Faith leaders, scholars reflect on Gaza War two years after October 7th attacks

DURHAM, N.C. (WTVD) — Two years since the Hamas attacks in Israel that left more than 1,200 people dead and plunged the region into full-scale war, local faith leaders and political scholars are reflecting on the toll that recent destruction has had on the region and its people.

Since October 7th, 2023, tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in systematic, retaliatory attacks from Israel, leading to growing calls for a ceasefire.

This week, Israel and Hamas are engaging in peace talks in Egypt after President Trump put forth a proposal that outlines certain requirements from the militant group.

“I think there’s a lot of hope and a lot of desire to see this deal move forward,” said Daniel Greyber, Rabbi at Beth El Synagogue in Durham.

For many across the Triangle and beyond, October 7th has become a day of somber reflection.

“We are not only a religion or a faith tradition. We are a people. And what happens to one part of our people happens to all of us,” Greyber explains.

Among the members of the congregation at Beth El Synagogue are the family of Keith Siegel, who was taken hostage in the October 7th attacks two years ago along with his wife, Aviva. Keith was released by Hamas in February after Aviva was let go the year prior.

But with dozens of hostages still unaccounted for, Greyber called the situation an “open wound.”

“There’s tremendous sadness over the cost of the war for Palestinians, and I think also a sense of sadness that the world doesn’t seem to be able to hold Israeli trauma along with Palestinian trauma,” he said.

The cost of the war is visible in the destruction of Gaza following two years of relentless retaliatory attacks from the Israeli military. In the last two years, more than 67,000 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip, including an average of 27 children per day, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health.

“Gaza itself has been almost completely destroyed. There are some cities that are still there, but Israel was surrounding them. So it looked like, again, the situation in Gaza was very bleak. You’re looking at a humanitarian catastrophe,” said Navin Bapat, Chair of the Political Science Department at UNC Chapel Hill, and a scholar in Middle Eastern politics.

While the world waits for a possible ceasefire to be brokered, Bapat says the brutality of the war and the broader destruction in Gaza may linger long beyond that.

“You can imagine that anyone in Gaza, it’s going to be very hard to look at Israel as something that they want to get along with, even if they have to,” Bapat said. “So, again, I would say that’s going to have this very long term effect. Just given the damage and given the brutality of it.”

But two years after the region was hurled into devastation, faith leaders like Greyber are still holding onto hope.

“As devastating and difficult as these past few years have been, I continue to be hopeful that God, that the spark of God within human beings can bring about changes,” he said.