Responding to the news that Israel and Hamas have reached a partial hostage deal and temporary ceasefire, NIF International CEO Daniel Sokatch released the following statement:

After months of anguish, some of the hostages will return home to their families and the guns will fall silent in Gaza. We have been waiting for news like this for fifteen months. Four hundred and sixty-seven days. Today we open our arms and celebrate their return.

We also know there will be implementation in two stages. It is our job – the job of Israeli civil society, American Jews and all who care about peace and justice — to push for the full implementation of the deal. We need all the hostages home. We need the war to end, for soldiers to come home, and for Gaza to begin to recover.

We feel the profound relief of the hostage families and so many people in Gaza today. But we are still holding our breath. And we will not be able to breathe freely until everyone is free and the war is over.

Today we are hugging the families who have lost loved ones. We are embracing those who are getting them back. And we are looking forward and insisting on a better, more democratic, more just, and more equal future for everyone – Israelis and Palestinians alike.

Today’s news is a critical first step. Now let’s bring them all home and end this damn war.