Friends and families of freed hostages are breathing a sigh of relief around the world, including in Toronto, as a fragile cease-fire between Hamas and Israel leads to exchanges.
Of the 14 Israeli hostages freed on Sunday, four have family ties to Canada. Hagar Brodach, 39, and her children – Uriah, 4, Yuval, 8, and Ofri Brodach, 10, have now safely returned to their home in Israel. But relief at their safe return spread to Toronto, where the community anxiously awaited the news.
Shoshana Lipschultz, a family friend, told CTV National News she cried “tears of joy” when she heard her family was among those freed.
“Tears of joy and recognition that so many people are still detained, so many people are still suffering and waiting for the return of their loved ones,” she said.
Lipschultz, the camp director, was visiting cousins in Toronto as part of a trip with her mother this summer when Ofri was one of the campers.
“She was young and bubbly and incredibly involved in camp,” Lipschultz said. “She wanted to try everything, and she wanted to be friends with everyone.”
Lipschultz said one of her fondest memories with Ofri was when her 10-year-old teased her about her Hebrew.
“My Hebrew is not very good. Ofri was very fond of letting me know that my Hebrew is not very good, but her English is not very good, so what I tried to do was “They also appreciated it,” Lipschultz said. “It was one of the warmest moments we had together.”
Sunday’s hostage release came as part of an agreement reached between Israel and Hamas after seven weeks of war.
On October 7, Hamas militants attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking nearly 240 hostages. In the weeks that followed, Israel bombed the Gaza Strip, cut off food, water, electricity and fuel, and launched ground attacks. More than 13,300 people have been killed in Gaza, about two-thirds of them women and children, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry.
A suspension agreement was reached earlier this week. During the four-day ceasefire, Hamas agreed to release 50 hostages in exchange for the release of 150 Palestinians held captive by Israel. All of the freed hostages and prisoners were women and children, the Associated Press reported.
The news that Ofri, her brother and mother were on the list of hostages to be released on Sunday was a huge relief to her uncles, aunts and cousins in Canada, and the wider community concerned for their safety. It became. Hager’s brother-in-law, Toronto resident Aharon Brodach, appeared on CTV News Toronto earlier this month and called on Canada to do more to bring the hostages home.
Noah Shack is working with the UJA Federation of Greater Toronto, a local Jewish community organization, and is also running a letter-writing campaign to send their thoughts to the Israeli hostages still being held in Gaza. There is.
He said the campaign was originally inspired by the Brodach family’s plight.
“The cousin of one of the hostages sent a letter to his cousin who had spent the summer with him in Toronto and went to summer camp here, and it snowballed, with more than 500 people writing letters to the Red Army every day. “It’s become like ‘Cross,'” he told CTV National News.
The letter, sent to the Red Cross in hopes of helping the hostages get the letters, was written by “family members, friends made during Ofri’s summer in Toronto, and members of the broader community.” They are devastated by the plight of the hostages and really want to do something positive,” Shaq said.
Monday marks the last day for the exchange of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, but international mediators are aiming to extend the ceasefire.
Sunday’s exchange included a 4-year-old American girl and 39 Palestinian teenagers among the Israeli hostages freed by Hamas. Reuters reported.
Shaq’s letter writing campaign continues for hostages still being held in Gaza.
“The letters were sending hope, and they were sending hope that they would be able to go home soon,” Shaq said.
Lipschultz said she doesn’t know if she’ll be able to see Ofri again at the camp, but if possible, she’d like to drive the boat for Ofri and her cousins in Toronto to go tubing. It was said to be Ofuri’s favorite camping activity.
“I would love to get one and see that refreshing smile,” she said.
Some of the Toronto-based families are currently traveling to Israel to meet the freed children and their mothers, in hopes of being able to bring them back to Canada soon. ing.