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Gaza inching toward serenity
Peace talks resume on second anniversary of October 7 operation
Peace talks between Israel and Hamas resumed at an Egyptian resort city on Tuesday, coinciding with the 2nd anniversary of the beginning of Israel’s onslaught on the Palestinian territory that has seen tens of thousands of Palestinians killed in Gaza.
The second day of indirect negotiations in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh were focused on a plan proposed by US 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 Israeli captives and establishing a cease-fire.
The plan has received widespread international backing and Trump told reporters on Monday that he thought there was a “really good chance” of a “lasting deal.”
“This is beyond Gaza,” he said. “Gaza is a big deal, but this is really peace in the Middle East.”
Many uncertainties remain, however, including the demand that Hamas disarm and the future governance of Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long said Hamas must surrender and disarm, but Hamas has not yet commented on whether it would be willing to.
The Israeli aggression against Gaza was triggered by a Hamas operation on the Israeli positions in the occupied territories, which claimed the lives of around 1,200 people.
Analysts believe that the attack was a reaction to decades of the regime’s oppression of Palestinians.
Israel’s devastating war that has upended global politics, has resulted in the deaths of 67,160 Palestinians nearly 170,000 wounded, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, and has left the Gaza Strip in ruins.
A growing number of experts, including those commissioned by a UN body, have said Israel’s offensive in the Gaza Strip amounts to genocide.
Ahead of the resumption of talks on Tuesday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for an end to the hostilities, which have created “a humanitarian catastrophe on a scale that defied comprehension.”
Israel’s actions in Gaza have also caused famine the Palestinian territory. Israel has long placed restrictions on goods entering Gaza, and those restrictions increased after the beginning of the war on Gaza.
However, since March 2025, the situation has deteriorated rapidly after Israel introduced a nearly three-month total blockade on goods entering Gaza.
The UN's humanitarian chief, Tom Fletcher, has said the famine was the direct result of Israel's "systematic obstruction" of aid entering Gaza.
Finding food has become a deadly endeavor for Palestinians and they have regularly said they have to choose between starvation and death, referring to the near-daily shootings of people trying to get aid at distribution sites.