6 months after Oct. 7, young Winnipeggers reflect on how their lives have been changed by the war in Gaza

It's been six months since Hamas militants launched an attack on southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking hundreds hostage.

In response, Israel launched its invasion of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. About 100 hostages are believed to still be alive somewhere in the narrow enclave, but their numbers are dwindling.

On Saturday, Israeli troops recovered the body of Elad Katzir, one of the 253 people captured by militants on Oct. 7.

But whenever Emily Kalo reflects on what happened that day, she's not thinking of keeping tallies.

"I had a friend who was killed on Oct. 7," the 23-year-old Winnipeg resident said. "It's not about the numbers, you see. It's not about … when you turn on the news at the end of the night and hear the updates. It's personal. It feels real."

Ben Mizrachi was one of 260 young people killed by Hamas at the Supernova music festival in southern Israel. People close to the 22-year-old from Vancouver told CBC News he used his training as a medic with the Israel Defence Forces to tend to the wounded before he died.

"They were someone who wasn't politically engaged. They weren't a hateful person," Kalo said. "They really just wanted to celebrate life, and to dance."

Vivian Silver, a Winnipeg-born peace activist who moved to Israel in 1973, was also killed on the 7th.

Kalo said whenever she thinks about those deaths, and the hostages who are still waiting to be freed, she feels like the weight of the world is on top of her shoulders.

It's a weight that's getting harder to bear.

I don't think that we'll be able to go back to what we felt like before Oct. 7.- Emily Kalo

"Every single day has felt heavier," she said. "I don't think that we'll be able to go back to what we felt like before Oct. 7." 

Elsewhere in Winnipeg, young people with connections to Israel and Palestine told CBC News they're going through similar emotions, as the war reaches the half-year mark.

Izzy Silver can't help thinking of the young people killed on Oct. 7. 

"I realized my friends that I went to camp with over the summer, or my family that lives outside of Tel Aviv, they could be in danger right now," said the 17-year-old, who is not related to Vivian Silver.

"It could have been anyone my age. It could have been me."

'Have empathy'

Silver said he grew up surrounded by Jewish people, goes to Jewish school and all his friends and family have always been Jewish. But after Oct. 7, he said he came to the stark realization that he was actually quite alone.

"I'm less than one per cent of the population. As Jews, there's not a lot of us," he said. "Even though it might feel like when we're in our community we're in a safe place, outside, it's really not."

Officials across Canada have reported an alarming rise of hate crimes targeting members of the Jewish and Muslim communities since Oct. 7.

Silver said he wants people to understand he and other Jewish people are human "just like anyone else," and that they should take account of both sides and their history before rushing into any opinion on the conflict.

"You also need to find the humanity in yourself to have empathy for those involved, to not detach yourself from what is going on and imagine yourself in the shoes of the people who are being affected," he said.

More than 33,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its military offensive, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Close to 76,000 have been injured.

The ministry doesn't differentiate between civilians and combatants, but it says women and children make up two-thirds of the dead.

'History did not start on Oct. 7'

Twenty-six-year-old Adnan Al-Olabi said he felt a lot of impotence and sadness when the war began, but he wants others to understand those feelings don't stem from anything new.

"What happened on Oct. 7 was very hard … but history did not start on Oct. 7," said Al-Olabi, president of the Students for Justice in Palestine. 

"This whole thing has been going on for 75 years. People need to talk, people need to sit down, people need to understand each other. And I hope Manitobans can hear the Palestinian community out."

Mohammad Tobail, 22, was born in Jordan and grew up in Canada, but he said he's Palestinian "through and through." 

He said Israel's occupation of Palestinian lands has gone on for a lot longer than six months, and that it's affected his whole life.

"People here are taking sides and talking this and talking that," he said. "But at the end of the day, if you want to go get food, you can go buy food. And if you want to go get water, you can buy water. You're not worried about dying every day."

Tobail said his uncle is a surgeon in Jordan. A few days ago, he entered the Gaza Strip to help.

On April 1, Israeli troops left Al-Shifa hospital after a two-week operation which the country said was meant to target Hamas militants. The biggest hospital in Gaza — one of a few health-care facilities that were partially operational in the Strip — was left in ruins.

"We're being sent pictures obviously, and the things that we're seeing are unbelievable," Tobail said.

Elsewhere on the Strip, the situation is just as dire. The United Nations says a quarter of Gaza's 2.3-million population is starving.

I think that people who have been abstaining from voicing their opinions need to voice their opinions.- Mohammad Tobail

This week, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the reopening of a crossing at the northern end of Gaza, and the temporary use of a southern Israeli port to increase humanitarian aid supplies into the strip. The country had previously rejected calls for more entry points to open up.

The decision came after the U.S. demanded the country boost relief measures, in the wake of an airstrike that killed seven aid workers.

On Friday, the United Nations adopted a resolution that called for Israel to be held accountable for possible war crimes, and crimes against humanity. 

"I don't think [the war] changed me. I've just been … trying to reach people, to let them know what really is going on and that this needs to change," Tobail said.

"I think a huge change needs to happen soon. I think international intervention is entirely necessary. I think that people who have been abstaining from voicing their opinions need to voice their opinions, and I think that the Western media needs to change their stance."

Jacob Flickinger, a 33-year-old Canadian veteran, was among those killed in the airstrike on April 1.

During an event in Winnipeg Thursday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau demanded an immediate investigation into the incident, which Israel says was not intentional.

Twenty-year-old Sena Elbakri wants her government to do more.

The Palestinian-Canadian, who has family in Jerusalem and the West Bank, said she had a much more positive outlook on life before Oct. 7. But the way her own government and others like it have acted in the aftermath of the attack has made her much more pessimistic.

"Canada has been known to be like a human rights activist," she said. "The actions and the neglect that the government has done towards my people has been something that I'm … reflecting upon."

Elbakri said Canada has "not been able to speak out, protect or do something" for Gazans, "innocent people who are dying back home."

'We are the voice of change'

Last month, the House of Commons passed an NDP motion calling on the government to work with international partners "towards the establishment of the State of Palestine as part of a negotiated two-state solution."

CBC News has reported the original motion was severely softened. It originally called on the government to recognize Palestinian statehood.

Elbakri said since Oct. 7, young people like her have become much more willing to speak out, and they will keep pressuring people in positions of power to act.

"We are the voice of change, and because we have been awoken from whatever slumber we were in before … now that I see the hypocrisy in our governments and some of the higher-ups, we will cause a change — hopefully soon."

Atallah Nakhleh, a 19-year-old University of Manitoba student from the West Bank, said he grew up hearing stories about tragedies. At points, he said, he becomes numb to all that death.

"One life is too many, and then you see 35,000 people dying and it kind of doesn't move you as much after six months," he said.

"But you can also feel ashamed because we could be doing more.… I'm here studying. I get to go home to a fresh meal while Palestinian children are dying every day."

Hamas said it would send a delegation to Cairo on Sunday for a new round of mediated talks. Israel was undecided on whether to attend, according to officials.

In the same phone call where he demanded Netanyahu to do more to protect civilians,  U.S. President Joe Biden also urged for an "immediate ceasefire."

Al-Olabi said all he wants is peace. He said that while it may be hard to keep talking about it every day, young people should never forget about Palestine — and never be afraid to speak up.

Kalo said she also wants peace, but that she's scared about the future.

"It really feels like a collective loss of empathy has happened, where we're not willing to recognize each other's humanity or even recognize each other's pain," she said.

"We're not having constructive dialogue.… Not just our community, but everyone as a whole, we're losing that humanity."