Israel observes October 7 anniversary amid Gaza peace talks

Israel is observing the second anniversary of the October 7 attack on Gaza, as Israeli and Hamas hold indirect conversations on negotiating for an end to the war in Gaza under a US-proposed peace plan.

Two years ago today, towards the end of the Jewish festival of Sukkot, Hamas-led militants launched the deadliest attack on Israel in the country's history, triggering large-scale retaliation in Gaza.

The attack stunned the world as Palestinian fighters cross the Gaza-Israel border, launching rockets, gunfire, and grenades into the the desert music festival and other southern Israeli communities.

According to an AFP news agency tally based on official Israeli figures, the attack resulted in the deaths of 219 people, most of them civilians.

The militants also took 251 people hostage into Gaza, of whom 47 remain captive, including 25 the Israeli military says are dead.

Senior Hamas official Fawzi Barhoum on Tuesday called the October 7 attack a "historic response" to Israel's bid to "eradicate the Palestinian cause."

He also mentioned that Hamas was working to "surmount all obstacles" in sealing a deal in Egypt.

Global pressure

Global pressure to end the war has intensified, with most of Gaza flattened, a famine declared by the United Nations unfolding, and families of Israeli hostages still longing for their loved ones' return.

An investigation conducted by the UN last month accused Israel of genocide in Gaza while rights groups have accused Hamas of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity related to the October 7 attack. Both sides reject these allegations.

Last week, United States President Donald Trump revealed a 20-point peace plan calling for a ceasefire, the release of all the hostages, Hamas' disarmament, and a gradual Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

The plan received positive responses from both sides, leading to talks in Egypt where negotiators began indirect conversations on Monday.

Two Palestinian sources close with the Hamas negotiating team said the talks will continue on Tuesday in the Red Sea town of Sharm El-Sheikh.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty stated that Trump's special Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff will join the talks on Wednesday.

"The primary guarantee of success at this stage is US President Trump himself... even if it comes to a point to require him imposing a vision," he said.

In Israel, dozens of family members and friends of those killed at the Nova music festival lit candles and held a minute of silence at the site of the attack, where militants killed more than 370 people and captured dozens of hostages.

Orit Baron, whose daughter Yuval was killed at the festival with her fiance Moshe Shuva, told AFP that October 7 was a "black" day for her family.

"Now it's two years. And I'm here to be with her, because this is the last time that she was alive," the 57-year-old mother said at the site of the attack, adding she felt "that right now she's with me here".

Another ceremony was scheduled in Tel Aviv's Hostages Square, where weekly rallies continue weekly for the captives' release.

"Release the hostages, unconditionally and immediately," UN Secretary-General António Guterres said.

"Put an end to the hostilities in Gaza, Israel and the region now. Stop making civilians pay with their lives and their futures."

'Now, not tomorrow'

According to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, a source the United Nations considers credible, Israel's military campaign in Gaza has killed at least 67,160 people.

Their data does not differentiate between combatants and civilians but shows that over half of the dead are women and children.

"I don't know when this war will end. My dream is for the war to end now, not tomorrow," said Abeer Abu Said, a 21-year-old in Gaza who lost seven family members in the war.

"I don't trust anyone – from the Israeli negotiators or even Hamas – they all lie to us. Negotiations for the sake of negotiations, while we die every minute."

In the resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt, mediators were traveling back and forth between Hamas and Israeli delegations under tight security.

Egypt's Abdelatty said that negotiations were aimed to implement a "first phase" of the agreement, "to create conditions for the release of the hostages, the access for aid, and the release of Palestinian prisoners."

This, therefore, requires the redeployment of Israeli forces so that we can work to implement this phase," he added.

Trump urged negotiators to "move fast" to end the war, but Israeli strikes continued on Tuesday, killing four people according to Gaza's civil defence agency, a rescue force operating under Hamas's authority, and a local hospital.

Qatar, a key mediator in the conflict, stated that Israel should already have ceased fire under Trump's plan.

"It was supposed to actually cease fire if the statements made by the prime minister there regarding adherence to the Trump plan were true," Qatari foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari told reporters in Doha.

"I think we're very, very close to having a deal... I think there's a lot of goodwill being shown now. It's pretty amazing actually". Said Trump to Newsmax TV.

Israeli military chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir has warned that if the negotiations fail, the military will "return to fighting" in Gaza.