On the first day of Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles) 5784 (October 2024), exactly one year ago, Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar met his end during an IDF operation in Rafah, Gaza. The poetic justice was unmistakable. A young soldier, barely nine months into his service, eliminated the mastermind behind one of the most horrific attacks in Israel’s history. One year earlier, on October 7, 2023—the final day of Sukkot known as Simchat Torah—Sinwar orchestrated a massacre that claimed 1,200 innocent Israeli lives.
What is the significance of Sinwar being killed specifically during Sukkot? Was this merely coincidence, or does it reveal something deeper about God’s justice and the spiritual battle being waged?
The prophet Zechariah provides a striking insight into why Sukkot holds unique importance in this cosmic struggle. He writes:
This verse isn’t merely describing a punishment; it’s revealing God’s expectation that all nations will eventually recognize His authority and join in worship alongside Israel.
Notably, of all the biblical festivals, only Sukkot is explicitly mentioned as one that the nations must observe. This raises a second question: Why Sukkot specifically? Why not Passover or Shavuot (Feast of Weeks)?
Unlike other Jewish festivals, Sukkot possesses a distinctly universal character. While Pesach (Passover) commemorates Israel’s exodus from Egypt and Shavuot celebrates the giving of Torah at Sinai—both events specific to Jewish identity—Sukkot extends outward to embrace all humanity. This is powerfully symbolized in the Temple service, where seventy bulls were sacrificed over the holiday’s seven days, corresponding to the traditional seventy nations of the world.
The Talmud in Sukkah 55b elaborates on this practice: “These seventy bulls that are sacrificed as additional offerings over the course of the seven days of Sukkot, to what do they correspond? They correspond to the seventy nations of the world.”
The number of bulls sacrificed each day decreased, from thirteen on the first day to seven on the seventh. Rabbi Eliezer Melamed explains this sacrificial pattern: each day’s decreasing number of bulls symbolized the purification of the nations, burning away their evil while preserving what is good. The number seven represents completion and sanctity (as in the seven days of creation), revealing that beneath their frequent hostility toward Israel, the nations have a potential for righteousness that will ultimately be realized. Sukkot makes visible what remains hidden during the rest of the year: the ultimate destiny of all nations to acknowledge the God of Israel.
This explains why Hamas chose Sukkot for their attack. By naming their assault the “Al Aqsa War”—referring to the Temple Mount which it seeks to control to prevent Jews from ever rebuilding their Temple—and launching it during the festival that prophesies universal worship at the Temple, they explicitly rejected Sukkot‘s message of harmony between Israel and the nations. They didn’t want to worship alongside Israel; they wanted to destroy Israel and claim the Temple Mount for themselves alone.
But Zechariah’s prophecy contains both promise and warning. The nations that refuse to come to Jerusalem for Sukkot will receive no rain—a metaphor for divine blessing withdrawn. Those who oppose God’s purposes for Israel place themselves under judgment.
During Temple times, these sacrifices provided atonement not only for Israel but for all nations. The Zohar teaches that Israel offered these seventy bulls “out of love, in order to increase abundance and blessing for them.” Yet those who respond to love with hatred ultimately bring judgment upon themselves, as Scripture teaches:
Sinwar’s death on the first day of Sukkot demonstrates this principle in action. The very festival he attacked became the occasion of his downfall. As Rabbi Dov Kook of Tiberias observed, “On Sukkot, we read the verse in the Haftarah (reading from the Prophets): ‘the Lord will plague the nations who do not go up to celebrate the festival of Tabernacles,’ and we see that the Almighty came into account with him precisely at the beginning of the holiday which he wanted to destroy and disable the joy of the holiday.”
Zechariah’s prophecy makes clear that Sukkot serves as a litmus test for the nations. Those who align themselves with God’s purposes for Israel will receive blessing; those who oppose will face judgment. Hamas, in launching their war against Israel on this holiday, signed their own death warrant.
The timing of Sinwar’s death delivers an unmistakable message to all who would stand against Israel: God remains sovereign over history. What appears as military strategy or random timing reveals itself as divine justice when viewed through the lens of biblical prophecy. The same festival that Hamas sought to transform into a day of mourning became instead the occasion of their leader’s downfall.
Sinwar’s death on Sukkot—the very festival he desecrated with bloodshed—is a stark warning to all who plot Israel’s destruction. God’s timing was not coincidental but declarative: those who wage war against His purposes will be crushed by the very divine justice they mock. As Hamas called their attack the “Al Aqsa War,” rejecting Sukkot‘s vision of universal worship, they unwittingly placed themselves under Zechariah’s prophetic curse. The nations must choose: come to Jerusalem in blessing or face divine judgment. There is no middle ground. As King David wrote:
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