family in the West Bank does not know why her nephew has been detained by Israel for six months. She hopes he’s released as part of the deal.
“The question I kept asking was ‘Has Israel agreed to the ceasefire?’ And the answer I kept getting was ‘not yet,'” Rania Mustafa said. “I wasn’t surprised.”
Dr. Shaymaa Alloh said her father and brother, also a physician, were killed in Gaza.
“Time and time again, the weight of their absence hits me with the force of a tidal wave. With this ceasefire, I can mourn them in a way I couldn’t before,” Alloh said.
Community leaders say this ceasefire would only be the first step in a long road to recovery.
“We must rebuild with healthcare at core,” Alloh said.
Family of hostages watching, waiting
In Northern New Jersey, the family of hostage Edan Alexander is closely monitoring for updates.
“They will vote on it, but it will pass… . They say it was some kind of new demand from Hamas. I don’t know if it was or not, but that’s behind us,” Edan’s father Adi Alexander said. “Nobody confirmed that he’s in any of the phases, so hopefully between now and 42 days from now, we will be out.”
Inna Mashiach, owner of Reunion restaurant in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, grew up in Israel.
“It’s a really nerve-wracking few days, and we just hope for all of this to be over, for everyone. Just as a human being, not only as an Israeli, or Jewish. Just for people to come home and be with their families and for all the suffering to be over,” Mashiach said.
Her parents are visiting from Israel, and she hopes when they return home, it will be to better news.
David Cunio and his younger brother Ariel are not among the 33 hostages to be released in the first phase of the plan. They were kidnapped by Hama on Oct. 7 from kibbutz Nir Oz. David’s wife Sharon and two daughters were released in November, 2023.
“By the time Sharon left captivity, David was already punching himself in the face out of being tortured by the conditions they’re in, he was so distraught,” cousin Alana Zeitchik said.
There’s skepticism in Crown Heights, Brooklyn over whether the ceasefire agreement will happen.
“If it’s up to me, we should continue fighting until we dismantle Hamas completely,” a Crown Heights resident named Giled said.
“We have to make sure we are not going to do something that will just come back and bite us,” resident Simcha Fisch said.
“What will end with the least amount of lives lost on both sides, do that,” resident Yossel Motchkin said.
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