𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not comment on the status of the talks in Egypt but told Israelis Tuesday that they were in “fateful days of decision.”

Trump expressed optimism about the talks, telling reporters in Washington there was “a possibility that we could have peace in the Middle East.”

Qatar wants international guarantees, led by the United States, that what is negotiated in Egypt will lead to Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza, the entry of more aid and a permanent end to the war, Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari told the Saudi Arabian news channel al-Hadath on Tuesday.

Wednesday “will undoubtedly be a pivotal day in determining these details,” he said.

But Israel’s far-right security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, urged Netanyahu to pursue “complete victory” over Hamas in Gaza in a video X that was recorded by the mosque on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount.

Another video showed him praying at the compound, his latest challenge to a decades-old understanding allowing only Muslim worship at the site.

Israel has continued its assault on Gaza while the talks have been taking place. Its military campaign has killed more than 67,000 people, reducing much of the enclave to rubble, after the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas, in which 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken to Gaza as hostages.

There were somber gatherings across Israel on Tuesday to mark the attacks, including in the country’s south, where families and friends paid their respects to the more than 370 victims killed at the Nova music festival.

Palestinians, meanwhile, reflected on two years of brutal conflict and their hopes for an end to the devastation.

Alaa Abu Daraz and her children left their home in eastern Gaza on Oct. 7, and two years later they have yet to return, living on the streets as they seek safety.

“Our children are left in the streets, with no tent, no shelter, not even a blanket,” she told NBC News this week. “We managed through the summer and survived the heat, but the winter is unbearable; one cannot live or do anything in these conditions.”

Israel has faced mounting global isolation over its assault.

The Israeli army intercepted a new aid flotilla bound for Gaza that included a number of Americans on Wednesday, days after the detention of activists on board a high-profile flotilla fueled international outrage.

Eight U.S. citizens were “likely abducted” by Israeli forces on international waters, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition said Wednesday.