#Ceasefire

#Ceasefire

A US president, after months of tacit encouragement, has finally intervened to end an Israeli military offensive that has reduced swaths of a Middle Eastern city to rubble, leaving thousands dead and prompting global outrage. For months, the UN has looked on, impotent, as Israeli air raids and artillery shelling has pummelled apartment blocks and refugee camps beside the Mediterranean.

His response to ending the conflict has been far too slow, albeit a welcome intervention at this point. But his blunt approach and desire to have his ego preened have contributed towards the peace deal after two years of savage conflict, death and destruction. The October 7 attacks on Israel by Hamas killed 1,200 people and resulted in retaliation so fierce that large tracts of Gaza were levelled and more than 67,000 people died.

Joyously, we have removed the ribbon of the Israeli flag with the headline Bring the Hostages Home from our front covers. We are happy to celebrate the return of all hostages, although the bodies of some of the deceased have yet to be returned. Ever since the terrorist attack of Oct. 7, we have prayed for the safe return of all the innocent hostages and the cessation of violence in the Middle East.

Israel is a place where Jews are meant to be safe, and if these people didn't come home, then what is the point of Israel?

Although these heavy vehicles carrying supplies are far greater in volume than those arriving before the ceasefire came into effect, their contents remain insufficient, the United Nations and other humanitarian organizations have warned. They believe a chasm separates the needs created by two years of the Israeli offensive with a declared famine in the north and 2.1 million people reduced to destitution from the aid that has begun to arrive.

The 2025 Youth Peace Camp in Cyprus was no ordinary summer camp.