South Floridians react to Israel-Hamas ceasefire
MIAMI - As a ceasefire takes hold in the Israel-Hamas conflict, South Floridians with personal ties to the war are sharing their relief and lingering concerns.
For Judith Raanan, a former Hamas hostage and Jalal Shehadeh, a Palestinian living in exile, the truce brings mixed emotions shaped by months of trauma and loss.
Raanan and her daughter Natalie were kidnapped by Hamas during the October 7, 2023, attack in Israel.
Reflecting on the harrowing experience, Raanan described preparing her daughter as militants closed in.
"Listen honey, in about two minutes or less, men are going to enter this room. They're going to wear all kinds of weird clothes. They're going to hold guns and bombs. I want you to do only one thing. Do nothing. Copy me," she said.
The pair were held for two weeks before being among the first hostages released. While Raanan is grateful for her freedom, she remains cautious about the ceasefire. "I am waiting until the last one. No one should be left behind ever. And it's about time," she said.
Meanwhile, Shehadeh, a Palestinian who now lives in South Florida, highlighted the devastation in Gaza.
"We have children who have starved to death. We have children that have frozen to death because they're living in camps, because 80 percent of the structures inside of Gaza have been destroyed by the state of Israel," he said.
Though he welcomes the humanitarian aid promised in the ceasefire, Shehadeh believes the long-term damage is irreparable.
"Over the next 20 to 30 years, I would imagine there's going to be some rebuilding. But can you remove the trauma that has occurred?" he said.
For both Raanan and Shehadeh, the ceasefire represents a fragile step toward peace, but their hopes remain tempered by the scars of the past 15 months.