Israel marks 7 October anniversary with talks on Gaza peace plan

Israelis have gathered across the country two years after the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, as negotiations continue in Egypt over an end to the Gaza war.

The attack left more than 1,200 people dead and 251 taken hostage back to Gaza. It was the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust.

Israel responded by launching a military offensive that killed more than 67,000 people in Gaza, according to the territory’s Hamas Health Ministry. Its figures appear to be reliable by the United Nations and other international organizations.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement that despite the “tremendous suffering,” they had shown “miraculous resilience.”

“Our bloody enemies have struck us hard, but they have not broken us,” Netanyahu said on Tuesday.

He pledged to “achieve all the goals of the war: the return of all abductees, the elimination of the Hamas regime, and a promise that Gaza would no longer pose a threat to Israel”.

Recalling Hamas’ attacks on southern Israel two years ago, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said:

He also described it as a “historic opportunity” for all parties to “end this tragic conflict” by agreeing to US President Donald Trump’s peace plan.

The Israeli government delayed official commemorations until Oct. 16 after the end of the high Jewish holiday season, but events still took place across the country on Tuesday.

A memorial ceremony was held in Tel Aviv for an Israeli family killed in a Hamas attack. Hosted by the family themselves, these were broadcast across Israeli television channels.

A few hours ago, a minute of silence was observed across the country.

Meanwhile, Israel and Hamas have negotiated a team to convene from the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

A senior Palestinian official familiar with the negotiations told the BBC that evening indirect talks began at 19:00 Cairo time (17:00 GMT).

Officials said the morning session ended without any substantive results due to disagreements over the proposed Israeli withdrawal map from Gaza.

He added that this conversation is “hard and has not yet produced groundbreaking innovations.” However, mediators noted that they were working hard to bridge the gap between the two sides.

Palestinian officials previously said negotiations were focused on five key issues. the exchange of hostages still held by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners and detainees in Gaza; withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza; contracts for the delivery of humanitarian aid; Post-war governance of the territory.

President Trump’s negotiators, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, were expected to leave the United States this evening and arrive in Egypt on Wednesday.

“We will likely have a deal, and it will be an ongoing deal,” the president told reporters at the White House on Monday.

Hagar, 29, survived the attack on the Nova Music Festival in Tel Aviv’s Hatages Square, where 378 people were killed and Dozens of people were taken hostage by Hamas gunmen.

“We can breathe again once everyone is home again, and then we can start to recover,” she added.

People gathered outside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem to show support for the hostage’s family. Israel believes 48 people remain captive in Gaza, 20 of whom are alive.

Protester Atalia Regev told the BBC: “We must make whatever compromises are necessary to allow the hostages to return home. But we want assurances that we will be safe.”

Opinion polls consistently show that about 70% of Israelis want the war to end in exchange for the release of hostages.

At the Nova Festival site, mourners gathered to pay their respects.

There, the boom of Israeli airstrikes and artillery fire could be heard just a few kilometers from Gaza, and witnesses said intense Israeli bombing continued.

In Gaza City, air and artillery strikes were reported on Tuesday in the western Tal Tal al-Hawa, Rimal and NASR neighborhoods, and the eastern district of Sheikh Radwan.

“When evening came, fear came,” Emaan Al-Wahidi, a Gaza City resident whose 17-year-old son was killed in an Israeli airstrike last year, told the BBC.

“Me and my three children are afraid of air raids. All night long we sleep together, hold each other, especially my youngest who puts his head on me all night long.”

“Every time we look at the news, we are afraid that this ceasefire will not be completed and that the war will come back to us.”

Gaza City’s Al-Shifa Hospital had received the bodies of six people by the afternoon, three killed in Israeli strikes in the southern Al-Sabra district.

Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis said two other dead people were brought there. One of them was killed by Israeli forces, the Medics said.

UNICEF spokesman James Elder described how mothers and injured children “felt lining the floors of hallways” in Nasser, with premature babies having to share single beds or oxygen sources.

“In one of the pediatric spaces there were three babies and three mothers in single beds, with one oxygen unit, and the mother would rotate the oxygen to each child for 20 minutes,” he told Reuters. “This is the level of desperation my mom has gotten to now.”

Gaza’s Health Ministry said 25 of the region’s 38 hospitals are currently out of service, while the remaining 13 are only partially operating.

Meanwhile, the Israeli military said rockets were fired into Israel from northern Gaza on Tuesday morning, triggering sirens in Netiv Haasara. The projectile landed in the area and no injuries or damage were reported, it added.

International journalists have been banned from independently entering Gaza since the start of the war, complicating both sides’ arguments.