With fragile cease-fire in place, peacemakers hope Hamas-Israel truce previews war's endgame

"Optimism" is the word peace builder John Lyndon repeatedly uses, believing a tenuous truce in the Israel-Hamas war can be extended even longer.

The executive director of the Alliance for Middle East Peace, a coalition of about 170 organizations worldwide working toward peace building, particularly with Israelis and Palestinians, Lyndon calls the release of hostages by Hamas "silver linings."

A continuous caravan of humanitarian aid trucks into the Gaza Strip is an "incredibly positive sign," he said. Yet, Lyndon wishes even more could be done to stop the violence.

"There have been moments of exhalation, but I know there are still a lot of clouds as well," Lyndon told USA TODAY on Tuesday, citing reports of Israel and Hamas accusing each other of violating the deal that has temporarily paused fighting along the strip as the cease-fire entered a fifth day. "We’re still uncertain about what's going to happen next."

After a two-day extension of what was initially a four-day cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, some peace builders in the Middle East and the U.S. are optimistic what's happening will be effective and could be a starting point on a road toward achieving long-term solutions.

"This truce is hopefully the beginning of a negotiated political solution between the Israelis and Palestinians and others who are invested that can lead to the endgame," Gili Getz, chair of the American Friends of Combatants for Peace, said Monday. "Without it, nobody is safe. Nobody."

'A pause for another day or two at best,' ex-Foreign Service member believes

A truce can continue in small increments, depending on ongoing talks and how many hostages continue to be released, Howard Stoffer, a national security professor at the University of New Haven in Connecticut and a former member of the U.S. State Department's foreign service, told USA TODAY on Wednesday. 

Stoffer said he is optimistic − in the short term.

"I don't want to dash anybody's hopes, but I think we get a pause for another day or two at best if things continue to go well," said Stoffer, who previously served as the deputy executive director of the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate of the United Nations Security Council.

"It has to be consistent with no gaps," Stoffer added. "That's a lot of pressure on the many intelligence chiefs, including the U.S., Egypt, Qatar and others involved with the negotiations to keep talking."

Otherwise, Stoffer said Israel has its air and land operations ready to resume its military campaign.

Hostage releases, aid 'gives us more hope for peace'

As of Tuesday afternoon, nearly 81 women and children hostages have been released during the truce since Friday, 60 of them Israelis, along with 180 women and teen Palestinians from Israel.

An estimated 240 people were taken hostage by militants in the Oct. 7 raid into Israel, and more than 1,200 people were killed, according to Israeli authorities. Another 77 Israeli soldiers have died in the subsequent military operation in Gaza. The Gaza Health Ministry says more than 13,000 Palestinians have been killed in the fighting.

In spite of the carnage, Lyndon, speaking by phone from Paris, said members of ALLMEP have "courageously" continued peace building efforts. Besides calling for the release of all hostages, Lyndon said numerous ALLMEP organizations have been meeting in person and online, as well as doing on-the-ground work.

ALLMEP members Itach Maaki (Women Lawyers for Social Justice) and Desert Stars have created a first-of-its-kind Arab-Jewish emergency center for the Bedouin and Jewish communities in Rahat, located in Southern Israel, Lyndon said.  The emergency center helps pack and deliver food and medical supplies to those heavily affected by the war.

Standing Together, an Israeli-based Jewish-Arab movement calling for peace, equality and social justice, created solidarity groups to help alleviate tensions in "mixed areas" across the country; called emergency meetings with Jewish and Palestinian residents to promote peace and set up a hotline promoting Arab and Jewish solidarity.

And there's an Israeli organization called the Road to Recovery, a group of volunteers who drive Palestinian patients, mostly kids, from checkpoints in the West Bank and Gaza, which Lyndon describes as "life-saving."

"We are all worth living, we should fight for each other's lives," Mai Shahin, a leading activist with the nonprofit Palestinian Combatants for Peace, told USA TODAY on Tuesday by phone from Bethany, a town in the West Bank. "We all have collective trauma. Let’s heal together."   

Lyndon said while there is not enough humanitarian relief, "it has increased more than what it was a couple of weeks ago. We all have to keep pushing for more to be done and also do our parts as well."

Getz said the hostage releases, the flow of humanitarian aid, and the possible truce extensions he wishes for "gives us more hope for peace."

Any hopes for an extended truce brings 'worrying, waiting'

Meanwhile, Getz, who worked with peace-building groups in the U.S. and the Middle East before the war began, said Monday the previous 48 hours had him "worrying and waiting," whether the truce and fragile cease-fire will be further extended.

He believes that ongoing discussions between Israel, Hamas and international leaders will hopefully lead to an agreement and put an end to the conflict. It could take months or years – as long as there is some progress.

Getz also hopes that peace builders, who can give firsthand accounts of Israelis and Palestinians seeking better for the other, can be a part of any diplomatic discussions.

"I think we all want any kind of effort that can be built to go forward, instead of the bloodshed and destruction," Getz said.  "At the end of the day, there has to be diplomatic solutions to bring safety and stability to the region."

He added: "Otherwise, it's probably impossible to end this war."

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