On October 7, 2025, a sense of cautious hope and heavy remembrance enveloped Israel and the wider Middle East as high-stakes negotiations for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal unfolded in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. The talks, based on a US-proposed plan, marked what many officials described as the most promising opportunity yet to end the devastating conflict that has raged for two years since Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel.
According to CNN, American envoys, including US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, departed for Egypt on October 7, set to arrive the following day. They were joined by key international figures: Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani, and Turkey’s National Intelligence Agency chief Ibrahim Kalin. The primary agenda? Hammering out a ceasefire, negotiating a prisoner exchange, and ensuring the delivery of desperately needed humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Donald Trump, the US President, struck an optimistic tone, declaring that the US and Israel were “very close to making a deal” on a Gaza peace plan. He pledged US security guarantees for Gaza, signaling a dramatic shift two years after the war began. Trump’s confidence was echoed by former Israeli Justice Minister Yossi Beilin, an architect of the 1993 Oslo peace accords, who told CNN, “I’m optimistic because I think President Trump will not easily give up. He is trying to do a lot in order to promote the efforts towards the end of the war, the release of the hostages and then another force which will govern Gaza.”
The stakes could not be higher. As the negotiations got underway, hundreds gathered in southern Israel to mark the second anniversary of the October 7, 2023, attacks, when Hamas militants killed 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostage. Israel’s subsequent war in Gaza has been catastrophic: over 67,000 Palestinians have died, most of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health. The enclave has been pushed into famine, with UNICEF officials reporting on October 3 that children in Gaza’s largest city are “shoeless and starving, with nowhere to go.” The Ministry of Health’s figures are staggering—at least 20,179 children killed, 1,029 of them under age one, 420 babies born and killed, 58,554 children orphaned, and over 914,000 deprived of education. At least 1,102 children are now amputees.
The humanitarian crisis is compounded by the findings of an independent UN inquiry, which concluded that Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza—a charge Israel vehemently denies. Amid this, Palestinians like Ruqayya Abdullah Abdelalim Asaliya, displaced in Gaza City, shared their despair: “Our life is miserable. There is barely any water. The shelling and strikes do not stop. We would rather die on our land. The people are finished,” she told CNN on October 7. Another resident, Ibrahim Sadaq al Deeb, lamented, “This is not a war, this is genocide. We have children who are dying of hunger and no one feels for them.”
For Hamas, the talks in Egypt are critical. Khalil Al-Hayya, the group’s top negotiator, pledged “responsible and serious” discussions, stating in an interview with Egyptian state media: “We have come with the direct goal of ending the war, the withdrawal of the Israeli occupation from Gaza, and a full prisoner exchange – the release of all Israeli prisoners, the living and the dead, in exchange for the release of the Palestinian prisoners.” He expressed gratitude to President Trump for “his vigorous pursuit to stop this war,” but also warned, “killing, bombing and destruction, as well as cutting off aid to the people, are still ongoing, especially in the northern Gaza Strip.”
Hamas’ demands, outlined by senior official Fawzi Barhoum, include a permanent ceasefire, Israeli military withdrawal from Gaza, unrestricted entry of humanitarian aid, guarantees for displaced Palestinians to return home, a just prisoner exchange, and the start of comprehensive reconstruction under a Palestinian body of technocrats. Barhoum accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of potentially obstructing the process, saying he may “sabotage the current round of negotiations, as he has deliberately done with all previous rounds.”
Netanyahu, on the other hand, marked the anniversary with a vow to “secure the eternity of Israel,” framing the war as one for the nation’s very existence. “Two years have passed since the October 7 attack – the horrifying massacre of our brothers and sisters,” he said in a statement. “We paid a terribly painful price. Infants, children, adults and the elderly were brutally murdered by Hamas terrorists in a shocking manner.” He pledged to continue efforts to return all hostages and eliminate Hamas, stating, “Our bloodthirsty enemies struck us hard, but they did not break us. Soon they discovered the tremendous strength of the people of Israel.”
As the world watched, thousands gathered in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square for a memorial ceremony. The event, organized by KUMU, a group of October 7 survivors and local residents, was funded entirely through crowdfunding and broadcast across Israel. The sense of community was palpable. Marit Cohen, a visitor from Givat Shmuel, described the square as an “anchor point” and a place of comfort. “There’s nothing else one can do besides this. We feel lost and uncertain, but when we sit here, it feels like this is where we need to be,” she told CNN. Tova Dvir, another attendee, admitted to waking up “with a sense of heaviness,” but found solace in the gathering.
Internationally, the anniversary sparked pro-Palestinian rallies in cities from London to Jakarta. In London, student groups organized an “inter-university march” to protest what they called the normalization of genocide. The UK’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer criticized the timing, calling the protests “un-British” in The Times. In Sydney, lawyer Ramia Abdo Sultan addressed a rally, saying, “October 7 did not happen out of the blue. It is a culmination of 77 years of disposition, siege, dehumanization and oppression.”
Back at the negotiating table, the logistics of the US-proposed 20-point plan—crafted by Trump’s team, including Kushner and Witkoff—remained complex. Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari noted, “There are many details that need to be addressed.” The plan’s first stage, according to Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdel Atty, was the current focus in Sharm el-Sheikh.
Support for the US-led effort came from Israeli President Israel Herzog, who thanked Trump for “his incredible efforts” to “bring peace to the Middle East.” Herzog prayed for the success of the negotiations, expressing hope that “out of the pain of these years, a new era of cooperation and shared prosperity can yet be born.”
The families of Israeli hostages held in Gaza also extended their gratitude to Trump, saying his deal “gives us renewed hope that this nightmare may finally end and our loved ones will come home.” In a letter published on October 7, Trump reiterated his commitment to “ensuring the total destruction of Hamas” and to “restoring a foreign policy of peace through strength ending the years of endless wars, not just in the Middle East, but around the world.”
As the world waits, the outcome of these negotiations could reshape the region’s future. For now, the pain of loss and the flicker of hope coexist, as families, negotiators, and entire communities hold their breath for peace.
