Israel marks two years since 7 October Hamas attack as Gaza ceasefire talks continue – live | Gaza

– Swedish prime minister Ulf Kristersson called the Hamas-led 7 October attack “the worst mass murder of Jews since the Holocaust”, in a video address posted this 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.

– French President Emmanuel Macron called for unity against antisemitism, saying “Such an abomination must never happen again”.

He wrote in a post on X:

Two years after the unspeakable horror of Hamas terrorism, the pain remains deep. We do not forget. We stand in solidarity with all the victims, including 51 of our fellow citizens. We also think of the 48 hostages still held by Hamas. We are working tirelessly for their release.

– Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, wrote in a post on X that today marks two years since the “horrific” Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage.

He called for the immediate release of hostages and on Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, “to stop the genocide of the Palestinian people and open a humanitarian corridor”.

Gaza’s health ministry has shared some statistics about the devastating toll Israel’s assault – which is considered a genocide against the civilian population by many experts – has had on the people and infrastructure of Gaza:

• 67,173 Palestinian people have been killed and 169,780 injured in Israeli attacks since 7 October 2023, of whom 20,179 were children, 10,427 were women, 31,754 were men and 4,813 were “elderly people”.

• At least 1,701 medical staff have been killed, with hundreds of others detained.

• 25 out of 38 hospitals are out of service; 13 are partially operational but many are facing shortages in medical supplies.

• “Famine levels in the Gaza Strip have worsened to dangerous levels, according to UN classifications, with 460 deaths recorded due to famine and malnutrition, including 154 children, while 51,196 children under the age of five still suffer from severe malnutrition,” the health ministry said.

• The inability to safely vaccinate people has led to a drop in the vaccination coverage rate for children to 80%.

In a statement published to Telegram, the health ministry (whose figures the UN finds credible) said:

What is happening in the Gaza Strip is not a humanitarian crisis, or just a passing description of a record full of crimes of the Israeli occupation, but rather a complete and deliberate collapse of the pillar of human existence represented by the health services system, which has been exposed over the course of 730 days to devastating and fatal blows that have struck the nerve of the service components and its infrastructure.

These crimes have deserved the description of “health genocide” due to the horror of the catastrophic indicators that have collapsed the health and humanitarian scene in the Gaza Strip…

Hospitals have been transformed into concrete structures due to direct and indirect military strikes, and are completely emptied of the components of diagnostic and therapeutic care.

Angela Giuffrida

Pope Leo’s debut overseas trip will be to Turkey and Lebanon, where he is expected to make appeals for peace across the Middle East, the Vatican has announced.

Leo, who was elected pontiff in May after the death of Pope Francis, will visit Turkey between 27 and 30 November and Lebanon from 30 November until 2 December.

Matteo Bruni, the Vatican’s spokesperson, said on Tuesday the pontiff had “accepted the invitation of the heads of state and ecclesiastical authorities” in Turkey and Lebanon.

Leo, the first North American pope, is expected to speak about the struggles of Christians across the region and appeal for peace. The pontiff said on Sunday that he hoped a plan to end the war in Gaza would soon reach the “desired results”. Leo’s role in pushing for peace in Gaza has become more prominent since Israel’s strike on Gaza’s only Catholic church in July, killing three people and injuring 10 others, including the parish priest.

Bruni said the trip to Turkey would include a meeting with Patriarch Bartholomew, the spiritual leader of the world’s 260 million Orthodox Christians, for celebrations of the 1,700th anniversary of a major early church council, which took place in Nicaea, now called Iznik.

Hamas official Fawzi Barhoum has just said that the Palestinian militant group’s delegation now in talks in Egypt on Donald Trump’s plan is seeking to overcome all obstacles to achieving a deal to end the war.

“The (Hamas) movement’s delegation participating in the current negotiations in Egypt is working to overcome all obstacles to reaching an agreement that meets the aspirations of our people in Gaza,” Barhoum said in a televised statement.

He said a deal must ensure an end to the war and a full Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip – conditions that Israel has never accepted. Israel, for its part wants Hamas to disarm, something the militant group rejects.

Hamas wants a permanent, comprehensive ceasefire, a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the immediate start of a comprehensive reconstruction process under the supervision of a Palestinian “national technocratic body”, he said.

As a reminder, Trump’s plan requires Hamas to return all 48 hostages – about 20 of them thought by Israel to still be alive – give up power and disarm in return for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, a surge in aid and an end to Israel’s assault.

However, the proposal, which has been accepted by Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, sets no path to Palestinian statehood.

Hamas has only agreed to three points: the release of all hostages, the surrendering of power and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza.

Hamas did not mention disarmament in its response to the plan – a sign that this could be a huge sticking point in negotiations.

Lisa O’Carroll

British journalist Yvonne Ridley, who had been reported as missing by the Global Sumud Flotilla following detention by the Israelis last week, is safe and in Jordan, Scottish media have reported.

Newsquest journalist Lucy Jackson posted a photograph of Ridley in Jordan.

Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesperson has been quoted by the AFP news agency as having said that Israel should have ceased its attacks on Gaza already in line with Donald Trump’s plan to bring an end to the war.

Majed al-Ansari told reporters in Doha:

We await the outcomes of the negotiations in the coming days regarding the ceasefire.

This question should be directed first to the Israeli occupation government.

It was supposed to actually cease fire if the statements made by the prime minister there regarding adherence to the Trump plan were true.

Egyptian and Qatari mediators are playing key parts in the talks between Hamas and Israel.

“I have no doubt that this round of negotiations is a process in which all parties are strongly committed to reaching a consensus, but there are many details to consider,” Ansari added.

He said the plan’s clauses “require practical interpretation on the ground, which of course requires communication with all parties”.

Tensions are still high between Qatar and Israel after an Israeli attack on Doha targeting the Hamas leadership last month.

Hamas has said that all of its leaders were safe, but five lower-ranked members were reportedly killed. Qatar said one of its security forces was killed in the attack and accused Israel of “state terrorism”.

It said the attack, which drew fierce international condemnation, seriously undermined ceasefire negotiations, but there is now renewed momentum for some kind of deal to be reached under the US plan.

A US delegation led by presidential envoy Steve Witkoff will join talks aimed at a truce in Gaza and hostage and prisoner exchange on Wednesday, Egypt’s foreign minister Badr Abdelatty has said.

In a joint press conference with his German counterpart, Johann Wadephul, Abdelatty said they “had a long conversation with Steve Witkoff, who is expected in Egypt in the coming hours”.

Khalil al-Hayya, a senior Hamas leader who was one of the targets of an Israeli assassination attempt in Doha, Qatar, last month, was in Sharm el-Sheikh for indirect talks with Israel on Trump’s 20-point plan yesterday.

The US is being represented by Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law and former presidential adviser Jared Kushner.

Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced this weekend that strategic affairs minister Ron Dermer would lead Israel’s delegation, but has since said that foreign policy adviser Ophir Falk is in Egypt, among others, for Israel.

Mediators from Qatar, Egypt and the US have been holding shuttle talks between the Hamas and Israeli negotiating teams.

The indirect talks are continuing taking place in Egypt between delegations from Hamas and Israel today. There have been no reports of significant breakthroughs yet.

It’s not clear how long the talks will last. Netanyahu said they would be “confined to a few days maximum,” and Trump has said that Hamas must move quickly, “or else all bets will be off.”

Hamas officials have warned more time may be needed to locate bodies of hostages buried under rubble.

In a statement posted to social media, Keir Starmer, the British prime minister, called the deadly Hamas-led attack on 7 October 2023 “horrifying”, adding that “time does not diminish the evil we saw that day”.

He said:

The worst attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust. The brutal, cold blooded torture and murder of Jews in their own homes. And the taking of hostages, including British citizens, some of whom remain in Gaza today.

Since that awful day, so many have endured a living nightmare. When I spoke with some of the families of the British hostages, I promised them in person that we will not cease in our efforts to bring their loved ones home.

But back here in the UK, our Jewish communities have also endured rising antisemitism on our streets, in our country. And last week, a horrifying terrorist attack on the holy day of Yom Kippur in Manchester.

This is a stain on who we are, and this country will always stand tall and united against those who wish harm and hatred upon Jewish communities.

Starmer was, for a long time, largely supportive of Israel’s military response to the 7 October attack, insisting on the country’s right to “defend itself” despite the high civilian death toll in Gaza.

Starmer prompted fury after he said Israel had “the right” to withhold water and power from Palestinian people, in October 2023. In the same interview Starmer told LBC “obviously everything should be done within international law” and later clarified his remarks.

Over the last few months, the British prime minister, often in coordination with western allies, has become increasingly vocal against Israel’s assault on Gaza and the lack of aid being allowed in which has caused famine conditions in parts of the Strip.

In a rare defiance of the US on foreign policy, the UK recognised Palestinian statehood, along with a slew of other countries including Canada and Australia, last month, provoking anger in the Netanyahu government and a rebuke from Washington.