A major breakthrough after more than a year of war and many months of negotiations, Israel and Hamas have reached a deal to end the war in Gaza.
A Billings man who used to live in Israel and has relatives over there says he likes the Israel-Hamas peace agreement.
He has seen other agreements in the past, that have not brought peace, but he has more confidence this time.
“Fifteen months of hostilities, but I really hope that we're going to see the light at the end of the tunne,” said Uri Barnea. “And that will be only the first phase of better relationship.
The peace deal, negotiated with help from President Biden, will be done in two phases, each lasting 42 days.
In phase one, Hamas will release 33 hostages including women, the elderly and sick, with Israel setting free dozens of Palestinian detainees for each.
Israel will also pull back to Gaza's perimeters, allowing humanitarian aid to start flowing again.
Phase two would see Hamas release the remaining hostages alive and dead, with the focus shifting to rebuilding Gaza and who will govern it in the future.
The brutal conflict, which was sparked by a Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel, left nearly 47,000 dead.
“This whole episode could have been prevented had Hamas not attacked Israel on Oct. 7,” Barnea said.
Barnea's relatives have experienced the Israeli Hamas conflict.
“My niece lives in Tel Aviv, North Tel Aviv, and actually one of the missiles fell two blocks from her home,” Barnea said. “My brother was fortunate enough to be sort of in the middle of the country, not too close to Hamas and not too close to Hezbollah. But there were a few rockets that fell not far from where he lives. He lives near Nazareth in the lower Galilee.”
Barnea was born and raised in Israel and served in the Israeli military before coming to the United States in 1971.
While he likes this agreement, he has some skepticism because attempts at peace have failed for more than 100 years and recently.
“So the first agreement was actually in November already of 2023, where about I think 100 or so hostages were freed,” Barnea said. “And there was a ceasefire for a few weeks, but then the whole thing started again and there was no agreement until now.”
But he says now it's up to the Israeli parliament to approve and for both sides to abide by the agreement.
The Palestinian side could be heard at a rally in Illinois.
"The Palestinians are making the gravest sacrifices for our liberation,” a pro-Palestinian man said. “So we owe it to our Martyrs. We owe it to your dad. We promise you we will continue fighting until justice is rebuilt. And until there's a freedom and justice for every single Palestinian."
“I hope that this will give the incentive for the next phase where more hostages will be freed, more Palestinians will be freed from the prisons, and more help and aid would be given to reconstruct Gaza and to help the people in Gaza,” Barnea said.
Barnea was the music director for the Billings Symphony from 1984 to 2004.
After leaving the Billings Symphony, Barnea became a rabbi in 2007, serving in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.
He retired as a rabbi in 2014.
