SARASOTA, Fla. ( WWSB ) - The local Jewish community is expressing mixed emotions a day after families were reunited under a Gaza ceasefire deal that saw the release of 20 Israeli hostages and nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.

“They don’t come back the exact person they left,” said Shepard Englander, CEO of the Jewish Federation in Sarasota-Manatee Counties, said Tuesday.

Englander spoke of the psychological toll of captivity as he recalled the moment he learned about the hostage release. “You can’t imagine having your child or your spouse taken from you, starved, kept in the dark, tortured for a year without knowing if they’ll ever survive.”

For Keren Shani-Lifrak, the news of the hostages’ freedom brought both joy and profound sadness. Her brother, Adi, left the U.S. to defend I

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