Israeli troops light Hanukkah candles in occupied Syria, West Bank and Gaza

Israeli soldiers have been pictured lighting Hanukkah candles in occupied territories in Syria, the West Bank and Gaza, sparking criticism on social media. 

An image circulated of a Hanukkah menorah being lit in Syria’s Mount Hermon on Sunday. 

Israel, which has already occupied Syria’s Golan Heights in contravention of international law since 1967, expanded its territory in southern Syria following the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government. 

In December 2024, it seized all of a UN-patrolled buffer zone on Mount Hermon which had previously separated Israeli and Syrian forces in the Golan Heights.

Israeli troops were also pictured lighting Hanukkah candles inside Tulkarm refugee camp in the occupied West Bank. Some social media users linked it to plans by Israel to establish a "Greater Israel".

There were also pictures and footage of candles being lit in Gaza. One video showed soldiers lighting torches above the ruins of the Indonesian Hospital, in Beit Lahia, in northern Gaza. 

Another picture showed candles being lit by an Israeli battalion in Rafah in southern Gaza. 

Despite a ceasefire being agreed in early October, Israeli forces remain positioned along what it calls the "yellow line".

Israel still occupies about 53 percent of the Gaza Strip, including some of its most productive agricultural land.

🇮🇱🇸🇾 Israeli soldiers capture the moment they light the first Hannukah candles in Mount Hermon, Syria. pic.twitter.com/ni2t1q70nv

— DD Geopolitics (@DD_Geopolitics) December 14, 2025

In Syria, the lighting of candles appears to be the latest in a series of Israeli provocations. 

Last week, Amichai Chikli, Israel’s minister of diaspora and combating antisemitism, said that war with Syria "was inevitable". 

Speaking at an international conference in Doha a week ago, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa said Israel was "exporting crises" to other countries to divert attention from "horrifying massacres" it is committing in Gaza.

"Israel responded to Syria with extreme violence, launching more than 1,000 air strikes and carrying out 400 incursions into its territory," he said, referring to attacks since 8 December 2024. 

The lighting of the candles came on the same day that two gunmen went on a deadly rampage at a Hanukkah event in Sydney, killing that at least 15 people. 

Praise has poured in for a Syrian-Australian businessman who tackled the assailant on Bondi Beach. 

Ahmed al-Ahmed, a 43-year-old fruit shop owner from Idlib in northern Syria, was shot twice while confronting the attacker but managed to grab a shotgun off him and aimed it at the shooter as he retreated.