Israel celebrates first Rosh Hashanah since Oct. 7 Hamas massacre without hostages in Gaza

Leaders push messages of unity on Jewish New Year, ahead of tense election and amid simmering conflicts on multiple fronts

Israeli Jews marked Rosh Hashanah from sunset on Friday, in the first Jewish New Year since the Hamas assault on October 7, 2023, without any hostages in Gaza or major fighting in the Strip or elsewhere. Still, conflicts on several fronts remain on a low boil, and the military was on alert in case of escalation in the war with Iran.

“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,” said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a video published to his personal X account.

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 the Hamas terror group abducted in its October 7, 2023, invasion of Israel, and held captive in the Strip.

Netanyahu, with uplifting music in the background, surveyed Israel’s military accomplishments over the last year, declaring: “Do you know another nation that fights on seven fronts and wins on all of them?” – though the claim was sure to come under scrutiny, as Israel has not secured the promised “total victory” on its major fronts in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran.

Netanyahu’s boast also came as Israel heads into an election next month, with the prime minister’s role in the failures of October 7 a key issue.

On Thursday, it was reported that Israel was preparing to counter the possibility of Iranian ballistic missile fire, as the Islamic Republic’s persistent attacks against Jordan and the success of the US economic blockade against Iran were both seen to point toward a potential escalation.

However, no concrete warning or specific plot was uncovered ahead of the holiday.

In his video, Netanyahu pushed the message of national unity and said the holiday was “a time to be reminded of what connects us,” amid the ongoing divisive election season.

Jews praying for forgiveness (Selichot), at the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem, on September 11, 2026, on the eve of the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

He noted that in the run-up to next month’s vote, “there will be many arguments, there will be disagreements, but at least around the table we would do well to remember one simple thing that I told our enemies at the start of the war — don’t underestimate us. Because at the moment of truth, this nation knows how to unite.”

President Isaac Herzog posted a Rosh Hashanah message in English on social media, wishing Jews around the world a happy Jewish year. Herzog also paid tribute to those who were lost this year, including soldiers, terror victims within Israel and victims of antisemitism.

Referring to the shofar as a symbol of reflection, Herzog said, “Most poignantly, the piercing cry of the shofar carries the pain, the pain of those we have lost. Those who defended our only Jewish state, those who are victims of terror within our borders, or those victims because of the tide of antisemitism around the world. ”

Released hostages shared photos of holiday preparations with their families.

Matan Angrest, who was freed last year, returned to Israel from traveling in South America to celebrate the new year, and posed for photos for the Ynet news site at the dinner table with his parents ahead of the holiday.

“Last year, I tried to hold onto hope that one day I would get out and be with my family for the holiday,” he said.

“Only now is it sinking in, as I hear the preparations for the holiday, around my family, telling our jokes, that this evening it’s really happening. 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.”

‘Free and happy. That is our victory’: ex-hostage Matan Angrest's first Rosh Hashanah back home

A year after his family marked the Jewish New Year without him as he remained a Hamas hostage in Gaza, Angrest returns to the holiday …https://t.co/AS5rOfwbJO pic.twitter.com/6LE6xfiI8R

— Ynet Global (@ynetnews) September 11, 2026

Though major combat ended with the return of the hostages and a ceasefire, fighting has continued on a low boil in Gaza, as well as in Lebanon, where major combat resumed on March 2 when the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group fired rockets at Israel in support of the Islamic Republic.

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir in a video message from Israel’s northern border on September 11, 2026. (Screenshot/IDF)

In a video posted to social media, IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir wished a happy new year to soldiers and civilians, emphasizing that “each force builds the other.”

“I salute the soldiers who are right now in Gaza, in Lebanon, in Syria, and in Judea and Samaria,” he said, using Biblical names of the West Bank. “Those who are celebrating the holiday by fulfilling the great mitzvah of protecting the security of the nation of Israel and its land.”

“Alongside the joy, we remember those who fell and did not return,” he added.

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men shop for shofars at a store in the Mea Shearim neighborhood of Jerusalem, ahead of the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah, September 10, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Israel also closed the Kerem Shalom Crossing with the Gaza Strip for the holiday. The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories said that despite the closure, aid would still be collected from the Gazan side of the crossing on the Jewish New Year.

After the holiday, the crossing will “continue to operate at a stable volume to meet the needs identified by the international community, with hundreds of aid trucks entering Gaza daily,” COGAT said.