DES MOINES, Iowa – Wednesday night, President Trump announced that the first phase of the peace deal had been reached between Israel and Hamas. According to the president, Hamas will release about 20 remaining living Israeli hostages early next week.

The potential of hostages being released is sparking hope throughout Iowa’s Jewish community and allies. With local leaders saying this is the closest that Israel and Hamas have been to finally ending the war in Gaza, which just hit its two-year mark in early October. While the soon-to-be-released hostages have a long road to recovery, those leaders say that recovery extends to both Gaza and Israel.

“There’s a rebuilding process both in Israel and in Gaza. And to have the support of the international community behind those rebuilding efforts will be key to hopefully ensuring that we can see peace in that region soon,” said Jarad Bernstein, the Executive Director of the Jewish Federation of Greater Des Moines.

“The real issue is that Hamas has hidden themselves and shielded themselves by their own people, and that has created a problem. It’s also created a problem in terms of getting the aid in. And the hope is that if they are out of the way in terms of a governing body, then good intentions might actually lead to good results,” said Mike Schreurs, Founding Member of Iowans Supporting Israel.

Schreurs said even though the war was far from the U.S., its effects were still felt, saying, “This war really led to a greater divide in America. And some of that divide was the result of anti-Semitism and the Jewish people’s exposure to anti-Semitic actions. Even here in Iowa and here in Des Moines. So, it became very personal, and it became one of those things that, frankly, anti-Semitic activity has no place in America, certainly has no place in Iowa.”

“It’s truly been difficult for our community as we’ve seen a major uptick in anti-Semitic incidents across the country, even here in Iowa during that time. Just because the war is over doesn’t mean that these people who hate Jews are going to stop hating Jews,” said Bernstein.