Manitoba·NewGustavo Zentner felt a mix of joy and sadness on Monday, when it was confirmed the last living Israeli hostages being held in Gaza had been released after more than 700 days of captivity. All living hostages held by Hamas walked free Monday, as part of U.S-led ceasefire deal Dave Baxter · CBC News · Posted: Oct 14, 2025 9:25 AM EDT | Last Updated: 7 minutes agoGustavo Zentner spoke Monday after it was confirmed the last living Israeli hostages being held in Gaza had been released. (Darin Morash/CBC)Gustavo Zentner felt a mix of joy and sadness on Monday, when it was confirmed the last living Israeli hostages being held in Gaza had been released after more than 700 days of captivity. “It’s bittersweet. We’re filled with hope, we’re resilient, but at the same time our hearts go out to those families that will never be reunited and will never be the same,” said Zentner, the Prairies vice president of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, based in Winnipeg.“We’re very mindful of the many families that are broken forever, those who lost family members during the Oct. 7 attacks more than two years ago, and those who have died or were murdered during their captivity.”All 20 living hostages held by Hamas, as well as approximately 1,900 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel walked free Monday, as part of a U.S-led ceasefire deal that, for the time being, pauses two years of war in the Middle East.On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas militants killed an estimated 1,200 people in southern Israel and took another 250 as hostages. Israel retaliated, launching a war in which more than 66,000 Palestinians have been killed and about 170,000 more wounded, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.The bodies of four of 28 deceased hostages were also returned to Israel Monday. “No doubt the community is filled with hope,” Zentner said. “We’re a very resilient community, we started a healing process by learning about the safe return of the 20 hostages. We know they have been living under very inhumane conditions in the tunnels in Gaza.” He said the conflict in the Middle East has also had repercussions in Winnipeg, where there has been ongoing tensions between Jewish and Palestinian communities, and where he says there has been a rise in hate speech and antisemitism. “Regrettably, in Winnipeg, in our own streets, we have seen hostility, we have seen acts of hate and vandalism, direct antisemitism targeting our community.”Zentner is hopeful the ceasefire will hold and those tensions in Winnipeg will subside.Manitoba Friends of Standing Together co-founder Emet Eviatar is happy to see the remaining living Israeli hostages released but remains skeptical the peace deal will hold in the region. (Darin Morash/CBC)Emet Eviatar, co-founder of Manitoba Friends of Standing Together, said she was happy to see the hostages released but remains skeptical the peace deal will hold. “I would call it cautious optimism. Having the hostages home and having the bombardment, the relentless bombardment, of Gaza stop at least for now is a great thing,” Eviatar said.“There’s not a really great history in terms of ceasefires holding in that area, so I would like to think that this is the beginning of a new era where we can actually live in peace together, but cautiously optimistic is about as far as I’m going to go.”Like Zentner, she also hopes the deal in the Middle East can help to lower some of the tensions and divisions in Winnipeg. “I’m hoping we can talk to each other, because there’s been a lot of people talking past each other and talking about each other,” Eviatar said. “It would be really nice to be able to sit down together and just see each other as human beings, which is where we started.”Palestinian-Canadian Louay Alghoul of Winnipeg, who lost more than 100 family members in the war, told CBC News Network’s Aarti Pole on Monday he’s grateful for the ceasefire, but also skeptical it will bring lasting peace.”They’re happy that the bombing has stopped and the killing has stopped,” Alghoul said. “But they’re not very hopeful of a long-term solution, because they were not even consulted to be on the table of this peace talk.”Rena Secter Elbaze, the executive director of the Congregation Shaarey Zedek in Winnipeg, said many are also hopeful that the remains of the rest of the deceased hostages will be returned to their families. Rena Secter Elbaze, executive director of the Congregation Shaarey Zedek, is hopeful there can be a lowering of tensions in Winnipeg now that the Middle East conflict is paused. ( Darin Morash/CBC)“I’m elated that these people have come home,” she said. “We feel a connection to all of these people so I’m so overjoyed, but I’m sad for the families who have not received the remains of their loved ones yet.”She is also hopeful that there can be a lowering of tensions in Winnipeg.“I hope it’s a big turning point where we can banish hatred in our community and be supportive of each other,” she said.“I would like to reach out to different communities in our city to say the only way we will survive is if we choose peace and we reach out to each other. So I hope that other people will come to the table and choose peace and hope.”ABOUT THE AUTHORDave Baxter is an award-winning reporter and editor currently working for CBC Manitoba. Born and raised in Winnipeg, he has also previously reported for the Winnipeg Sun and the Winnipeg Free Press, as well as several rural Manitoba publications.With files from Rosanna Hempel and Aarti Pole
Manitobans happy to see hostages released, hope for lowered tensions at home
