As Israel commemorated the second anniversary of the October 7 strike on Tuesday, US President Donald Trump expressed hope that there was a “real chance” to stop the war in Gaza.
Based on a 20-point plan that Trump put up last month, Israeli and Hamas officials are holding indirect talks in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh.
In the Oval Office, Trump told reporters, “There’s a real chance that we could do something.” He also mentioned that US negotiators were part of the discussions.
“I believe there’s a chance that the Middle East could be at peace. It goes far farther than the situation in Gaza. We want the hostages released right away.
If Israel and Hamas should reach a ceasefire agreement, Trump stated that the US would do “everything possible to make sure everyone adheres to the deal.”
Israel held the negotiations as it marked the second anniversary of the October 7 Hamas bombing that started the conflict.
A massive retaliatory offensive was begun in Gaza two years ago after Hamas-led militants carried out the bloodiest attack on Israel in its history at the end of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.
AFP reported 1,219 people killed, mostly civilians, based on official Israeli figures.
According to official Israeli numbers cited by AFP, 1,219 persons were killed, the majority of them civilians.
Israel’s attempt to “eradicate the Palestinian cause” prompted the October 7 attack, which senior Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum described on Tuesday as a “historic response.”
Additionally, he stated that Hamas was trying to “surmount all obstacles” in order to reach an agreement in Egypt.
Since a large portion of Gaza has been leveled, a UN-declared famine is developing, and Israeli hostage families are still waiting for their loved ones to return, international pressure to end the war has increased.
Rights organizations have charged Hamas with war crimes and crimes against humanity after the October 7 attack, while a United Nations investigation last month accused Israel of genocide in Gaza. The accusations are denied by both parties.
Trump’s strategy
Trump’s strategy calls for a ceasefire, the disarmament of Hamas, the release of all captives, and a phased Israeli departure from Gaza.
Since Monday, the initiative has sparked indirect negotiations in Egypt and been well greeted by Israel and Hamas.
Hamas discussed “the initial maps presented by the Israeli side regarding the withdrawal of troops as well as the mechanism and timetable for the hostage-prisoner exchange” during Tuesday’s meeting, according to a Palestinian source close to the Hamas negotiating team.
“Hamas is adamant that the dates of Israeli withdrawals and the release of captives be connected.”
According to Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, Trump’s special Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff will participate in the negotiations on Wednesday.
He stated that US President Trump himself is the main assurance of success at this time, even if it becomes necessary for him to impose a vision.
While Turkish state media stated that Ibrahim Kalin, the country’s intelligence chief, would lead a delegation to Egypt, Qatar announced that Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, its prime minister, would also participate in the negotiations.
Protest in the UK, candlelight in Israel
While militants killed over 370 people and took scores of hostages at the Nova music festival in Israel, friends and family of those killed lit candles and observed a minute of silence at the scene.
According to Orit Baron, whose daughter Yuval and her fiancé Moshe Shuva were killed there, October 7 was a “black” day for her family, she told AFP.
It’s been two years now. At the scene of the attack, the 57-year-old mother stated, “And I’m here to be with her, because this is the last time that she was alive,” adding that she felt “that right now she’s with me here.”
Calls for the release of the detainees have been sustained by weekly gatherings in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square, where another ceremony was scheduled.
In the meantime, despite British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s appeal to abstain from protests on the second anniversary of Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel, hundreds of students demonstrated in London and other UK cities on Tuesday.
At 2:00 pm (1300 GMT), students from a number of London institutions left their classrooms to march through the heart of the British city while chanting, “Free Palestine.”
Edinburgh, Glasgow, Sheffield, and Manchester were among the other UK cities that hosted rallies or events that included vigils.
According to the health ministry in the Hamas-controlled region, Israel’s military operation in Gaza has killed at least 67,160 people, according to numbers the UN finds reliable.
Their data shows that more than half of the fatalities are women and children, but it does not differentiate between militants and civilians.
According to Abeer Abu Said, a 21-year-old Gazan who lost seven family members in the conflict, “I want the war to end now, not tomorrow.”
“Everyone lies to us, including the Israeli negotiators and Hamas. I don’t trust anyone.” While we are dying every minute, these conversations are being held for their own sake.
Under strict security, mediators were moving between delegations from Israel and Hamas in Sharm El-Sheikh.
The goal of the talks, according to Egypt’s Abdelatty, is to implement the agreement’s “first phase” in order “to create conditions for the release of the hostages, the access for aid, and the release of Palestinian prisoners.”
“Therefore, in order to work to implement this phase, Israeli forces must be redeployed,” he continued.
Gaza’s civil defense organization, a rescue group under Hamas control, reported that Israeli attacks continued Tuesday, killing at least six Palestinians.
