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The 3rd Gaza Ceasefire, Noah's Ark & Hoshana Rabbah

October 18, 2025

On September 29, 2025, at Benjamin Netanyahu's fourth visit to the White House since President Trump retook office, a Gaza ceasefire plan to end the war was revealed, which Israel accepted. It had the backing of many Muslim and Arab countries in the region and beyond. It was revealed on the 7th day of the 7th month of Tishrei in the Hebrew calendar.

Four days later on October 3, Hamas submitted its response to President Trump's peace plan, indicating they were ready to release all hostages and end the war, in accordance with parts of the plan.

On October 8 (October 9, Israeli time), President Trump announced that a deal had been reached between Israel and Hamas for the first phase of his Gaza ceasefire plan. This would see all remaining 48 hostages released (both living and dead), and see Israel withdraw to an agreed upon line. It was envisaged that the deal would ultimately lead to the end of the war.

The deal was announced seven months and seven days since the first phase of the second Gaza ceasefire expired and began to collapse on March 2, 2025, Israeli time.

October 9 happened to be the 17th of Tishrei in the Hebrew calendar, or the 17th day of the 7th month - a significant day in biblical history for those who interpret Noah's Flood beginning on the 17th day of the 2nd month in the religious (not civil) calendar. It was on this day, according to some, that Noah's ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat, and the waters began to recede. The waters had prevailed for five months, or 150 days. This is particularly significant given that Hamas had labelled their terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, as "Operation Al-Aqsa Flood".

The new deal was signed in Egypt on October 9, and came into effect on October 10, after being ratified by the Israeli government.

Three days later on October 13, the first seven living hostages were released, followed by the remaining 13 a few hours later. Only four of the 28 deceased hostages' bodies were returned later that evening (five more bodies were returned over the next two days). October 13 was the seventh and final day of the Feast of Tabernacles, one day before the two-year Hebrew calendar anniversary of the October 7, 2023 terrorist attacks that fell on the 22nd of Tishrei, or the Eighth Day of Assembly.

President Trump arrived in Israel that morning for a whistle-stop visit, meeting with ex-hostages and their families, before delivering a speech at the Israeli parliament - only the fourth U.S. president to do so. He departed for Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt later that afternoon, where he co-chaired an international peace summit to end the war in Gaza.

As it happened, on that very day, I had spent exactly 377 days sleeping in my tent since running out of money on July 12, 2023. I had left my last place of residence on October 7, 2022 - exactly one year to the day prior to the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel. What is interesting about that - continuing on with the Noah's Flood theme, is that this is the exact length of time that some people believe Noah spent on the ark, from the time that God told Noah to enter into it (Genesis 7:1; 7:7), until the time He told him to exit it, just over a year later (Genesis 8:14-16).

The waters of Hamas's terrorist attack on Israel prevailed on the last remaining living hostages for nearly two Hebrew years before they were released, and that very day also marked a symbolic end to Noah's Flood in the length of time that I had spent living in my tent since becoming homeless!

There are of course many different interpretations of the length of Noah's Flood, whether one uses a lunar month or a 30-day calendar month as recorded in the Bible, but most interpretations are either a 365-day flood, or a 371-day one (counting inclusively), with an extra seven days added to it from when God told Noah to enter into the Ark. This accounts for the 377 days (378 inclusive) when using a 30-day calendar month as recorded in the Bible.

The fact that the hostages release was secured on the 17th day of the 7th month - a day when the flood waters began to recede - is emblematic of the hostages' own experience of the al-Aqsa Flood that began to recede around them. Not all were so lucky to survive the experience. God was the Ark that carried them through to the end.

It is also significant that the hostages were released on the 7th day of the Feast of Tabernacles, also known as "Hoshana Rabbah", meaning "Great Salvation". The Feast of Tabernacles, or "Feast of Ingathering", marks both the autumn harvest of the land, and commemorates the Israelites time living in tents or booths (tabernacles), during their 40-year exodus from Egypt. It is interesting then that their final deliverance was negotiated out of Egypt! The Feast of Booths is to remind the Jewish people of God's protection, provision and deliverance from Egypt during their 40 years of wandering in the desert.

For the remaining living hostages, God was both their Ark and their Tabernacle during their time in captivity. He carried them through until the end.

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