Amid peace talks surrounding the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, Gainesville remains divided, much like the rest of the country.
On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led militants attacked Israel from the Gaza Strip, killing around 1,200 Israelis and taking about 250 hostage.
Two years later, 48 hostages remain in Gaza, and about 20 are believed to be alive, according to the Associated Press.
Israel has been launching military operations along the Gaza Strip in response to the terrorist attack, killing over 67,000 people in Gaza, half of them women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The World Health Organization, along with other organizations, classified conditions in Gaza as a famine in August as food and aid supplies entering the strip remain limited.
The United Nations commission announced in September that Israel was committing acts of genocide in Gaza. A number of countries, including the U.K., France and Australia, have recognized Palestinian statehood this year. The U.S., a major ally of Israel, hasn’t.
UF students and community organizations in Gainesville observed the attack’s two-year anniversary — and ensuing conflict — through community activism and memorials.
Two Jewish student centers, Chabad UF and UF Hillel, commemorated the anniversary with a joint remembrance service Oct. 6 in the Reitz Union for the people killed in Israel and hostages kidnapped.
At the event, Hadassah Sternfeld, a 21-year-old UF health science senior, spoke about her friend Gili, who was killed at the Nova music festival on Oct. 7, 2023.
She said she’s been dealing with sadness and pain in regard to the two-year anniversary. Sternfeld said the Jewish community hoped the fighting would be over and the hostages freed by now. But she said her community remains hopeful.
“Until all the hostages are home, it still feels like it's Oct. 7, 2023,” Sternfeld said.
Rallying for Palestinian liberation
UF Students for Justice in Palestine hosted its own events honoring the people of Gaza this week. It held a vigil on Plaza of the Americas this evening. The organization also hosted a medical student in Gaza as a virtual guest speaker the afternoon prior.
“Gaza is in our hearts. We honor their endurance, their steadfastness, their resistance, and every part of Palestine’s movement toward liberation,” UF SJP said in a post announcing the event. “We stand united in demanding justice and freedom, and in ensuring the world never forgets.”
Members of UF SJP declined to comment to The Alligator while tabling.
War of any kind shouldn’t exist, said Jade Castillo, an 18-year-old UF exploratory freshman who stopped near the UF SJP table on Turlington Plaza. But people have so many different views that arguments and spite will always arise, she said.
Castillo said Israel had the right to retaliate after the Oct. 7, 2023, attack, but she doesn’t agree with the extent of its military actions in Gaza, including the killing of children.
“But I’m happy people have been talking about it, because it's been two years since this entire thing started, and I think that's two years too long,” she added.
Dimitris Liveris, a 19-year-old UF sociology and political science sophomore, said as a member of the Greek Orthodox Church, he grew up around Palestinian Christians who were from the West Bank. He said he also had an uncle in Palestine who was an activist against the occupation in the 2010s, but he no longer has family there.
While the events of Oct. 7, 2023, were horrifying, Liveris said, the current attacks on Gaza are the largest genocide the world has seen in years. He said the Palestinian cause deserves wider acceptance and support.
“I think people really undervalue Palestinian life,” Liveris said. “I think all human life has value, and I think the more that other people devalue it, the more important it is that myself, and other people who care, stand in support of their legitimacy.”
He has organized eight drives through his church at home to raise money for Palestinians in Gaza, though he doesn’t know how much of it actually reaches the region.
Liveris also said it’s important people separate Israel’s actions from Judaism. He thinks people are using Israel’s actions as a way to justify antisemitism, and that Israel has inflamed this rhetoric through its actions.
“Israel has really broken down the concept of antisemitism and made it seem a lot less serious than it actually is to a lot of people,” he said.
In Spring 2024, UF SJP, along with the UF Divest Coalition, organized a five-day occupation of Plaza of the Americas calling for UF to divest from Israel. Nine pro-Palestinian protestors were arrested after university officials said the group did not follow proper guidelines for on-campus events.
The protesters have since been suspended from campus, and many of them have accepted deferred plea agreements with the state.
Stephen Sykes, a 21-year-old UF political science, economics and philosophy junior, was tabling with UF College Democrats next to the UF Hillel table during today’s tabling events. He said the war didn’t make sense.
“Best not to kill so many civilians for no good reason,” he said.
Attendance grows at Chabad UF
Rabbi Berl Goldman, the director of the Chabad UF Jewish Student Center, said the events of Oct. 7, 2023, affected every citizen of Israel, both Jews and non-Jews.
The threat of antisemitism is everywhere, he said, and there have been attacks against Jewish people throughout the world. Goldman referenced an Oct. 2 attack that killed two people at a synagogue in Manchester, England.
Goldman said students have been experiencing a particularly hard time dealing with the conflict, especially those with family in Israel. But the Jewish community prays together to get through the difficult times, he said.
“We continue to gather and support each other and support Israel proudly and will continue to do so with every action of darkness,” he said. “The only answer to darkness is light.”
For the Gainesville Jewish community, one of the hardest memories surrounding the anniversary came not on Oct. 7, 2023, but at a candlelight vigil held on UF’s Turlington Plaza a few days later.
The event quickly turned to panic when an attendant fainted, which led to others asking for someone to call 911 — a request others in the crowd misinterpreted. Attendees trampled each other in an attempt to flee the scene, causing five attendees to be injured.
Although police later uncovered the cause, attendees said the experience still left scars.
Two years later, Chabad UF is breaking attendance records and, in August, welcomed 700 students for a regular Shabbat meal, which co-director Chanie Goldman said in a press release was a 25-year high and sent a clear message about UF Jewish students.
“Their connection to Judaism and Israel will not be diminished,” she said in an email.
Aviv Brav, an 18-year-old UF finance freshman, said he thinks it’s vital Israel continues to defend itself from all ongoing threats, especially because the second anniversary of Oct. 7, 2023, is here.
Brav is an Israeli citizen who lives in the U.S. but is serving in the Israel Defense Forces reserves. He has yet to be called for service but said he anticipates being called for training next summer.
“It’s important that we recognize the hostages and don’t forget about this atrocity that happened two years ago,” he said.
Remembering the events of Oct. 7, 2023, is important, Brav said, but what happened needs to be present in people's minds beyond the anniversary. He said remembrance ensures the situation improves and that nothing like it happens again.
“It's very easy, over time, to forget about all these horrible things, to slowly forget about it and only remember it on a day,” he said.
As of Tuesday evening, officials from the U.S., Israel, Hamas, Qatar and Egypt are continuing with a second day of negotiations in Cairo on President Donald Trump’s proposed peace plan.
Contact Kaysheri Haffner at khaffner@alligator.org. Follow her on X at @kaysheri_h.
Celine Taragjini is a contributing writer for The Alligator. Contact her at ctaragjini@ufl.edu.
Julianna Bendeck is a contributing writer for The Alligator. Contact her at jbendeck@ufl.edu.
Julianna Bendeck is a contributing writer for The Alligator.
Kaysheri is a junior journalism student and the Fall 2025 politics reporter for the enterprise desk at the Alligator. She previously worked as the criminal justice reporter. Off the clock she enjoys creative writing, and can always be found at either the gym or curled up with a good book.
