Evangelical pastors and leaders celebrated Monday morning when 20 Israeli hostages were reunited with their families, while Israel publicado nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees in exchange.
“Today, we celebrate as darkness has been defeated and divine justice reigns,” said the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference. “After 738 long and painful days, the final hostages are released from Gaza.”
Similarly, Troy Miller, president of National Religious Broadcasters, expressed hope the deal will “open the door to enduring peace, justice, and security for both Israel and her neighbors.”
Su declaración added: “We call upon the entire Church—across the United States and around the world—to stand in steadfast prayer: that this ceasefire holds, that all hostages are safely returned, (and) that further phases of the agreement are honored.”
On Monday morning, President Donald Trump — who was credited with having brought the ceasefire about through using his Middle East contacts to pressure Hamas and a 20-point peace plan — addressed the Israeli Knesset in a speech.
Your tax-deductible gift supports our mission of reporting the truth and restoring the church. Donate $50 or more to The Roys Report this month, and you can elect to receive “Primal Fire: Reigniting the Church with the Five Gifts of Jesus” by Neil Cole, haga clic aquí.
“After two harrowing years in darkness and captivity, 20 courageous hostages are returning to the glorious embrace of their families,” he said. “. . . After so many years of unceasing war and endless danger, today, the skies are calm, the guns are silent, the sirens are still, and the sun rises on a holy land that is finally at peace.”
Ron Cantor, an itinerant Christian minister and president of Israel-based teaching network Shelanu TV, noted the news comes on the day of “Simchat Torah—the most joyous holiday on the Hebrew calendar.” (The holiday, which includes processions and joyful dancing with Torah scrolls, celebrates the centrality of the first five books of the Bible in Jewish life.)
His lengthy correo recounted the terror of two years ago, when “250 (Israelis) were kidnapped and dragged into Gaza.”
On October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists massacred more than 1,200 people in the southern Negev region of Israel, many of them gathered for a music festival. Most of the 251 people taken captive were Israeli.
On Monday, at the festival site in Re’im, Negev, hundreds of Israelis gathered with palm branches and lemon-like etrogs (a fruit), which are symbols of the holiday, to celebrate the return of the remaining living hostages.
“Today, seven million Israelis rejoiced—not over death, but over life,” wrote Cantor. “They rejoiced over freedom. The entire nation vibrated with a joy rarely felt in our war-torn region. Words fail to capture the emotion of this day.”
Jews gather at the Nova Festival Site at sunrise with a lulav and etrog – items used in the indigenous harvest festival known as Sukkot – to celebrate the return of the hostages.
At a site of death, we celebrate life.
— The Persian Jewess (@persianjewess) October 13, 2025
Prayers for ‘enduring and lasting peace’ after ceasefire
The Rev. Jentezen Franklin, who leads multi-site megachurch Capilla Gratis with its main campus in Gainesville, Georgia, celebrated “the reunions taking place in the Holy Land today” in a correo.
“The sun shines on the hills of Galilea and in the beautiful city of Jerusalem today as two years of hoping and praying have witnessed a miracle,” he wrote.
In January, Franklin invited two former hostages, Aviva Siegel and Yarden Gonen, to share their stories during Sunday worship services, which included prayer for the remaining hostages.
Franklin, known for his involvement with the White House Faith Office, added, “What everyone said could not be done has been done. Thank you, President Donald J Trump, for your steadfast efforts to end wars all over the globe. Blessed are the peace makers.”
Similarly, the Rev. Patrick Mahoney, a religious freedom and Christian pro-life activist based in Washington, D.C., expressed his enthusiasm.
“Thankful and joyful this morning as I’m waking up to the news that all 20 surviving Israeli hostages are back home! Let us continue to pray for an enduring and lasting peace between Israel and Palestinians,” he al corriente En facebook.
And the Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, a faith-based activist who has recently protested the Trump-backed budget bill, also al corriente in praise of the deal.
“I’m cautiously thankful for today’s ceasefire, but we can’t forget to mourn with families who are mourning their dead. Dead Israeli hostages,” wrote Barber. “And thousands of dead Palestinian women and children with entire communities destroyed.”
Notably, some evangelical voices cast the ceasefire and prisoner exchange in prophetic terms, including author Joel Richardson, who travels frequently in the Mideast region.
“The sight of the hostages coming home is more than a moment of relief,” he posted on X. “It is a prophetic glimpse, a glorious snapshot of that coming day when Israel will finally dwell in everlasting peace under her true King and Messiah.”
Regional peace will not come ‘easily’
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, a former evangelical pastor, played a significant role in Monday’s events.
He currently resides in Jerusalem after his appointment by Trump in February. In a entrevista reciente with KATV in Little Rock, Huckabee called the ongoing Mideast conflict “a long-term issue that’s not going to be resolved easily.”
He added: “But the President has positioned things to be historic. There’s a real possibility that in the next few months, we’re going to see normalization with countries like Syria and Lebanon — something no one thought possible. This could bring real peace to the Middle East and a complete realignment that will impact the world.”
Other observers are skeptical.
Dan Burmawi, a former Muslim who converted to Christianity in recent years, posted on X: “Trump is a good salesman, that’s it. There is no peace; this is a ceasefire. If it weren’t for the hostages returning home, this whole show would mean absolutely nothing.”
In exchange for the 20 Israeli hostages, the nearly 2,000 Palestinians who were freed included 250 security prisoners. According to the Times of Israel, “Most of them (were) serving one or more life terms for deadly attacks on Israelis,” including several involved in major bombings.
Burmawi, the author of Islam, Israel and the West, referred to this deal and to Yahya Sinwar—the Hamas mastermind behind the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks—in his post.
“It’s a terrible deal, 250 terrorists will be released. That’s 250 new Yahya Sinwars,” he wrote. Sinwar spent 22 years in Israeli prisons, but fue lanzado in a 2011 prisoner exchange.
In his remarks, President Trump referred to “28 more precious loved ones (who) are coming home at last to rest in this sacred soil for all of time.”
As of publication time, only the remains of four murdered former hostages held in Gaza Ha estado returned, while 24 other families still await the coffins of their loved ones.
It’s a sticking point for the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, an advocacy group which has noted the high value that Jewish religious practice places on respect for the deceased.
“An agreement must be respected by both sides,” the group told the Times of Israel. “If Hamas does not fulfill its part, Israel should not fulfill its part either.”
There is growing concern that Hamas will not honor the next steps in the cease-fire deal, which include disarmament of the terrorist group. Social media posts by Hamas-associated accounts espectáculo brutal public torture and executions of Palestinian civilians whom the militants claim are Israeli sympathizers.
En su declaración, Rodriguez, who is also pastor of New Season Church in Sacramento, urged believers to pray for the former hostages.
“I pray that the reunions being experienced right now are powerful, as tears of sorrow turn into tears of joy,” said Rodriguez. “May the healing hand of God touch them deeply and may their restoration become a living testimony of His grace.”
jose pastor is production editor at The Roys Report and a journalist who escribe sobre fe, cultura y políticas públicas para varios medios outlets. He and his family live in central Florida.
Spanish 
English
3 Responses
Dan Burmawi is right. This is no peace: it’s a temporary “truce” or *hudna* that Hamas will violate at the first opportunity.
The lessons of October 7:
Mass murder pays off. Most humans are on Hamas’ side, because most people have the instinct of hybristophilia–a sense of awe and wonder at brutal, savage force from the days that our “lizard brain” told us to fear the scariest and most powerful warlord around. “If you stand for nothing, you’ll fall for anything.”
Leftism directly leads to severe tragedy. Seven months of “mostly peaceful protesting” in Israel (Feb-Sept 2023) led directly to 10/7 as Hamas perceived that Israel was too decadent, too rotted out to care to fight for its own survival. Hundreds of thousands of Israelis were willing to riot for LGBTQ, abortion, Arab worker rights, socialized this, that, and the other thing–zero were willing to riot for their lives and those of their children.
Qatar has everyone very handsomely on the take, including the highest levels of our government in both parties and most of their cheerleading influencers on social media.
Israel has no real friends anywhere but God alone, and the terrorist genocide they have endured for 100 years will only end when they wake up and see that.
I am relieved to see some possible movement on this difficult issue. I am puzzled, however…
Evangelicals are out in full force to celebrate this possible peace deal. That’s good. But where is the Evangelical outcry over Trump’s cruel, anti-human immigration policy? Where is the prophetic voice warning about Trump’s vilification of his political enemies? Where is the rebuke over Trump’s attempts to silence his critics in the media?
As an Evangelical, I know we used to be known for respecting Biblical authority. We can’t pick and choose which parts of the Bible we like. So, fellow Evangelicals, remember: the Bible also teaches about caring for the vulnerable. It also talks about truth, justice and fairness.
Again, I am puzzled by Evangelical silence on these issues in the US.
Hear you. Quite surprising that people who claim to be Christians – Disciples of Christ alone – who can be so naive when it comes to geopolitics and the fact that governments & groups of all shapes and sizes, colour of flags they fly & plus religion they mainly profess, ALL get up to no good, while at the same time pretend to be good. Not hard to see if one looks out the window and engages in a little objective critical thinking 🤔
And perhaps added to celebrating, Christians can endeavour to grieve a little with & for the Israeli mothers, Palestinian mothers, Ukrainian mothers, and Russian mothers who have lost their sons, daughters and babies. 😔