The Israeli government on Sunday is expected to approve an additional memorial day for the October 7, 2023, massacre.

The date for the second memorial day will be set to the 24th day of the Jewish month of Tishrei, two days after the Shemini Atzeret-Simchat Torah holiday on which the massacre occurred.

Shemini Atzeret-Simchat Torah is the holiday which concludes the week of Sukkot (the Feast of Tabernacles). During the holiday, traditional mourning practices are not kept, and mourning is forbidden. In Israel, the holiday name is shortened to "Simchat Torah"; thus the proposal to name the war which followed the massacre as the "Simchat Torah War," styled after the "Yom Kippur War," which broke out on Yom Kippur (October 6) of 1973.

The national day of mourning will be held this year on Tishrei 24, which this year falls on Sunday, October 27. As part of the government's decision, a national day of mourning will be declared beginning from the end of Shabbat (the Sabbath) on the evening of October 26, and until sundown the next day.

Since the massacre took place on the holiday, the natural date for the day of mourning would be the day after the holiday ends, on Tishrei 23. However, Tishrei 23 is celebrated in the Diaspora as Simchat Torah, since Diaspora Jewry marks two days at the beginning of Sukkot and separates Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah into two separate days. Thus, Tishrei 24 is the first day on which both Israeli and Diaspora Jewry are no longer celebrating the festival.

Under the law, the day will be marked as a national day of mourning for the war. As such, places of entertainment will be closed, and the flag will be lowered to half-mast.