As the death toll in Israel and Palestine tops 1,500, New Jersey residents are reacting to the unfolding tragedy.
For many New Jersey families visiting Israel over religious holidays, the Hamas attack caught them off guard. Now that most airlines have cancelled service to Israel, their getting home to New Jersey won’t be easy.
“We’re expecting planeloads of people that will not be able to get out via United and via Delta. And they’re going to have to get rebooked next week, whether it be Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, either trekking through Europe like I just did or hoping for more flights to be added,” said Teaneck Councilman Mark Schwartz.
Pro-Israel supporters across New Jersey rallied, promising U.S. support, as did President Joe Biden. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed vengeance, and retaliated by shelling Gaza and blocking all vital supplies into a territory where over half the population lives beneath the poverty line.
Passaic County resident Najwa Alsadi said her sister and niece live in Gaza. “They are destroyed emotionally and physically. They cannot sleep. They cannot, they don’t have food, they don’t have water. It looks like they may even lose the shelter that they have. No medicine is allowed to get in or out of Gaza,” she said.
The Palestinian American Community Center called for an end to decades of Israeli occupation.
“We don’t condone bloodshed. We don’t condone the killing of civilians. But this is a boiling point — an opportunity for leaders to correct a lot of what is wrong. Seventy-five years of occupation is too long,” said Prospect Park Mayor Mohamed Khairullah.
