Crowds of people from Baltimore-area synagogues gathered for an evening of dancing, singing and prayer Tuesday night, not only for the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah but to celebrate the release of 20 Israeli hostages from Gaza.

Families joined hands in The Suburban Club parking lot and cheered as a rabbi spoke of those who’d spent more than two years in captivity after being taken hostage on Oct. 7, 2023, which marked the beginning of the war between Israel and Hamas.

Rabbi Joshua Gruenberg with the Chizuk Amuno Congregation said the Jewish community had been waiting years to properly celebrate Simchat Torah, which signifies the restart of the annual cycle of the Torah, with “extreme joy.”

“We have sort of been waiting two years to exhale, to smile, to take a breath,” Gruenberg said. “We understand the grief isn’t over, but to be able to hold a little bit of joy in this moment is really important.”

Although thousands of miles from the conflict, Marylanders and local organizations showed their strong support for last week’s fragile ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, which brought an end to the fighting and facilitated the release of captive Israelis and Palestinians.

On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas militants launched a surprise attack in southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage. In retaliation, Israeli troops launched a bombing campaign in Gaza, followed by a ground invasion. Health authorities in Gaza estimate that 67,000 Palestinians have been killed in the last two years, The Associated Press reported.

Although Hamas freed 20 remaining hostages, it held some of the remains of Israeli hostages who had died during the conflict.

Meanwhile, Israel has freed nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners back to Gaza and the occupied West Bank. A majority of them were being held without having been charged with a crime, according to The Associated Press.

The peace agreement took shape at the end of September, when President Donald Trump introduced a 20-point plan to bring an end to the war. He said negotiations were underway between the Israeli government and Hamas, both of which came to an agreement last week.

Since the start of the war, the two have failed several times to ferment a permanent ceasefire. The longest ceasefire, announced by the Biden administration, started in late January and ended just over a month later.

Ramsey Hanhan, a Palestinian American author who grew up in Ramallah and lives in Howard County, said the week has been a “roller coaster of emotions.”

“I broke into tears several times last Thursday and Friday when it was getting real,” Hanhan said, adding that watching the conflict unfold while being far away from the place where he grew up was “agonizing.”

“We’re just hoping we won’t have a repeat of the January ceasefire,” he said.

Because the peace agreement allows for increased humanitarian aid to reach Gaza, international aid organizations, including Baltimore-based Catholic Relief Services, have mobilized quickly to get food and supplies there.

Bill O’Keefe, executive vice president for mission, mobilization and advocacy at CRS, said, in the past 72 hours, his staff has reentered Gaza City, found a new warehouse because the last one was destroyed, and begun distributing hygiene kits to people traveling back to their homes.

O’Keefe said several of his staff members had been affected by the war, some of them looking gaunt as food became sparse in recent months. After peace talks broke down in March, Israel allowed little food and aid into Gaza.

O’Keefe said they have more than 300 trucks of shelter, hygienic kits and food that have not been allowed into the region in the last six months but are now entering the area. Several access points to deliver aid into Gaza remain closed, he said.

“We really appreciate the role of the administration in driving this agreement and urge them to continue their engagement to make sure it holds,” O’Keefe said. “Because already we can see how we’re able to help many more people.”

Negotiations will continue between Israel and Hamas as the future of Gaza — who will govern it and how Palestinians there will rebuild — hangs in limbo.