Two years after Hamas's attack on southern Israel killed 1.200 people and marked the beginning of one of the most devastating wars of the 21st century, Gaza remains in ruins and Israel struggles to rebuild its internal cohesion. New negotiations under the auspices of Egypt, Qatar and the United States that began yesterday in Sharm el-Sheikh are attempting to end a war that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.
It was October 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists invaded Israel from the Gaza Strip and attacked participants in the “Supernova” music festival. The attack killed about 1.200 people, mostly civilians, while 251 were kidnapped and taken to Gaza. A day later, the Israeli counterattack began, with continuous bombing and a total blockade of the Gaza Strip, as well as clashes in the West Bank and on Israel’s border with Lebanon. Palestinian groups called their attack “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood” and Israel called its counterattack “Operation Iron Swords.”
In the two years of war, more than 66.000 Palestinians - including more than 18.000 children - have been killed in Gaza, according to a UNRWA fact sheet. The Gaza Health Ministry said on Saturday that the number had exceeded 67.000, with nearly 170.000 others injured. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) says it has facilitated the release of 148 hostages and 1.931 prisoners, as well as the return of remains, since October 2023. More than 190.000 buildings have been destroyed, leaving behind a devastated city devoid of basic infrastructure.
In September, an independent UN investigation concluded for the first time that Israel had committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, a finding the Israeli government has rejected.
In a message marking the two-year anniversary of its invasion of Israel, Hamas called the October 7 massacre a “glorious day of passage.” The video, created largely from AI footage, celebrates the attacks and calls the terrorists who looted Israeli kibbutzim “heroes,” describing them as “defending their religion and homeland.” It also names the leaders of the terrorists killed by Israel in the last two years of the war, and uses AI to recreate footage of Yahya Sinwar’s death in Gaza.
Meanwhile, Jewish communities around the world commemorated the second anniversary of the October 7 massacre ahead of the date, which fell on the holiday of Sukkot. Events were held in several cities around the world.
First round of Hamas-mediators talks concluded in a positive atmosphere
Two years later, Hamas and Israel will sit at the negotiating table to agree on Donald Trump's peace plan and end the conflict between them.
The first round of talks on Gaza between Hamas and mediators concluded in Egypt "amid a positive atmosphere," according to Egyptian state media reports early Tuesday.
Al-Qahera News, which is linked to state intelligence services, reports that talks will continue on Tuesday, also between Hamas and mediators in the city of Sharm el-Sheikh, where an Israeli delegation arrived on Monday.
A report broadcast by Qatar's Al Jazeera similarly describes the meeting as positive.
Israel and Hamas are expected to begin indirect talks on the details of US President Donald Trump's proposal for a hostage-detainee exchange and long-term ceasefire.
An Arab diplomat told the Times of Israel on Monday that it would take several days, possibly longer, before a deal was reached. US envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner are in Egypt and will only personally participate in the negotiations when they are ready to be finalized, he explained.
The first day of talks was aimed at allowing the sides to present their positions and for the mediators to identify what the remaining gaps are and how to close them, the diplomat says.
According to AFP sources familiar with the talks, the Israeli and Hamas delegations are expected to participate in indirect negotiations in the same building, but in separate rooms, with mediators conveying messages from one side to the other.
And this before a month had passed since the attempted assassination of Hamas negotiators by an unprecedented Israeli airstrike in the capital of Qatar.
The leader of the Palestinian Islamist movement group that went to Egypt is Khalil al-Haya, who survived that attack — in which, however, his son was killed.
Trump: Almost certain there will be a deal
US President Donald Trump said yesterday that he is "almost certain" there will be an agreement between Israel and Hamas on his plan to end the war in Gaza, adding that the terrorist organization has been "good" lately.
“I think we’re going to have a deal… They’ve been trying to have a deal with Gaza for literally ages,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
The US president avoided giving a timeline for when a deal would be announced after a reporter asked him if the hostages would be released on Tuesday to coincide with the two-year anniversary of the Hamas attack on October 7.
When asked if he had contacted families of hostages about his proposal for Gaza, Trump said he had and that the relatives of the captives were excited. "They're so happy about it. One said, 'I can't breathe.'"
"The people of Israel want this to happen," Trump stressed, referring to the weekly protests in Israel involving tens of thousands of people demanding a deal on the hostages and an end to the war.
As for Hamas, Trump described the terrorist group as "good."
“I hope it continues like this. I think it will continue,” he said in a rare moment of refraining from criticizing the Palestinian group. Trump embraced Hamas’s statement last week that it had accepted parts of its proposal on Gaza, while arguing that additional talks were needed on other parts of it that concern the post-war management of Gaza.
The US president reiterated that his agreement goes beyond ending the war in Gaza, extending to broader regional peace, highlighting once again the support his proposal has received from the Arab and Muslim world.
"I spoke with President Erdogan of Turkey. He's fantastic. He's pushing very hard [for a deal with Gaza]... and Hamas respects him very much. They respect Qatar, the UAE and Saudi Arabia very much," Trump noted, adding that he also spoke with the king of Jordan.
At the same time, Trump denied that he recently told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to stop being so "f@@@ing negative" and "get the win" after Hamas accepted parts of Washington's proposal to end the war in Gaza.
"No, that's not true. He was very positive about the deal," Trump said of Netanyahu.
"Mechanisms"
According to a senior Hamas official, the Hamas delegation was scheduled to hold talks yesterday morning in Cairo with Egyptian and Qatari officials, before the official start of negotiations in Sharm el-Sheikh.
They were to be focused on "mechanisms for a ceasefire, withdrawal of occupying forces and exchange of prisoners," he explained.
The day before yesterday, Sunday, Hamas expressed its will to "immediately begin the prisoner exchange process."
The movement demands that "Israel end all military operations in the entire Gaza Strip" and says that at the same time "the resistance factions will put an end to their military operations."
The American president's plan, announced on September 29, calls for a ceasefire, the release of the hostages within 72 hours, the phased withdrawal of the Israeli army from the Gaza Strip, and the disarmament of the Palestinian Islamist movement.
In its response to the Trump plan, Hamas said on Friday that it was ready to release all hostages to ensure "the end of the war" and "complete Israeli withdrawal" from the small coastal enclave.
However, he made no mention of its disarmament, a key element of the proposal, emphasizing that he intends to participate in any discussion about the future of Gaza, something that the American plan does not provide for.
A great ally of the American president, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu assures that he supports the Trump plan, but at the same time he announces that his army will remain in most of the Gaza Strip, which according to Israeli sources it currently controls approximately 75%. He also insists that he considers the disarmament of Hamas a necessary condition.
Bombings
If the negotiations fail, "we will resume the battle," Israel's chief of staff, Eyal Zamir, threatened the day before yesterday.
Mediation efforts have so far failed to secure a lasting ceasefire. The two previous ceasefire agreements, in November 2023 and early 2025, allowed the return of Israeli hostages and bodies in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
In the Gaza Strip, civil protection reported new Israeli shelling, especially in Gaza City (north) and Khan Yunis (south), where at least two Palestinians were killed.
Events
Israel is holding events today to mark the anniversary of the deadliest attack in its history. A rally is planned for the morning near Kibbutz Beeri, the site of the Nova music festival that turned into a "slaughter site" for 370 people that Saturday morning.
Another important moment of the day is expected to be recorded when night falls in Tel Aviv, where an event is being organized at the initiative of the families of the victims of the attack in "hostage square". However, the official funerals are not scheduled to take place until October 16, after the Sukkot holidays are over. Coincidentally, today is the first day of these holidays.
