Community members hope the ceasefire established between Israel and Hamas last week will bring long-awaited peace to a region battered from more than a year of war, but some question the agreement’s longevity.
Former President Joe Biden announced Jan. 15 that the two parties had entered a three-phase ceasefire deal with plans to release the remaining Israeli hostages held captive by Hamas in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned in Israel. The prospect of an end in violence toward civilians was celebrated by student leaders, faculty and staff, but doubts remain about the ceasefire’s sustainability due to remaining tensions in a region fractured by decades of hostilities.
After Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing more than 1,200 Israelis and taking more than 250 hostages, the Israeli government declared war on the group. More than 46,600 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli military’s counteroffensive since the war began, according to Palestinian health authorities.
A representative from Students for Justice in Palestine at GWU, who requested anonymity due to fears of doxxing and retaliation, said he was relieved but apprehensive when he first heard of the ceasefire due to failed attempts to halt the violence earlier on in the war. But he recalled feeling a “deep sense of victory” as he watched videos of Palestinian children celebrating the news in the streets of Gaza and families returning to their homes.
“This is a victory for our people, that they were able to defeat the most powerful empire in history, to not be broken by this genocide and to emerge victorious,” the representative said.
The first phase of the ceasefire deal, which is set to last for six weeks, requires Israeli troops to withdraw from populated areas in Gaza and the release of 33 Israeli hostages from Hamas captivity in exchange for about 1,000 Palestinians in Israeli prisons, CNN reported earlier this month.
Biden said the second phase, which will last another six weeks, prolongs the ceasefire and requires the release of male soldiers held by Hamas and the withdrawal of remaining Israeli forces from Gaza. Authorities will return the remains of deceased hostages to their families in the third phase and efforts to reconstruct Gaza will begin, Biden said.
Now that the ceasefire deal has been brokered, the SJP representative said there is a collective duty to help Palestinians in Gaza rebuild their homes. About two-thirds of Gaza’s total infrastructure has been damaged in varying degrees, and Israel’s repeated attacks on and near hospitals has placed the healthcare systems in the area at a “point of almost complete collapse,” according to multiple U.N. reports released last summer.
The representative said SJP is fundraising to aid the rebuilding effort and will remain “vigilant” in fighting against imperialism in Gaza, pointing to concerns that President Donald Trump might turn the territory into a “beautiful beachfront property” — sentiments the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, expressed in February.
Trump on Saturday suggested the idea of moving Palestinian refugees to neighboring countries to “clean out” the territory.
The SJP representative said residents of North Gaza are currently returning to their homes to find the skeletons of relatives and friends they couldn’t contact due to the regional siege by Israel. He and other organizers will always remember the Palestinians who “paid the ultimate price for liberation,” the representative said.
“We know that the rebuilding process is coming, but ultimately our end goal is the total liberation of Palestine,” the SJP representative said.
Pro-Palestinian student activism against the war in Gaza culminated on campus last year with a nearly two-weeklong encampment in University Yard, which local police later cleared.
The representative said student organizers will continue to demand GW divests from companies with ties to Israel and demand financial disclosure.
“I’m sure GW is hoping that the announcement of a ceasefire means that they will be able to sweep all their complicity in the genocide and the oppression of their own students under the rug, but we’re not going to let GW forget that,” the representative said.
Junior Sean Shekhman, the president of GW for Israel, said he knew the war would result in a “negotiated settlement” that ceased fighting and allowed for the release of remaining Israeli hostages as done in previous agreements between Israel and Hamas. He said he believes there is an interest among the general Israeli public to “move forward” through reconciliation and rebuilding, but it remains up to authorities in Gaza to decide the next steps.
“I seriously, seriously hope that this could be the end of what has been a very long, very long period of conflict in the area,” Shekhman said.
Ceasefires between Israel and militant groups in Gaza have occurred since Hamas took control of the territory in 2007, but both entities have repeatedly accused each other of violating agreements. Israel and Hamas agreed to a four-day truce in November 2023 to release 50 Israeli hostages in exchange for 150 imprisoned Palestinians and allow emergency aid into Gaza.
Shekhman said there’s been “a lot of pain” within the Jewish campus community in the past 15 months, as many of his peers lost friendships due to their beliefs about the war, but the community will rebuild.
“It’s been a difficult time for many, but it has led to some beautiful moments, and I’m hoping that now we’ll be able to take that energy and be able to share with the campus community and bring everyone together,” Shekhman said.
Adena Kirstein, the executive director of GW Hillel, said it brought the center “deep joy” last week to remove posters from their windows of the first three Israeli hostages freed under the ceasefire: Romi Gonen, Emily Damari and Doron Steinbrecher. The center hopes to do the same for the remaining hostages still displayed in posters on the window as more are released, she said.
Of the 251 hostages that Hamas kidnapped, 74 have been confirmed killed, with the remains of 34 Israelis remaining in Gaza. The Israeli government believes 53 hostages are still alive as of Saturday, the Washington Post reported.
“The past 15 months have been an unbearable ordeal for those who were captured and their loved ones, who endured unimaginable uncertainty every single day,” Kirstein said in an email. “We pray for their safety — and continue to dream of a lasting peace for the entire region.”
A representative of the Lebanese Student Association, who requested anonymity due to fear of doxxing and retaliation, said the “energy” of the student activism against the war in Gaza has weakened since its onset, as he’s noticed people stopped participating in boycotts against companies like Starbucks and McDonald’s for their ties to Israel.
“I will go to class and now all of a sudden, everyone has a Starbucks cup, or I walk past Gelman, and it’s more popular than it was two semesters ago,” the representative said.
The representative added that ceasefires can easily be undermined, leading to the continuation of long-standing disputes like the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Since the ceasefire, the Israeli military has killed at least 10 Palestinians during military operations in Jenin, a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, BBC reported last week.
“We’ve been seeing that in the news, where attacks are still being perpetrated even after announcement of a ceasefire, after it supposedly takes effect,” the representative said. “There are still people who are getting shot like raids and stuff.”
Senior Sabrina Soffer, who is studying Judaic studies and philosophy and public affairs, said she views the agreement as a “bad but necessary” deal because it frees Israeli hostages from Hamas but releases some Palestinian prisoners who she said could potentially harm Israeli civilians because of their alleged past involvement in violent crimes.
“It’s very, very scary, but at the same time, it’s necessary because we do need to bring our people back home,” Soffer said.
Ned Lazarus, a teaching associate professor of international affairs, said the agreement tries to balance some of the “irreconcilable” goals of the war. Hamas’ primary demand is the release of Palestinian prisoners and removal of Israeli forces from Gaza, and Israel’s main goal is removing and preventing the group from ruling Gaza and releasing the hostages taken by Hamas on Oct. 7, he said.
Lazarus said the second phase of the agreement is the “decisive” stage that determines if the ceasefire is temporary or final. Israel and Hamas are due to start negotiating the second phase of the ceasefire on Feb. 4 to end the war, Reuters reported Thursday.
“That’s what’s kind of hanging right now,” he said. “We don’t know if they’re going to actually go to the second stage.”
