OKLAHOMA CITY — Cease-fire has continued for a fifth day in the Middle East as both sides have completed the release of Israeli hostages and detained Palestinians.
KOCO 5 spoke with the Council on American Islamic Relations in Oklahoma, or CAIR Oklahoma, to get a local reaction to the current situation in Gaza.
“We need a permanent end to this violence and particularly a permanent end to the loss of innocent civilian life, as we have seen far too much of it over the last month and a half. Particularly in terms of the loss of innocent women and children in the Gaza strip,” said Adam Soltani, the executive director of CAIR Oklahoma.
The images coming both out of Gaza and Israel are disheartening and both sides are hopeful the cease-fire can continue and the remaining 200 hostages can be released in the coming days.
“The Jewish Federation here in OKC, the way we’ve been helping is we’ve been raising money. We have a fund set up here that we are then sending off to our national, the Jewish Federation of North America and they have a huge fund that is just, I think, it was just over $650 million that they’ve been able to raise across all Jewish Federations and that is how we’re supporting the families,” said Rachel Johnson, the executive director of the Jewish Federation of Greater OKC.
The truce is scheduled for at least another day. However, both Israel and Hamas have expressed their interest in extending it further.