Rolla Alaydi stood in the candlelight glow of a vigil honoring her relatives killed in the Gaza genocide. She was struggling to trust the news released earlier that day: Israel and Hamas had reached a ceasefire agreement which could finally end two years of war.
Alaydi, a Pacific Grove resident, has watched from afar as much of her family has died or been displaced by the Israeli offensive, and she recalled Israel’s tendency to violate the terms of previous ceasefire agreements.
“I want to have relief and I want to take a deep breath, but at the same time I’m worried about my family, my nephew and nieces — Alma, she’s six years old, Haya with no mom, four years old — the weight is just the maximum level,” Alaydi said in an interview with City on a Hill Press.
About thirty people gathered on the evening of Oct. 8 to attend the vigil. They laid flowers and knelt in prayer in front of photos of Alaydi’s relatives, which were splayed out underneath the Santa Cruz Town Clock.
The photos represent a fraction of the over 67,000 Palestinians killed and 1.9 million displaced. The scale of this genocide has left Gaza in ruins.
“It’s been two months since my sister-in-law got killed and I cannot even sit home and cry,” Alaydi said. “I need to put all my energy, my time, my effort to support the ones who are still alive and to survive.”
A veteran community member carries a sign displaying infants killed in the Gaza genocide while marching in solidarity with Palestine on Oct. 7, 2025. Photo by Dave Ordoñez.
“A Slap In The Face To Palestinians”
The Israel Defense Forces have pulled away from Gaza City, but still maintain control of 53% of the enclave. All 20 living Israeli hostages and almost 2,000 Palestinian prisoners were released on Oct. 13 as part of the first phase of the ceasefire plan. Hamas has agreed to return the remaining deceased hostages.
In Gaza, many citizens are celebrating the pause in fighting. Yet an air of fear and mistrust still lingers.
The next stages of the ceasefire plan stipulate that Hamas disarm, which the group has not explicitly agreed to do. Furthermore, with the governance of Gaza still undetermined, the fate of Palestinian statehood is put at greater risk.
“It’s a slap in the face to Palestinians,” said vigil attendee Kímberly Cortéz-Solorio about the ceasefire. “We absolutely need reparations. We need to help them rebuild. There is no such thing as a two-state solution. It’s Palestine all the way.”
Cortéz-Solorio, along with others at the vigil, criticized Trump’s plan for disproportionately benefitting Israel while offering Palestinians little protection or sovereignty. They fear that the ceasefire plan would be used less as a method for peace, and more as an instrument for political manipulation — minimizing Palestinian futures and absolving Israel of accountability.
The Trump administration was heavily involved in negotiating the ceasefire, which hinges upon their proposed 20-point peace plan.
Simultaneously, the administration has withheld $584 million in research funding from UC Los Angeles over pro-Palestinian student activism. Across the country, visas have been revoked for speaking out against the genocide. Students who wrote op-eds condemning their universities role in the conflict have also been arrested by ICE.
The University of California (UC) participates in similar repression.
This past summer, the UC announced that boycotting any country violates university policy, which could impact student governments who have chosen to divest from Israel. After the Trump administration launched an antisemitism probe into UC Berkeley, the school released 160 names of students and faculty members to the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights.
Demonstrators march from the base of UCSC campus down High Street on Oct. 7, 2025 in a march recognizing the Gaza genocide. As they marched, demonstrators waved Palestinian flags and called out chants demanding liberation. The march ended with a teach-in held at Mission Plaza. Photos 1 and 2 by Dave Ordoñez. Photo 3 by Reggie Sasaki.
“We can’t even speak about an act of genocide that we’re all witnessing on our phones every day without that repression and that influence being taken seriously by our university’s leadership,” said Dr. Jennifer Mogannam, an assistant professor of the critical race and ethnic studies department. “I think the university has a duty to divest from Israel. I think the university has a duty to divest from war.”
Many attendees of the vigil expressed that, despite the ceasefire potentially halting the genocide, these actions by Trump and the UC show that the work to free Palestine must continue.
“No One Can Bring Them Back”
If the ceasefire holds, issues still remain with addressing the famine and destruction in Gaza. While the Trump administration’s plan promised an immediate surge of aid into the region, many International Red Cross entry points remain blocked. Over one million displaced Palestinians are in need of housing, and the United Nations estimates that rebuilding the enclave will take decades as well as about $70 billion to complete.
The wreckage is not easy to rectify, and will continue to affect Palestinian families.
“My aunt Zainab, this is her picture here,” Alaydi said as she spoke in front of the vigil crowd. “They killed her, her husband, her kids. They bombed the whole house. For my brothers and relatives, they couldn’t even retrieve the body. Her body turned to pieces. They collected flesh from under the bombed home.”
Alaydi gestured to pictures of two of her young cousins, different relatives who were killed a few months later.
“They’re supposed to be in a school, elementary school, studying, coloring, doing homework, but they’re gone. And no one can bring them back. Even a ceasefire cannot bring them back.”
