Winnipeg's Jewish, Palestinian communities watch as 4-day truce in Israel-Hamas war begins

A temporary truce between Israel and Hamas that began Friday morning saw Hamas release 24 of its hostages and Israel free 39 Palestinians detained in its prisons in the agreement's first day.

The two sides agreed earlier in the week to a ceasefire for at least four-days. It's expected 50 hostages captured by Hamas will be released in exchange for the release of more than 100 Palestinian detainees from Israeli jails

An increase in aid to war-torn Gaza is also expected. 

"It's providing opportunity for some humanitarian thinking for all of us, not just people involved in this war," said Jewish Federation of Winnipeg president Gustavo Zentner. "Not just people that have families either in the Gaza Strip or in Israel, to take pause and … reflect on the values of human life above anything else." 

Hamas and allied groups killed more than 1,000 people and took more 200 hostages during a surprise attack on Israel Oct. 7. 

Zentner said the release of some of the hostages is important, but also pointed out that under the current agreement, not all who were taken will be freed right away. 

"Even if the Israeli hostages are returned unharmed many of them have lost loved ones, including children whose parents were killed by Hamas, and will suffer long after their release [from] the trauma caused by their capture and the captivity and the losses they have suffered," he said. 

"I believe that the important focus right now would be on the return of all hostages unconditionally," he said. 

Israel has placed Gaza under relentless bombardment in response to the Oct. 7 attack. More than 14,000 people have been killed since the start of the bombardment, with about 40 per cent of them children, according to Palestinian health authorities.

Additionally, more than one million Gazans have been displace and an estimated 45 per cent of homes have been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN. 

"It is just considered a pause," said Selena Zeid, a Canadian with Palestinian roots. "It's not something where we should be happy for it. Why should we be putting a pause for something that should be ending?" 

Zeid said she hopes that with so many dead in Gaza the fighting can stop completely following the temporary ceasefire. 

On Friday, 137 aid trucks were unloaded in Gaza, and 129,000 litres of fuel were delivered the UN humanitarian office said. 

Mohammad Tobail, a Canadian-Palestinian, said he's lost many family members since the war began. He said he's been in touch with other relatives, but that their electricity is intermittent and resources are thin.

He said a temporary ceasefire isn't a permanent solution. 

"What progression does that bring in terms of rebuilding that society, or trying to bring back everything they've lost, which is obviously borderline impossible," he said. "Can you salvage it within four days? Of course not, you're preparing for another wave of whatever's been going on, unfortunately." 

Truce is temporary, both sides agree

Israeli forces are using the four-day truce to prepare the next phase of their operation in the Gaza Strip, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said during a regular briefing Friday in Israel.

Abu Ubaida, spokesperson for Hamas's armed wing, has also stressed it's a "temporary truce."

He also called for an "escalation of the confrontation with [Israel] on all resistance fronts," including the Israeli-occupied West Bank in a video message. 

"Ceasefires short of peace agreements are rarely used to stop fighting indefinitely," said Tami Jacoby, a political science professor at the University of Manitoba who has been teaching about the decades-long Arab-Israeli conflict for more than 10 years. "They're used to re-arm, renegotiate the terms and to train for the next series of clashes." 

Jacoby said the truce is really just a pause and that it remains to be seen whether "both sides will adhere to the rules of the ceasefire." 

"I just hope that as many hostages as possible — 50 is the number they're giving now, maybe they can increase that — as many hostages are released safely, because that is the utmost of minds of the families of the hostages," she said. 

"And the Palestinian political prisoners [who]t are currently in Israeli prisons be let out in the number at which Israel and Hamas have agreed to, so that the ceasefire doesn't become another obstacle to resolving this conflict as a whole." 

WATCH | How the Israel-Hamas truce might play out: