By Ellie Davis
(WFRV) – It’s been two years since Hamas launched a surprise attack in Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking 250 hostage, fanning flames in a centuries-long conflict that has left much of Gaza in ruins.
Since October 7, 2023, Israeli retaliation has killed over 66,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry; however, it does not distinguish between civilians or combatants, but that around half of the dead are women and children.
The United Nations has called Israeli actions a genocide, which U.S. officials and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have denied.
David Coury, a professor of Humanistic and Global Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, told Local 5 that the latest updates included the peace plan discussed a week ago by U.S. President Donald Trump and Netanyahu.
“There is an initial peace plan in the works, assuming that both Israel and Hamas accept it to release the hostages and end the fighting,” Coury said.
The United States is helping to broker that deal; however, Coury tells Local 5 that there are obstacles to a ceasefire, as Hamas said on October 3 that it had accepted some elements of President Donald Trump’s peace plan.
“There are still a lot of complications, a lot of sticking points, but the main thing is to end the famine, the displacement,” Coury said.
The proposed peace plan would release the remaining 48 hostages, according to the Associated Press; Coury told Local 5 that with the United States continuing to back Israel and Netanyahu’s government, fighting may likely persist.
“As long as the United States is on the side of Israel, the Netanyahu government has a green light for maintaining the war until the United States pressures them to stop,” Coury said.
The United States also says that Gaza will need an interim government because of the destruction that has occurred in that region.
“Israel has demanded that Hamas no longer be in charge of the Gaza Strip,” Coury said. “The question is, who is going to be in charge of the government?”
Coury mentioned that rebuilding will take global cooperation and time, as the Associated Press reports that 90% of Gaza’s population has been displaced, multiple times, with much of the strip uninhabitable.