Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., speaking at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, May 11, 2023.
People around the world welcomed news that Israel and Hamas have reached a ceasefire agreement after months of negotiations.
While technical details of the multi-phase plan are still being finalized, Israel will gradually withdraw troops from Gaza, as Israeli hostages are exchanged for Palestinian detainees.
The deal is seen as a pathway to the end of war in Gaza after 15 months of fighting.
Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 killing more than 1,200 people and abducting more than 250 hostages.
In response, Israeli forces killed more than 46,000 Palestinians, and the U.N. estimates nearly two-thirds of Gaza’s buildings have been damaged or destroyed.
The violence led to widespread calls for a ceasefire, including from U.S. Sen. Peter Welch.
Recently, Vermont Public’s Mitch Wertlieb spoke to Welch about the agreement between Israel and Hamas. This piece was produced for the ear. We highly recommend listening to the audio. We’ve also provided a transcript, which has been edited for length and clarity.
Mitch Wertlieb: First senator, can you share your immediate reaction to the ceasefire agreement, after the months of violence and destruction we’ve witnessed?
Peter Welch: I am so, so relieved that this means the hostages are going to go home, those that are still alive. And it just means that we’re going to be able to get food and medicine into Gaza, to Palestinians who have been suffering for so long. Kids may be able to start going back to school. So enormous relief that the suffering can end for the Israeli families whose loved ones are being held hostage, and for Palestinians who have been under constant bombardment for over a year.
Mitch Wertlieb: What do you view as the most important next steps at this point?
Peter Welch: Well, number one, long run, we’ve got to have a two-state solution. There has to be a capacity for the Palestinians in the West Bank and in Gaza to have an independent state that can live side by side with Israel. Number two, Israel does have to have total confidence that they’ll not have another threat of Oct. 7.
And secondly, surging of humanitarian assistance. People are living in tents. Children aren’t going to school. Medicine that people need — they’re not getting. So this has got to be vigorous effort on the part of all of our allies, and particularly the Arab states and the United States, to surge in the overdue humanitarian assistance that Palestinians desperately, desperately need.
Mitch Wertlieb: Gaza has been devastated from this war. A recent report from NPR found that nearly 60% of buildings have been damaged or destroyed, and 1 out of every 55 residents have been killed. There’s a long road of rebuilding ahead; what role should the U.S. have in that work?
Peter Welch: We should be a facilitator, enormously. I think the United States has always been in a position to play a constructive role in bringing parties together and convening. But you know the fact is — the suffering is going to continue. The trauma for families on the Israeli side. The trauma of that attack, which was like a 9/11 for us.
And then, of course, on the Palestinian side, in Gaza, all those families who really have been victimized by Hamas. Because Hamas did use the Palestinians as human shields. But then the trauma, the loss of lives of the people who’ve been injured, the kids who’ve lost limbs. I mean, that trauma is enduring.
But to get started, we needed first the ceasefire, and that’s why I am so, so, so relieved — because these very difficult challenges that lay ahead are the challenges that are much better for us to be putting our energies into. And that’s rebuilding. It’s getting kids back to school. It’s getting the hostages home and reunited with their families.
Mitch Wertlieb: I know we’re still early in this process, talking about this news breaking now. But looking forward, do you think there needs to be formal consequences for how either Israel, Hamas, or both entities have approached this war?
Peter Welch: You know, my focus really is on trying to get the hostages home, and trying to get the bombing stopped. In Gaza, there’s going to be a lot of investigation, starting with what happened in Israel with the Netanyahu government and the security system around Gaza. Then there’ll be questions about the war.
So those are very important questions, but the most important thing is that we have a ceasefire. People in Gaza don’t have to worry about getting bombed. Israeli families are going to get their hostages home, or they’re going to find out if they’re alive.
Mitch Wertlieb: In the months leading up to the ceasefire, there were several attempts to pull military aid from Israel because of their actions in Gaza. Should the U.S. rethink how it distributes military aid?
Peter Welch: Yeah. I think that we’ve got to be very careful and cautious about military aid. And I think we’re entitled as a country, if we’re going to give aid — military aid, or even humanitarian aid — to make our position known and to have conditions about what is acceptable to us and what isn’t. We do that all of the time.
And that question was raised, obviously, with President Biden saying that he really was urging the Netanyahu government to have a war plan that diminished the loss of innocent civilian life, and the Netanyahu government basically disregarded anything that the President said. So you know, that’s something that I think we have to look at.
Mitch Wertlieb: Ultimately, though, senator, you sound optimistic. Do you think that this will hold, this ceasefire?
Peter Welch: I’m hopeful. I mean, the fact that you’ve got the two sides saying they’ve agreed to it, something can happen. We know that. But the suffering in Gaza is just immense. It’s catastrophic. All those people who’ve been killed, all those children who aren’t going to school, that lost parents. That’s just got to end.
Story Written by Mitch Wertlieb, Adiah Gholston, and Kevin Trevellyan, Vermont Public