YOUNGSTOWN — Members of the local Palestinian community urged city council to pass a resolution calling for a cease-fire resolution in Gaza.

Councilwoman Samantha Turner, D-3rd Ward, offered to propose such a resolution if the local Palestinian community worked with those in the local Jewish community to craft one.

After Turner’s offer at Wednesday’s council meeting, a pro-Palestinian supporter screamed that only one side is on the attack, meaning Israel.

Deputy Law Director Adam Buente yelled, “That’s enough” at the man, who stopped.

Councilwoman Anita Davis said: “This little outburst is an example” of what not to do and she said people don’t need to “bully” or “threaten” others and council would not tolerate that.

Besides Turner, no other member of council spoke Wednesday in favor of any cease-fire resolution.

During Wednesday’s meeting, council heard from three local Palestinians, including two who spoke at the Feb. 7 meeting, calling for council to adopt a resolution calling for a cease-fire in Gaza.

Hamas, a terrorist group, launched a surprise attack Oct. 7 on Israel, killing more than 1,000 and taking hostages. Hamas said the attack was in response to Israel’s longtime occupation of the West Bank.

Since then, Israel has attacked the Gaza Strip, killing more than 30,000 people, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

The United Nations Security Council on Monday adopted a resolution for an immediate cease-fire between Israel and Hamas and a release of all hostages.

Seven aid workers from the nonprofit World Central Kitchen were killed Monday in an Israeli military strike as they were delivering food to citizens in Gaza — which has drawn worldwide criticism. Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the aid workers were “unintentionally” targeted.

Tala Alsharif, president of the Youngstown State University’s Students for Justice in Palestine, said 220 people have signed a petition calling for Youngstown council to pass a cease-fire resolution.

“This overwhelming support reflects the collective voice of our community,” she said.

Suhad Hadi, president of the Arab American Community Center of Youngstown, gave city council a proposed resolution “expressing sympathy for the innocent civilians victimized by the violence in Israel and Palestine; condemning violence of any kind; affirming Youngstown’s status as a welcoming community for those of the Jewish and Islamic religions and any other religion; encouraging residents to offer support and sincere condolences to members of the Jewish and Palestinian communities of Youngstown and all over the world.”

The resolution doesn’t mention the Hamas attack.

But it does state the “citizens of Youngstown wish to decry any and all acts of violence both in our own communities and around the globe and express their deepest condolences to all those affected by this tragedy.”

Raneen Musleh of Youngstown said of council not approving a cease-fire resolution: “The silence has been deafening.”

Hadi mentioned eight cities in Ohio that have passed cease-fire resolutions.

Meanwhile, two officials with the Youngstown Area Jewish Federation wrote in a Wednesday letter to city council that such resolutions “do more harm than good,” and urged council to “refrain from entertaining any attempts to bring forth a one-sided cease-fire resolution with respect to the ongoing hostilities in Israel and Gaza, a resolution involving complex issues that would serve only to divide residents of Youngstown, not unite us.”

In the letter signed by Andrew L. Lipkin, its CEO, and Bonnie Deutsch Burdman, executive director of community relations / government affairs, they wrote that such resolutions infer “Israel is the root cause of all the death and destruction in Gaza, but they also imply that Israel has no interest in peace. The history of the region and the basic facts on the ground clearly do not support this conclusion.”

They wrote that Israel has been “under constant threat and rocket fire from Hamas, an internationally recognized terrorist organization that took control of Gaza in 2007.”

They added: “The proposed cease-fire resolution is fatally flawed, not only because of what it says and implies but also because of what it omits or fails to acknowledge,” including the Oct. 7 attack.

In the letter, Lipkin and Deutsch Burdman wrote: “We want this war to end. We abhor the loss of innocent life, whether Jewish or Arab, Israeli or Palestinian. We have consistently supported, and continue to support a peaceful, two-state solution to the ongoing Mideast conflict,” and “a cease-fire that removes Hamas from power.”