One Israeli and one Palestinian cry together for peace

Rami Elhanan and Bassam Aramin belong to a club nobody wants to belong to.

Elhanan and Aramin joined the Parents Circle — a community for families who have lost close relatives to violence in the Gaza Strip — over a decade ago after they lost their young daughters to fighting in the region.

As casualties mount in the latest war, Elhanan, who is Israeli, and Aramin, who is Palestinian, are thinking about the parents who now join them in grief. Elhanan says he shares one message to these families, which is the slogan of the Circle: "It'll not stop unless we talk."

Choosing anger will only cause more suffering from the shared circumstances, Aramin said. It's up to parents like them "to use this pain as a power" to foster connection, not devastation.

"Let us look forward, for other kids," Aramin said. "You go to take revenge in the name of one child, you don't know how many [other] children you'll lose."

Elhanan and Aramin joined Paste BN World Affairs Correspondent Kim Hjelmgaard for a special episode of the 5 Things podcast. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your smart speaker. For more stories from across the nation about the war, keep scrolling.

Hi I'm Nicole. This is a weekday update about the Israel and Hamas war. You can sign up here.