Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Monday expressed hope that hostages held by Hamas will return to holiday tables next year for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.

Forty-eight hostages are still being held captive by Hamas and other militant groups in Gaza. About 20 are believed to be alive, though Israeli officials have expressed "grave concerns" about the well-being of some.

"There are families anxiously awaiting their loved ones held captive, there are those wounded in body and soul who struggle daily alongside their families to return to life, there are bereaved families whose hearts will forever bear an emptiness, and there are communities and families from the south to the north uprooted from their homes and yet to return to their homeland's landscape," Herzog said in a post on X.

"We all worry, we all — as a nation — feel incomplete and in pain, our hearts have broken so many times this year. … I pray that next Rosh Hashanah we will sit around the holiday table with all our captive brothers returned to their homeland's landscape, praying for the healing of those wounded in body and soul, and embracing the bereaved families and the uprooted families and communities," he added.

Rosh Hashanah begins at sundown Monday and ends at nightfall Wednesday.