Many Israelis don't celebrate the civil new year since for Jews the new year starts on the holiday of Rosh Hashana, but the IDF was sure to wish all its supporters, including those abroad, a special happy new year message in its own unique style.
The last year was a challenging one for the IDF, as it defended Israel's security on many fronts and conducted a third counter-terror operation against Hamas in Gaza under the framework of Operation Protective Edge.
That mission in Gaza was made all the harder due to Hamas's embedding its terrorist infrastructure in the civilian population. The IDF employed numerous means to decrease the civilian death count by as much as possible while defending Israeli civilians from ceaseless indiscriminate rocket fire and terror tunnels.
A detailed study after the operation found that despite international condemnation on Israel, a full 49% of the casualties in Gaza were terrorists, meaning the IDF achieved an impressive 1:1 civilian to combatant ratio almost unprecedented in urban warfare.
By contrast, a study in November revealed that in the US's drone strike campaign in the Middle East, an whopping 96.5% of the casualties were civilians.