After 15 months of conflict, Israel and Hamas entered a fragile ceasefire deal Jan. 15, producing feelings of hope, joy and uncertainty on UF’s campus.
The ceasefire came nearly 500 days after Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed 1,200 people and resulted in 251 others being taken hostage, including 12 Americans. Since then, over 45,000 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict, and thousands of others have been injured and displaced, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
The ceasefire, announced after months of negotiations led by the United States, Egypt and Qatar, is a three-staged deal based on a hostage exchange proposed by the Biden administration. The first stage began Jan. 19 and will last 42 days, during which there will be a complete ceasefire and Hamas will release 33 hostages in exchange for the release of 1,900 Palestinian prisoners by Israel.
Negotiations temporarily collapsed Jan. 25 over the return of an Israeli citizen held by Hamas. However, Qatar successfully mediated an agreement Jan. 26, paving the way for Palestinians to return to their homes in northern Gaza.
Many in the UF community welcomed the release of hostages and the potential resolution of a deeply personal conflict, but doubts linger about whether the ceasefire can ensure a lasting peace in the region.
Local reactions
Laila Fakhoury, the 27-year-old co-founder of How Bazar and former president of UF’s Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine, has been a prominent voice in local pro-Palestinian protests. She said the last few years grappling with a “very helpless” community and building awareness in Gainesville was “heavy.”
Fakhoury, who is Palestinian and lost family members to the war in Gaza, said she’s skeptical about the ceasefire’s ability to guarantee lasting peace.
“I'm always excited to see my people, Palestinians, who are celebrating in the streets, excited for hope and a brighter future,” she said. “But I wasn't necessarily thinking that [the ceasefire] was going to be something sustainable that would last.”
She said more work needs to be done, especially because many people might not understand the implications of a ceasefire announcement. Gaza and Israel have been in conflict for decades. The last ceasefire, which was agreed upon in November 2023 and involved another hostage exchange, lasted a week.
“We want to give Palestinians space to celebrate,” she said. “But we also want to be very aware of the fact that it's not a fight that's over.”
Noam Levi, a 23-year-old UF business sophomore from Oranit, an Israeli settlement in the West Bank, put his education on pause to enlist as an Israel Defence Forces soldier to fight in the conflict. He called the ceasefire “bittersweet” and said while he was happy to see hostages return to Israel, he was also concerned about the conditions of the deal and questioned the fairness of the hostage exchange.
Still, Levi said he’s optimistic about the future and hopes a permanent ceasefire in Gaza will lead to peace in the Middle East.
“We don't like war,” he said. “We are people of love.”
Rabbi Jonah Zinn, the executive director of UF Hillel, said the ceasefire will pave the way for Israel’s security and regional peace.
“The conflict has deeply affected our community,” he said. “While the ceasefire brings a sense of hope, we remain mindful of the uncertainty ahead, and Hillel is committed to supporting Jewish students whatever the future may hold.”
Presidents of the Jewish Student Union and UF Kulanu, an Israeli culture club, declined to comment on the ceasefire.
Campus activism continues
At UF, home to the largest population of undergraduate Jewish students of any public university nationwide, the war in Gaza became a point of contention on campus soon after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack. Former President Ben Sasse issued a pointed statement condemning Hamas, which some pro-Palestenian faculty and students said could have a chilling effect on campus speech.
Tensions escalated when Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration directed Florida universities to shut down chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine, citing concerns that the group was financially supporting Hamas. Under Sasse, UF resisted the shutdown order amid First Amendment concerns.
Ajla Mesic, a 21-year-old UF health education junior, said her parents’ own experience with territorial conflict spurred her to get involved with pro-Palestinian advocacy efforts. Her parents fled Bosnia and Herzegovina in the 1990s to escape the Bosnian War.
“If it wasn't for what was going on, I would be home,” she said. “I relate to that … feeling of, ‘I should be home, but I can’t be home.'”
Advocacy efforts swelled last spring with a string of pro-Palestinian protests, which involved a temporary occupation in the Plaza of the Americas. University officials released new guidelines the night before the third day of protests, which included bans on pillows, bullhorns and lawn chairs. University police and Florida state troopers arrested nine of the protestors, six of whom were later issued academic suspensions ranging from three to four years.
Mesic, who is Muslim, said the arrests were “scary” and the “violence and aggression” she saw directed toward the arrested students made her uncomfortable to wear her headscarf on campus. She said she wants to see UF advocate more for all of its students.
The ceasefire agreement was long overdue, Mesic said, but more will have to be done for Palestinian students to feel accepted on campus.
“Especially here at UF, they're very afraid of being open about where they come from in fear of being attacked,” she said. “[UF] is supposed to be a place where everybody's accepted, no matter what.”
UF’s chapter for Students for Justice in Palestine said in a statement Jan. 24 the ceasefire was a “necessary and overdue step toward halting the immediate violence,” but the agreement was “far from justice.”
“We are relieved to hear that Palestinian political prisoners are being freed,” the organization wrote. “However, many more still remain held by a state which does not claim them as belonging to it without trial. Until they are freed, we must continue fighting.”
UF’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter, Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine and the UF Divest Coalition did not respond for comment. UF Jewish Voice for Peace, an anti-Zionist Jewish organization, declined an interview but provided a statement saying Jewish Americans are partially responsible in “funding the genocide” through taxes, and their thoughts “frankly do not matter.”
Rebuilding and moving forward
Guileinah Dupiton, a 21-year-old UF psychology major, said the ceasefire might quiet the conversation around the war, but the lingering polarization caused by the conflict won’t disappear until more is done.
“I'm glad that more damage isn't being done to homes and infrastructure and people,” she said. “But Gaza needs to be rebuilt at this point in time. … If anything, now should be the time if you haven’t said anything, to say something or do something.”
In the first stage of the ceasefire, Israeli forces will stay along parts of Gaza's border but withdraw from populated areas, enabling civilians to return. Aid trucks, previously blocked according to AP News, will also enter Gaza. During the second phase, starting Feb. 3, Israel and Hamas will negotiate a permanent ceasefire, Israel's full withdrawal and an exchange of remaining hostages for Palestinian prisoners. The bodies of deceased hostages will be returned in stage three.
Rebuilding Gaza, the ceasefire's final stage, could take years, according to the BBC.
Rabbi Berl Goldman, who has served as the director of Chabad UF since 2000, said he hopes the ceasefire deal will signal the dismantling of Hamas and the end of the decadeslong Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
According to Goldman, 440 students attended services at Chabad UF Student Center Jan. 17 to pray for the hostages and their immediate release.
“We continue to pray and gather for the release of the remaining hostages and true peace in Israel and around the world for all innocent lives, not only Jewish lives,” he said. “Good and peace is permanent. Terrorism and evil is temporary.”
Contact Grace McClung at gmcclung@alligator.org. Follow her on X @gracenmclung
Grace McClung is a third-year journalism major and the university administration reporter for The Alligator. In her free time, Grace can be found running, going to the beach and writing poetry.
