SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (Reuters) -Israeli tanks, boats and jets pounded parts of Gaza on Tuesday, giving Palestinians no respite on the anniversary of the Hamas attack that led to two years of war and underlining the challenges at talks on Donald Trump’s plan to halt the conflict.
With no ceasefire in place, residents said Israel pressed on with its offensive, after Hamas and Israel began indirect negotiations on Monday in Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt on key issues such as Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza and Hamas’ disarmament.
The talks on the U.S. president’s plan are widely seen as the most promising yet for ending a war that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and devastated Gaza since the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel which killed 1,200 people.
QATAR TAKES A CAUTIOUS LINE ON TALKS
But Qatar, which has mediated in previous attempts to secure a ceasefire along with the United States and Egypt, said many details still have to be ironed out.
“The plan consists of 20 points, and all of these points require practical interpretations on the ground,” Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Majed al-Ansari, told a press conference.
Hamas handing over hostages seized in the 2023 attack would mean the end of the war, he said.
NO CEASEFIRE AFTER TWO YEARS OF WAR
Residents in Khan Younis in southern Gaza and Gaza City in the north reported heavy bombing from tanks and planes in the early hours on Tuesday. Israeli forces pounded several districts from the air, sea and ground, they said.
Gaza militants fired rockets across the border early on Tuesday, setting off air raid sirens at Israeli kibbutz Netiv Haasara, and Israeli troops continued to tackle gunmen inside the enclave, the Israeli military said.
Israelis marking the anniversary of the Hamas attack gathered at some of the worst-hit sites of that day, including the Nova music festival where 364 people were shot, bludgeoned or burned to death, and at Tel Aviv’s so-called Hostages Square.
All of those places remind Israelis of the bloodiest single day for Jews since the Holocaust.
Orit Baron, whose daughter Yuval was killed with her fiancee Moshe Shuva at the Nova festival, stood beside a photo of her daughter there.
“They were supposed to get married on February 14th, Valentine’s Day. And both of the families decided because actually they were found (dead) together and they brought them to us together (that) the funeral will be together,” said Baron.
“They are buried next to each other because they were never separated.”
PALESTINIAN MILITANT GROUPS ISSUE STATEMENT
Also marking the anniversary of the Hamas attack, an umbrella of Palestinian factions including Hamas, the Islamic Jihad and smaller militant groups vowed “the choice of resistance by all means is the sole and only way to confront the Zionist enemy.”
“No one has the right to cede the weapons of the Palestinian people. This legitimate weapon… will be passed through the Palestinian generations until their land and sacred sites are liberated,” said the statement, issued in the name of “Factions of the Palestinian Resistance”.
Since the war began, more than 67,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, with nearly a third of those under 18, according to Gaza health authorities.
A U.N. commission of inquiry last month assessed that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza. Israel called the finding biased and “scandalous”.
“It’s been two years that we are living in fear, horror, displacement and destruction,” said Mohammed Dib, a 49-year-old Gazan, voicing hopes of an end to the conflict..
‘THIS MOMENT MUST BE SEIZED’, EU SAYS
Despite the continued violence, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the “immediate release of all hostages and a ceasefire are now within reach”.
“This moment must be seized to pave the way for a lasting peace in the region, based on the two-state solution,” she said.
Israel responded to the 2023 attack by launching its offensive in Gaza, while also assassinating the group’s leaders outside the Strip and other Iranian-backed groups such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah, and pounding Yemen’s Houthis.
It killed Iran’s top military commanders and attacked its nuclear facilities during a brief war joined by the United States.
The offensive in Gaza has largely flattened the enclave, and left Israel increasingly isolated on the world stage. Some Western leaders have recognized Palestinian statehood and pro-Palestinian protests have erupted around the world.
BOTH SIDES ENDORSE OVERALL PRINCIPLES OF PLAN
Israel and Hamas have endorsed the overall principles behind Trump’s plan, under which fighting would cease, hostages go free and aid pour into Gaza.
It also has backing from Arab and Western states. Trump has called for negotiations to take place swiftly towards a final agreement.
Even if a deal is clinched during talks in Egypt, questions will linger over who will rule Gaza and rebuild it. Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have ruled out any role for Hamas.
A Hamas source familiar with the talks said the group had requested a clear timeline of an Israeli pullout and guarantees the war will end.
An official involved in ceasefire planning and a Palestinian source said Trump’s 72-hour deadline for the hostages’ return could be unachievable for dead hostages. Their remains may need to be located and recovered from scattered sites.
(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Cairo and Maayan Luubell in Jerusalem and Reuters television in Sharm el-Sheikh and Charlotte Van Campenhout in Amseterdam; Writing by Michael Georgy, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
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