CBNNews.com - JERUSALEM, Israel - Parents of Gilad Shalit, the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) corporal who remains in Gaza in the hands of his terrorist captors, face a third Rosh Hashanah (Feast of Trumpets) holiday without their son.

"It's not easy knowing that while all the people of Israel -- almost -- are celebrating Rosh Hashanah, Gilad is still rotting captivity," his father, Noam, said. "For us, this is not a holiday. There is no happiness," he said.

Gilad's parents will sit at a table in front of outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's Jerusalem residence with a group calling itself the "Friends of Gilad Shalit."

Together, they will share the kind of food Corporal Shalit is probably given in prison.

"The meal will try to simulate the "holiday" meal Gilad is eating in captivity on his third holiday there and will only include dry and basic food, not a proper holiday feast," one friend said.

Earlier in the day on Army Radio, Gilad's mother, Aviva, told her son, "Be strong and do not break. We're working ceaselessly to secure your release."

Miki Goldwasser, the mother of slain IDF reservist Ehud Goldwasser, said the government is impotent.

"Do you really think the funds Israel is transporting to the Hamas regime in Gaza are allocated to the civilians there?" she asked. "The money is used to purchase more and more weapons that are aimed at us. Our government is impotent," Goldwasser said.

"We only have one hope and one wish for the New Year -- to be able to celebrate the next Rosh Hashanah in our home, with Gilad, with all the people of Israel and not outside the home of any prime minister," she said.

"Although as far as we are concerned, every passing day is another day in captivity; the fact that he and we cannot celebrate with the rest of the country is particularly painful and difficult," Goldwasser said.

Sources: YNet news, The Jerusalem Post