Hamas and Israel negotiators have had a "positive" first day of indirect talks aimed at ending the two-year-long conflict in Gaza on the second anniversary of Hamas' devastating 7 October 2023 attack on Israel.
The talks in Egypt's Sharm El-Sheikh form part of a plan put forward by United States President Donald Trump, with the delegations "discussing preparing ground conditions for the release of detainees and prisoners", said Al-Qahera News, which is linked to Egyptian state intelligence.
"Egyptian and Qatari mediators are working with both sides to establish a mechanism" for the release of hostages held in Gaza in exchange for Palestinians held in Israeli jails, it added.
Reuters reported two sources close to Hamas' negotiating team as saying the initial discussions had been positive. The sources said the talks, which lasted four hours on the first day, would resume in the Red Sea town of Sharm El-Sheikh at midday on Tuesday local time.
Behind closed doors and under tight security, negotiators spoke through mediators shuttling back and forth, only weeks after Israel tried to kill lead Hamas negotiators in a strike on Qatar.
Two years on from the Hamas-led attack on Israel, during which more than 1,200 Israelis were killed and 200 hostages taken, according to the Israeli government, both commemorations and demonstrations have been held around the globe.
In Israel, dozens of relatives and friends of those killed at the Nova music festival during the 2023 attack lit candles and held a minute's silence at the site of the attack, where militants killed more than 370 people and seized dozens of hostages.
Another ceremony was due in Tel Aviv's Hostages Square, where weekly rallies have kept up calls for the captives' release.
Israeli and Hamas officials have held indirect talks in the Egyptian city of Sharm el-Sheikh. Source: AAP / STR
"The war has destroyed everything I built throughout my life," said Mohammed Abu Sultan, 49, who fled Gaza City with 20 family members to Nuseirat camp in central Gaza.
"We have been running from death for two years."
Pro-Palestinian marches planned worldwide
Pro-Palestinian demonstrations were planned in several major cities such as New York City, Barcelona, Rome, London and various locations across the US, including Portland, Seattle and Los Angeles.
Other cities, like Bologna in Italy, have banned certain rallies due to concerns over potential unrest.
Meanwhile, pro-Palestinian activists in Sydney have contested a decision by NSW Police to refuse, for public safety reasons, a planned protest at the Opera House on Sunday.
At the same time, Jewish communities have held low-profile commemorations of the October 7 attacks as antisemitic attacks continue to rise worldwide.
In Tel Aviv, Israelis attended a ceremony organised by bereaved families to mark the second anniversary of the Hamas-led attack on Israel.
A pro-Palestine demonstration takes place in San Sebastian, Spain, in September. Source: Getty / Juan Naharro Gimenez/WireImage
The ceremony will feature speeches and songs by victims' families and leading Israeli figures and artists.
In the northern Italian city of Milan, the Jewish community was opting to mark the anniversary in a quiet way.
"We will be in a city square, protected by law enforcement. We will meet among ourselves, but for public order reasons, police have forbidden us from announcing the location," Davide Romano, director of the city's Jewish Brigade Museum, told daily newspaper la Repubblica.
Albanese recognises 'day of pain and terror'
In Australia, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese recognised October 7 as "a day of pain and terror for Jewish people around the world" after the 2023 attack by Hamas, which Australia has designated as a terrorist organisation.
"We must never forget the atrocities that were inflicted by Hamas," he said on Tuesday.
"We also think of those still held hostage and join with our partners around the world in calling for the hostages to be returned immediately, and with dignity."
Family and friends of those taken hostage on October 7 have pressured the Israeli government to prioritise securing the release of their loved ones. Source: Getty / Ahmad Gharabli
"Two years ago, the world was changed as one of the most horrific terrorist attacks in modern history was perpetrated against the people of Israel," she said.
"This was an attack on Israel, but it was an attack on the world too."
Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council executive director Colin Rubinstein said the past two years had weighed heavily on the Jewish community in Australia and around the world.
"Even if the hostages are released, the war ends, and the Hamas threat is decisively disarmed, the Jewish experience can never return to what it was like before October 7, 2023," he said.
Egypt talks 'may last several days'
The latest round of negotiations in Egypt "may last for several days", said a Palestinian source close to Hamas' leadership.
"We expect the negotiations to be difficult and complex, given the occupation's intentions to continue its war of extermination," he told Agence France-Presse.
Israel has said it "categorically rejects" allegations that it is committing genocide in Gaza, which have now been made by a United Nations commission of inquiry and the vast majority of the 500-member International Association of Genocide Scholars.
Both Hamas and Israel have responded positively to Trump's proposal, but reaching an agreement on the details could be a herculean task, given the multiple sticking points that remain.
The plan calls for the disarmament of Hamas, which the militant group has not yet approved.
It also proposes the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to redeploy troops "deep inside" the territory while securing the release of hostages.
Negotiations will look to "determine the date of a temporary truce", a Hamas official said, as well as create conditions for a first phase of the plan, in which 47 hostages held in Gaza are to be released in return for hundreds of Palestinian detainees.
Militants seized 251 hostages during their 7 October 2023 attack, 47 of whom are still in Gaza. Of those, the Israeli military says 25 are dead.
— With additional reporting from Reuters, Agence France-Presse and the Australian Associated Press.
