More than 5,000 children from Jewish communities in the Binyamin region of Samaria gathered in their local synagogues on Thursday afternoon for a mass prayer rally amid the war against Hamas.

The children prayed for the Israel Defense Forces’ victory in the Gaza Strip, soldiers wounded during the military campaign, and for the return of the hostages held by Hamas, the Binyamin Regional Council said.

“Our hearts are with the soldiers and their families,” council head Israel Ganz stated.

Binyamin is the most populous regional council of Judea and Samaria, with almost 100,000 residents living in 47 communities in the hills north of Jerusalem.

Israel is working to destroy Hamas in Gaza after the terrorist group’s bloody rampage across the northwestern Negev on Oct. 7, in which 1,200 people were murdered, thousands more wounded and over 250 taken captive.

On Oct. 7, Hamas terrorists murdered 11 residents of the Binyamin region, the majority IDF soldiers. Another 15 Binyamin residents fell during the ensuing military operation.

Two former residents of the region were taken hostage by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7: Rom Breslavsky, 19, grew up in Anatot, and Avinatan Or, 30, was raised in Shiloh. Both were kidnapped from the Supernova music festival near Kibbutz Re’im and remain in Gaza.

With reporting by JNS.