Middle East peace talks underway on second anniversary of Oct. 7 attack
(NBC, KYMA) - Negotiators for Israel and Hamas are meeting Tuesday for high level talks in Egypt on President Donald Trump's peace plan.
The talks resumed on the second anniversary of the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel.
A central piece of the negotiations includes releasing the last living hostages and the remains of others.
As Israelis mark two years since the Hamas terror attacks which killed 1,200 people while taking 250 hostages, and Palestinians pray for an end to the war that followed, killing more than 66,000 in Gaza, according to health officials, there are finally signs that peace could be near.
"We have a really good chance of making a deal, and it will be a lasting deal," Trump expressed.
Israel and Hamas working through the details of President Trump's 20-point peace plan, with Arab mediators in Egypt, shuttling between the two sides.
"We have just about every nation working on this deal," Trump shared.
Under the agreement, Israel would stop the war and gradually withdraw from most of Gaza, provided Hamas frees all 48 of its remaining hostages, 20 of them believed to still be alive, disarms and leaves power.
The last provision, a central sticking point, is still an open question, leaving hostage families suspended between hope and dread.
"We cannot let another deal collapse," said Liran Berman, brother of Ziv And Gali Berman.
NBC News Chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel spoke to one freed hostage, Ohad Ben Ali, about the day that changed everything.
"I was in here on my bed, and my wife was here on the ground," Ali remembered.
The painful months held captive in a tunnel and the urgency for those who remain.
"Bring all of them, all of the hostages and finish this war," Ali remarked.
A plea echoed across the region and the world.
U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner are in Egypt and expected to join the talks after mediators talk through the outcome of their meetings with Israel and Hamas.
