The Latest: Israelis and Palestinians mark 2 years of war

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It’s been two years since thousands of Hamas-led militants poured into southern Israel after a surprise barrage of rockets. They stormed army bases, farming communities and an outdoor music festival, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, including women, children and older adults and abducting 251 others.

In response, Israel launched an offensive into the Gaza Strip that has killed tens of thousands of people and razed entire towns and cities. As the U.S. is seeking to broker a ceasefire after nearly two years of war, those who can are fleeing another Israeli invasion of Gaza City while others are sheltering in place. Many are unable to make the arduous and costly journey south.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said the Palestinian death toll in the war reached 67,160 on Monday.

Here's the latest:

Families and friends of the Oct. 7 victims visited the site of the Nova music festival, where 400 revelers were killed and dozens taken hostage by Hamas. They weaved through memorials and shared stories about the victims in hushed tones.

People embraced a woman wailing for her loss. Another woman spoke of losing her two daughters at the festival and with them, her identify as a mother.

Alon Muskinov, 28, who was at the festival and lost three of his closest friends, said this anniversary isn’t particularly special because “we are reliving this every day anew, every day we remember them.”

Yehuda Rahmani says he finds comfort in visiting the last place where his daughter was alive. His daughter Sharon, a police officer, was on a security detail during the music festival. Rahmadi hopes to run into a survivor who could shed more light on Sharon’s last moments.

“When you don’t know what happened, it makes it so much harder,” he said, adding that he’s angry the government has yet to launch an official inquiry into that day’s security failures.

Mandla Mandela, Nelson Mandela’s grandson and pro-Palestinian activist who was detained in international waters by Israel as part of a Gaza-bound flotilla, says all activists are now “safe” and “on their way home.”

In a video posted to his Instagram page on Tuesday, Mandela, a former South African lawmaker, said he and other released activists were in Jordan.

The Jordanian Foreign Ministry confirmed in a post on X the arrival of 130 citizens from 23 nations including Algeria, Brazil, Colombia, Japan, Libya, Mexico, Pakistan, Switzerland and the United States.

Last week, Israeli authorities intercepted dozens of boats attempting to break its siege of Gaza and took some 470 activists to an Israeli prison before progressively deporting them. The Israeli Foreign Ministry has not yet commented on the latest deportations that took place as the nation marks two years of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack that plunged the region into war.

Majed al-Ansari, a spokesman for Qatar’s Foreign Ministry, told journalists on Tuesday that the first day of talks on Monday went for four hours. He said the discussions were still underway Tuesday.

Qatar has been a key mediator between Israel and Hamas.

“These talks will need some time. There are details we need to go through,” al-Ansari said, adding the talks could take “days.”

The indirect negotiations in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh are focused on a plan proposed by U.S. President Donald Trump last week that aims to bring about an end to the war in Gaza.

After several hours of talks Monday, an Egyptian official with knowledge of the discussions said the parties agreed on most of the first-phase terms, which include the release of hostages and establishing a ceasefire. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private meetings.

In Tel Aviv, the main memorial ceremony was organized by Yonatan Shamriz, whose brother Alon was among three hostages mistakenly killed by Israeli forces after they escaped Hamas captivity early in the war.

Shay Dickmann, who lost her aunt outside her house in Kibbutz Be’eri on the day of the attack while her cousin, Carmel Gat, was taken hostage by Hamas and killed 11 months later, said all everyone wants is for the war to end.

“There is a deal on the table, there is an opportunity to end this war and bring everybody back home,” she said. “We all deserve it, we deserve it, our neighbors deserve it, we want this war to end and all to come back to their homes.”

Britain’s prime minister has criticized pro-Palestinian protests planned at universities across the country on the second anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, saying they are “un-British.”

“This is not who we are as a country. It’s un-British to have so little respect for others,’’ Keir Starmer wrote in the Times of London. “And that’s before some of them decide to start chanting hatred towards Jewish people all over again.”

Previous protests have too often become a forum for hate speech and antisemitism, he said.

Starmer’s intervention comes at a tense moment in Britain, just days after a naturalized citizen of Syrian origin launched an attack on the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue in Manchester. Two men were killed and three others were seriously injured.

In the aftermath of the assault, British authorities have stepped up security around synagogues and criticized the rise of antisemitism in society. The government is also considering giving police new powers to restrict repeated protests that have a negative cumulative impact on the community.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz called for the immediate release of hostages held by Hamas, including German citizens, and expressed hope for the peace process in a video message shared online on the morning of Oct. 7. He referred to the Hamas attack as a “black day” in the history books of the Jewish people.

Merz said Germany was experiencing a new wave of antisemitism since Oct. 7, 2023. “It fills me with shame,” he said, “as Chancellor, as a German, as part of the post-war generation that grew up with the promise: ‘Never again.’”

The chancellor appealed to people in Germany to reach out to Jewish communities and assure them that “we will do everything together to ensure that Jewish people can live here in Germany without fear, and that they can live with confidence.”

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson called the Oct. 7 attack “the worst mass murder of Jews since the Holocaust”, in a video address posted on Tuesday morning. “There is no place for antisemitism in Sweden,” he said. “Jews in Sweden should be able to proudly wear the Star of David, visit the synagogue, and send their children to Jewish schools.”

Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter wrote on X: “It is high time to end the violence. Hamas must release all hostages. The despair and immense pain must come to an end. Peace is the only path forward."

Thousands of people streamed to sites across southern Israel where relatives and friends were killed in the Oct. 7 attack two years ago, gathering at mobile bomb shelters and intersections now full of memorials and photos.

At the site of the Nova music festival, where almost 400 people were killed and dozens kidnapped, mourners wandered through hundreds of photos arranged in a semi circle around the spot where the DJ was located, embracing and sharing memories. There was no organized memorial at the site due to the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, but hundreds of people gathered ahead 6:29 a.m., the exact time the attack began, playing the track the DJ was playing just before the music was shut off as rockets began flying overhead. When the minute of the anniversary came, the music was cut off and the crowd observed a moment of silence.

At the site on Tuesday, explosions from Gaza echoed across the fields. Militants launched two rockets from northern Gaza over the course of the morning, though no damages or injuries were reported.

The United Nations chief renewed his plea on Tuesday for the “immediate” and “unconditional” release of hostages held in Gaza in a statement released to mark two years since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack.

“The horror of that dark day will be forever seared in the memories of us all,” Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said.

Guterres said he had heard first-hand the “unbearable pain” of survivors and the families of captives held in Gaza and condemned the “deplorable conditions,” urging Israel and Hamas to seize the opportunity to end hostilities as talks continued on Tuesday negotiating U.S. President Donald Trump’s peace plan.

“After two years of trauma, we must choose hope. Now,” he said.

“Let us honour the memory of all the victims by working for the only path forward: a just and lasting peace, in which Israelis, Palestinians, and all the peoples of the region live side by side in security, dignity and mutual respect.”

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has told Parliament that Australia must do everything in its power to ensure and that there are both an Israeli state and Palestinian state in a future without Hamas.

Albanese on Tuesday condemned Hamas for its attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

“Their attack on a music festival that promoted friends, love and infinite freedom, an event attended by so many young people, underlined a core truth -- Hamas stands in opposition to all humanity and all that we value as human beings,” Albanese said.

Earlier he condemned pro-Hamas graffiti painted around Melbourne on Tuesday as “abhorrent.” Words including “Glory to Hamas” and “Oct 7, do it again” were painted in black letters in Melbourne.

In remarks to New Zealand’s Parliament on Tuesday, foreign minister Winston Peters spoke of a “day of infamy” on Oct. 7, 2023 when “Hamas mounted its heinous attacks on Israeli citizens” as well as those from other countries.

“That event set off what must seem to most New Zealanders like yet another of the seemingly never-ending cycles of violence in that region,” he told lawmakers in Wellington. “We have strongly condemned the overwhelming nature of Israel’s military response as Palestinian citizens have paid a disproportionate price for the sins of Hamas.”

Peters’ government said in September that New Zealand would not yet recognize an independent Palestinian state. He on Tuesday reiterated that his government supported the peace plan proposed by President Trump, adding that “those countries with leverage” were most likely to succeed in a diplomatic solution.

Earlier on Tuesday, a man was charged with burglary after he allegedly smashed a window at Peters’ Auckland home while pro-Palestinian protestors rallied outside on Monday evening.

Israelis prepared to mourn the dead Tuesday as the nation marks two years since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack plunged the region into a devastating war, while Israel and Hamas hold indirect talks in Egypt.

The main memorial ceremony is being organized by bereaved families, separate from a government memorial set to be held on the Hebrew calendar anniversary next week.

The split reflects deep divisions over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s leadership, which many blame for the failure to secure a ceasefire that would free the remaining hostages held by the militant group.

Israeli and Hamas officials are set to continue indirect talks Tuesday at an Egyptian resort on a U.S.-drafted peace plan.

The talks began Monday and unfolded amid many questions about the plan presented by U.S. President Donald Trump last week, including the disarmament of the militant group — a key Israeli demand — and the future governance of Gaza.

Despite Trump ordering Israel to stop the bombing, Israeli forces have continued to pound Gaza with airstrikes.

An Egyptian official with knowledge of the talks said the parties wrapped up Monday’s round of negotiations at the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, and the discussions were set to resume Tuesday afternoon. The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks, said the parties have agreed on most of the first-phase terms, which include the release of hostages and establishing a ceasefire.