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Across Israel, citizens commemorated the second anniversary of the October 7, 2023, attacks led by Hamas, as negotiations aimed at ending the war in Gaza continued in Egypt.
The assault resulted in over 1,200 fatalities and the abduction of 251 individuals to Gaza. It marked the deadliest single day for Jews since the Holocaust.
Israel responded with a military offensive in Gaza, which, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry, has resulted in over 67,000 deaths. These figures are considered reliable by the UN and other international organizations.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that alongside “immense pain,” Israel had demonstrated “miraculous resilience.”
“Our bloodthirsty enemies have hit us hard, but they have not broken us,” Netanyahu declared on Tuesday.
He vowed to “achieve all the goals of the war: the return of all the kidnapped, the elimination of the Hamas regime and the promise that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel.”
Reflecting on the Hamas attack on southern Israel two years prior, UN Secretary-General António Guterres stated, “The horror of that dark day will be forever seared in the memories of us all.”
He also urged all parties to agree to the US President Donald Trump’s peace plan, characterizing it as a “historic opportunity” to “bring this tragic conflict to an end.”
While the Israeli government postponed official memorial services until October 16—following the Jewish High Holiday season—commemorative events proceeded across the country on Tuesday.
A memorial ceremony organized by the families of Israelis killed in the Hamas attack was held in Tel Aviv and broadcast on Israeli television.
Earlier in the day, a national moment of silence was observed.
Concurrently, Israeli and Hamas negotiation teams convened in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, for a second day of indirect talks concerning the terms of a proposed agreement.
A senior Palestinian official involved in the negotiations told the BBC that an evening session of indirect talks commenced at 19:00 Cairo time (17:00 GMT).
The official indicated that the morning session concluded without significant progress, citing disagreements over proposed Israeli withdrawal maps from Gaza and Hamas’s demand for guarantees that Israel will not resume hostilities after the initial phase of the deal.
He added that the talks are “tough and have yet to produce any real breakthrough,” but noted that mediators are working hard to narrow the gaps between the two sides.
Previously, a Palestinian official stated that the negotiations were focused on five key issues: a permanent ceasefire; the exchange of hostages held by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners and detainees from Gaza; the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza; arrangements for humanitarian aid deliveries; and post-war governance of the territory.
President Trump’s negotiators, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, were expected to depart the US this evening and arrive in Egypt on Wednesday, a source familiar with the talks told the BBC.
“We have a really good chance of making a deal, and it’ll be a lasting deal,” the president told reporters at the White House on Monday.
In Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square, Hagar, 29, whose brother survived the attack on the Nova music festival, where 378 people were killed and dozens more were taken hostage by Hamas gunmen, told the BBC: “No place feels like home anymore and until all the hostages come back none of us will feel safe.”
“When we see everybody home again, we can breathe again. Then we can start to recover,” she added.
Outside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence in Jerusalem, people gathered to show their support for the families of the hostages. Israel says 48 remain in captivity in Gaza, 20 of whom are believed to be alive.
Demonstrator Atalia Regev told the BBC: “We need to do every compromise needed for the hostages to come back home. But we really want assurances that we will be safe.”
Opinion polls now consistently show that around 70% of Israelis want the war to end in exchange for the release of the hostages.
At the site of Nova festival, mourners gathered to pay their respects.
From there, the boom of Israelis air strikes and artillery could be heard just a few kilometres away in Gaza, where witnesses said the intense Israeli bombardment continued.
In Gaza City, air and artillery strikes were reported in the early hours of Tuesday in the western Tal al-Hawa, Rimal and Nasr neighbourhoods and in the eastern neighbourhood of Sheikh Radwan, as well Shati refugee camp to the north-west.
“When the evening comes, the fear comes with it,” displaced Gaza City resident Emaan al-Wahidi, whose 17-year-old son was killed by an Israeli air strike last year, told the BBC.
“Me and my three children are afraid of the air strikes. All the night we are sleeping together, holding each other, especially my smallest child who puts his head on me all night.”
“Every second we look at the news to see what happened. And I’m afraid that this ceasefire will not be completed and that the war will come back to us.”
Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City said it had received the bodies of six people by the afternoon, including three killed in an Israeli strike in the southern al-Sabra neighbourhood.
Nasser hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis said another two dead people had been brought there. One of them was killed by Israeli forces while seeking aid to the south, medics said.
Unicef spokesman James Elder described how mothers and wounded children were “lining the corridor floors” of Nasser, and that premature babies were having to share a single bed or oxygen source.
“In one of the paediatric rooms, there were three babies and three mums on a single bed, one source of oxygen, and the mothers would rotate the oxygen 20 minutes to each child,” he told Reuters news agency. “This is the level of desperation mums have now got to.”
Gaza’s health ministry said 25 of the territory’s 38 hospitals were now out of service, and that the remaining 13 were only operating partially.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military said that a rocket was launched from northern Gaza into Israel on Tuesday morning, triggering sirens in Netiv HaAsara. The projectile fell in the area and that no injuries or damage were reported, it added.
International journalists have been banned by Israel from entering the Gaza Strip independently since the start of the war, making verifying claims from both sides difficult.
“It’s not an easy life,” she tells the BBC, as she tries to find comfort in 2nd birthday celebrations for her son.
Jewish Londoners criticise the actions of a woman filmed cutting down yellow ribbons.
The prime minister says it is “un-British” to hold pro-Palestinian protests on the second anniversary of Hamas’s attacks on Israel.
Families and survivors of the Hamas attack on the Nova music festival gather at the site to pay tribute.
There is a chance of a deal that will end the killing and destruction in Gaza and return the Israeli hostages, living and dead, to their families.
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