People walk past portraits of Israelis held hostage in the Gaza Strip since 2023, during a rally in Tel Aviv marking the second anniversary of the attacks by Palestinian militants. Photo / Ahmad Gharabli, AFP
US President Donald Trump has voiced optimism that there was a “real chance” to end the war in Gaza, as Israel marked the second anniversary of the October 7 attack.
In his message marking the anniversary, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to achieve all the goals of the war.
“We are in fateful, decisive days. We will continue to act to achieve all the war’s objectives: the return of all abductees, the elimination of Hamas’ rule, and ensuring that Gaza will never again pose a threat to Israel,” Netanyahu said in a statement.
Indirect negotiations between Israeli and Hamas negotiators are being held in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh, based on a 20-point plan proposed by Trump last month.
“There’s a real chance that we could do something,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, adding that US negotiators were also involved in the talks.
“I think there’s a possibility that we could have peace in the Middle East. It’s something even beyond the Gaza situation. We want a release of the hostages immediately.”
Trump said the United States would do “everything possible to make sure everyone adheres to the deal” if Hamas and Israel do agree on a ceasefire.
Hamas’ top negotiator Khalil al-Hayya said that his group “wants guarantees from (US) President Trump and the sponsor countries that the war will end once and for all”.
The talks came as Israel commemorated the second anniversary of Hamas’ October 7 attack that triggered the war.
Two years ago to the day, at the close of the Jewish festival of Sukkot, Hamas-led militants launched the deadliest attack on Israel in the country’s history, sparking a huge retaliatory offensive in Gaza.
It resulted in the deaths of 1219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Militants also took 251 people hostage into Gaza, of whom 47 remain captive, including 25 the Israeli military says are dead.
On Tuesday, senior Hamas official Fawzi Barhoum called the October 7 attack a “historic response” to Israel’s bid to “eradicate the Palestinian cause”.
He also said Hamas was working to “surmount all obstacles” to sealing a deal in Egypt.
Global pressure to end the war has escalated, with much of Gaza flattened, a UN-declared famine unfolding and Israeli hostage families still longing for their loved ones’ return.
A UN probe last month accused Israel of genocide in Gaza while rights groups have accused Hamas of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity during the October 7 attack. Both sides reject the allegations.
Trump’s plan calls 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 Israel and Hamas and prompted indirect talks in Egypt since Monday.
According to a Palestinian source close to the Hamas negotiating team, Hamas has 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”.
“Hamas insists on linking the timeline for the release of captives to the timeline of Israeli withdrawals”.
On Wednesday, Trump’s special Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, will join the talks, according to Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty.
“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.
Qatar said its prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, would also join the talks while Turkish state media reported the country’s intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin would lead a delegation to Egypt.
In Israel, dozens of relatives and friends of those killed at the Nova music festival lit candles and held a minute’s silence at the site of the attack, where militants killed more than 370 people and seized 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 due in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square, where weekly rallies have kept up calls for the captives’ release.
Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has killed at least 67,160 people, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, figures the United Nations considers credible.
Their data does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but indicates that over half of the dead are women and children.
“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 Sharm El-Sheikh, mediators were shuttling between Israeli and Hamas delegations under tight security.
Egypt’s Abdelatty said that negotiations were aimed at implementing 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.
Israeli strikes continued on Tuesday, killing at least six people according to Gaza’s civil defence agency – a rescue force operating under Hamas’ authority.
- Agence France-Presse