Members at the Dell Jewish Community Center in North Austin celebrated the return of the last 20 living Israeli hostages on Monday.
The release of the hostages comes a little over two years since the Oct. 7, 2023 attack in Israel by Hamas that started the war in Gaza.
Their release is a part of a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas that was aided by President Trump. As part of it, Hamas agreed to free the last living hostages, who have been held captive for more than two years. Hamas also said it will return the bodies of 28 dead hostages. In return, Israel agreed to release almost 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, according to reporting by NPR.
In Austin, the community center invited members to reflect on the day, watch updates from Israeli news sources and honor the hostages.
Students from the Austin Jewish Academy, the school on the campus, wrote letters to the returning hostages and helped cut yellow ribbons that were tied around trees.
Michal Ilai, senior Israel educator at Shalom Austin, said those ribbons were tied not long after the war broke out to show solidarity with families in Israel.
“Jewish people traditionally celebrate together, pray together and mourn together,” Ilai said. “And this is one of those super complex moments. While you can see we are celebrating the arrival of 20 hostages who are alive, we are still waiting on the bodies of so many more.”
She said the community is also thinking about and praying for “the families whose kids were killed during this horrific war.”
Since the start of the war, tens of thousands of people have died, according to an NPR report. That number includes more than 67,000 Palestinians, of which more than 20,000 are children, and 1,200 people who died in the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack in Israel. Thousands of others have been wounded in the war.
Trump is calling this development a new era and the “historic dawn of a new Middle East." But Jewish community members in Austin said it will take time for healing and unity, and that Monday's gathering was just the start.
“There is a huge amount of trauma in Israel and around the world within the Jewish community,” Ilai said. “So we need to address those topics and [figure out] how do we move on as a community with eyes on Israel in the best of ways.”
Rabbi Daniel Septimus, the chief executive officer for Shalom Austin, said bringing people together in peace will help rebuild those relationships, but it's going to take time.
“This moment underscores the importance of unity, standing together in darkness, and finding strength in one another in these times,” he said. “I am really hopeful that moving forward we can find ways to come together and seek peace in the Middle East and see all communities thrive.”
