Israel Celebrates Its First Rosh Hashanah Since October 7 without Hostages in Gaza as Leaders Call for Unity

Israeli Jews marked Rosh Hashanah from sunset on Friday, September 11, the first Jewish New Year since the Hamas assault of October 7, 2023, without any hostages in Gaza and without major fighting in the Strip or elsewhere. It was shortly after the Jewish New Year in 2025 that the US-brokered ceasefire deal secured the return home of the last 20 living hostages whom Hamas abducted in its October 7 invasion and held captive in the Strip.

“Last Rosh Hashanah eve, we asked for a better year to come. But before any other requests, there was one simple, clear request above all: that all of our hostages would come home,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video published to his personal X account. Surveying Israel’s military accomplishments over the past year, he declared: “Do you know another nation that fights on seven fronts and wins on all of them?” He pressed the message of national unity, calling the holiday “a time to be reminded of what connects us.” President Isaac Herzog wished Jews around the world a happy new year and paid tribute to those lost this year, including soldiers, terror victims within Israel and victims of antisemitism abroad.

Released hostages shared photos of holiday preparations with their families. Matan Angrest, freed in 2025, returned to Israel from traveling in South America to celebrate with his parents. “Thank God, I’m here a year later, celebrating Rosh Hashanah with all my loved ones, for the first time. Free, happy. Really, it’s our victory – and my personal one,” he said. IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, in a video message from the northern border, saluted “the soldiers who are right now in Gaza, in Lebanon, in Syria, and in Judea and Samaria,” who were celebrating the holiday “by fulfilling the great mitzvah of protecting the security of the nation of Israel and its land.”

(TOI/VFI News)

Give thanks that Israel has entered 5787 with every living hostage home. Pray for the families who lost their loved ones, of the fallen soldiers and for those still healing from being hostages, that this new year would bring them comfort and restoration. Ask the Lord to unite the nation across its divisions and to guard its soldiers standing watch on every front through the holidays.