By ALON BERNSTEIN and MELANIE LIDMAN, Associated Press

REIM, Israel (AP) — Thousands of people converged on southern Israel on Tuesday to mourn the dead as the nation marked two years since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack plunged the region into a devastating war, while Israel and Hamas pressed on with indirect peace talks in Egypt.

The main memorial in Tel Aviv, planned for later in the evening and organized by the bereaved families, is separate from a ceremony that the government will hold on the anniversary next week according to the Hebrew calendar.

People visit the site of the Nova music festival, where hundreds of revelers were killed and abducted by Hamas and taken into Gaza, as Israel marks the second year anniversary of the attack, near Kibbutz Reim, southern Israel, Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

The split in the ceremonies reflects deep divisions over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ’s leadership, which many blame for the failure to secure a ceasefire that would free the remaining hostages held by the militants.

In the Gaza Strip, where Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed tens of thousands of people and razed entire towns and cities, those who can are fleeing another Israeli invasion of Gaza City while others are sheltering in place. Many are unable to make the arduous and costly journey south.

The worst attack in Israel’s history

It’s been two years since Hamas poured into southern Israel after a surprise barrage of rockets. They stormed army bases, farming communities and an outdoor music festival, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, including women, children and older adults.

They abducted 251 others, most of whom have since been released in ceasefires or other deals. Forty-eight hostages remain inside Gaza, around 20 of them believed by Israel to still be alive. Hamas has said it will release them only in exchange for a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal. Netanyahu has vowed to continue the war until all of the captives are returned and Hamas has been disarmed.

People attend a memorial service marking two years since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas cross-border attack on Israel, in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, southern Israel where many of its community members were Killed and abducted, Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

The attack set in motion a cascade of events that led Israel into combat with Iran and its allies across the region, including Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which suffered major losses. The United States joined Israel in attacking Iran’s military and nuclear program in a 12-day war in June.

Israel has killed several top militants as well as Iranian generals and nuclear scientists, and it has vastly depleted the military capabilities of its enemies while seizing control over most of Gaza as well as parts of Lebanon and Syria.

But the failure to return the hostages has left the country deeply divided, with weekly mass protests against Netanyahu. Israel is more isolated internationally than it has been in decades.

A memorial at the scene of a massacre

Nearly 400 Israelis were killed and dozens abducted from the Nova music festival in the border community of Reim. Over the last two years, it has emerged as a memorial site, with portraits of the kidnapped and the fallen.

Though there was no official ceremony at the Nova site, due to the Jewish holiday of Sukkot that coincides with the anniversary, thousands of people visited throughout the day to share memories of relatives and friends who were killed, weaving through hundreds of photos encircling the spot where the DJ booth stood.

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Many gathered before sunrise, playing the same track of music that was playing two years ago, stopping for a moment of silence at 6:29 a.m. — the exact time the attack began.

People embraced and spoke of their loss. Alon Muskinov, 28, who was at the festival and lost three of his closest friends, said survivors don’t need an anniversary to remember.

“We don’t need a specific day, because we live this every day anew,” he said.

Yehuda Rahmani, whose daughter Sharon — a police officer at the festival — was also among those killed, said he visits the Nova site every day. He drinks his morning cup of coffee next to a photo of his daughter at the last place where she was alive.

To this day, Rahmani keeps hoping he will run into a survivor who could tell him about his daughter’s last moments. He is angry at the government for not launching an inquiry into security failures of that day.

“When you don’t know what happened, it makes it so much harder,” he said.

Israeli artillery and the boom of explosions in Gaza echoed across the Nova site as smoke billowed over the Strip. The Israeli military said a rocket was launched from northern Gaza in the morning, but no damage or injuries were reported.

Israeli forces have arrested at least 35 people in the occupied West Bank, east Jerusalem and elsewhere since Monday, according to a group representing Palestinian prisoners. The Israeli military did not immediately confirm the arrests but said “regular counterterrorism activity” was underway.

In Tel Aviv, dozens gathered at a memorial site that was set up in a city square.

Shay Dickmann, whose aunt was killed in Kibbutz Be’eri and whose cousin, Carmel Gat, was taken hostage by Hamas and killed 11 months later, said all everyone wants is for the war to end.

“There is a deal on the table, there is an opportunity to end this war and bring everybody back home,” she said. “We all deserve it, we deserve it, our neighbors deserve it, we want this war to end and all to come back to their homes.”

Israel and Hamas discuss Trump peace plan

In neighboring Egypt, in the resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, Israel and Hamas held indirect talks Monday to discuss U.S. President Donald Trump’s peace plan. The talks were to continue Tuesday.

The war has already killed over 67,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, part of the Hamas-run government, which does not say how many were civilians or combatants. It says women and children make up around half the dead, and many independent experts say its figures are the most reliable estimate of wartime casualties.

Israel’s offensive has displaced around 90% of Gaza’s population of some 2 million, often multiple times, and restrictions on humanitarian aid have contributed to a severe hunger crisis, with experts saying Gaza City is experiencing famine.

In Gaza, Ghassan Abu Rejeila said the war has stripped Gaza of everything that gives life meaning, whether it’s a family gathering or a decent meal. “We’ve lost the beautiful moments. Our life has become hell upon hell. Every day, there is killing, strikes, death, martyrdom.”

For Maha Shbeir, a doctor at Nasser hospital, these last two years feel like two decades worth of tragedy, suffering, homelessness and hunger.

“I’ve seen cases of children, elderly people, women, cases of amputation, burns, head injuries,” she said. “They weren’t cases that a normal person could… I don’t know how we will recover in the future from them, from those scenes that we’ve seen.”

Experts and major rights groups have accused Israel of genocide, and the International Criminal Court is seeking the arrest of Netanyahu and his former defense minister for allegedly using starvation as a method of war.

Israel vehemently denies the allegations, saying it is waging a lawful war of self-defense and taking extraordinary measures to avoid harming civilians. It blames Hamas for the death and destruction in Gaza because the militants are deeply embedded in populated areas.

Hamas portrayed the Oct. 7 attack as a response to decades of Israeli land seizures, settlement construction and military occupation. But the attack has exacted a catastrophic toll on the Palestinians, whose dream of an independent state appears as distant as ever despite recent moves by major Western countries to recognize one.

Associated Press journalists Areej Hazboun in Tel Aviv, Israel, Wafaa Shurafa in Gaza and Menelaos Hadjicostis in Nicosia, Cyprus, contributed to this report.

By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER, ERIC TUCKER and STEPHEN GROVES, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Pam Bondi defended herself against Democratic criticism that she had weaponized the Justice Department at a Tuesday congressional hearing where she was set to face tough questions over the political pressure on the law enforcement agency to pursue President Donald Trump’s perceived foes.

During her opening remarks, Bondi echoed conservative claims that President Joe Biden’s Justice Department, which brought two criminal cases against Trump, was the one that weaponized the law enforcement agency even though some of its most high-profile probes concerned the Democratic president and his son. Bondi pointed to revelations from a day earlier that the FBI had analyzed phone records of several Republican lawmakers as part of an investigation into Trump’s efforts to undo the results of his election loss to Biden in 2020.

“They were playing politics with law enforcement powers and will go down as a historic betrayal of public trust,” Bondi said. “This is the kind of conduct that shatters the American people’s faith in our law enforcement system. We will work to earn that back every single day.”

The testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee comes just ahead of former FBI Director James Comey’s first court appearance following an indictment that has deepened concerns that the department is being used to seek vengeance against the Republican president’s political opponents. It also comes as federal law enforcement officials surge into several cities across the U.S. to combat crime and enforce immigration laws.

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The hearing is likely to split along deeply partisan lines, with Republicans expected to laud the Justice Department’s focus on confronting violent crime and reversing Biden-era priorities. Democrats, by contrast, are poised to grill Bondi about a turbulent eight-month tenure that, besides politically charged investigations, has also been defined by mass firings and resignations of experienced prosecutors, including some who investigated Trump, resisted Trump administration pressure or simply served in senior roles in the prior administration.

As the hearing opened, Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the committee’s Republican chairman, praised Bondi for “getting tough on criminals” and her efforts to scrutinize what conservatives have alleged was the targeting of conservatives by the Biden Justice Department.

Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the committee’s top Democrat, lamented the surge of hundreds of career officials with a combined thousands of years of law enforcement experience. Durbin told Bondi that her actions at the Justice Department, including the diversion of agents to focus on immigration enforcement, are making America less safe.

“What has taken place since January 20th, 2025, would make even President Nixon recoil,” Durbin said of the president who resigned to avoid being impeached in connection with the Watergate scandal. “This is your legacy, Attorney General Bondi. In eight short months, you fundamentally transformed the Justice Department and left an enormous stain in American history. It will take decades to recover.”

Bondi’s appearance is her first before the panel since her confirmation hearing last January, when she pledged to not play politics with the Justice Department — a promise Democrats are likely to pounce on as they press the attorney general on whether she can withstand pressure from a president publicly calling to charge his perceived enemies.

Bondi and other Republican allies have said the Biden administration, which brought two criminal cases against Trump, was the one that weaponized the department even though some of its most high-profile probes concerned the Democratic president and his son.

The Comey indictment is likely to take center stage at the hearing. The U.S. attorney’s office in Virginia that brought the case had expressed reservations about the strength of evidence, and the Trump administration had to race to install a new prosecutor to secure the charges after the experienced leader of that office resigned days earlier under pressure.

Other inquiries are likely to come up as well.

The Justice Department under Bondi has opened criminal investigations into other vocal critics of the president, including Democratic U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff, who sits on the Judiciary Committee, as well as New York Attorney General Letitia James and Andrew Cuomo, the former New York governor and current mayoral candidate. They have all denied wrongdoing, as has Comey, and have slammed the investigations as politically motivated.

Bondi is likely to tout the Justice Department’s efforts to tackle violent crime by surging federal law enforcement in Washington and now Memphis, Tennessee. Republican lawmakers who make up the majority of the committee will also likely highlight the department’s focus on illegal immigration and dismantling Mexican cartels responsible for smuggling drugs into American communities.

The attorney general may also face questions about the Justice Department’s handling of investigative files related to the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking investigation. The wealthy New York financier’s case has dogged the department since its decision in July not to publicly release any more files in its possession after raising the expectations of conservative influencers and conspiracy theorists.

But even in the face of intense conservative outrage, Bondi maintained the strong public support of the president.

BERLIN (AP) — The newly elected mayor of a town in western Germany was found with serious stabbing wounds on Tuesday, and Chancellor Friedrich Merz said she was the victim of “an abhorrent act.”

An ambulance stands in front of police cars on a street in Herdecke, Germany, Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025, after the newly elected mayor of Herdecke, Iris Stalzer, has been found critically injured in her apartment. (Alex Talash/dpa via AP)

Iris Stalzer was elected as mayor of Herdecke on Sept. 28. She is a member of the center-left Social Democrats, the junior party in Germany’s conservative-led national government.

German news agency dpa, citing unidentified security sources, reported that she was found with life-threatening injuries and had several stabbing wounds.

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Police said only that there was a large operation underway in Herdecke.

Merz wrote on social media that “we fear for the life of mayor-elect Iris Stalzer and hope for her full recovery.”

The leader of the Social Democrats’ parliamentary group in Berlin, Matthias Miersch, told reporters that “we heard a few minutes ago that newly elected mayor Iris Stalzer was stabbed in Herdecke.” He said that “we hope that she survives this terrible act.”

“We can’t say anything at the moment about the background,” he added.

Stalzer, who beat a candidate from Merz’s center-right Christian Democrats in a runoff vote to win election, is due to take office on Nov. 1. Herdecke is a town of about 23,000 people in western Germany’s Ruhr region, between the cities of Hagen and Dortmund.

Stalzer’s website says she is 57 and married with two teenage children. It says she has spent almost her whole life in Herdecke and has worked as a lawyer specializing in labor law.

By SAMY MAGDY and DAVID RISING, Associated Press

CAIRO (AP) — Peace talks between Israel and Hamas resumed at an Egyptian resort city on Tuesday, the two-year anniversary of the militant group’s surprise attack on Israel that triggered the bloody conflict that has seen tens of thousands of Palestinians killed in Gaza.

The second day of indirect negotiations at the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh are focused on a plan proposed by U.S. President Donald Trump last week that aims to bring about an end to the war.

After several hours of talks Monday, an Egyptian official with knowledge of the discussions said the parties agreed on most of the first-phase terms, which include the release of hostages and establishing a ceasefire. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private meetings, said the talks resumed Tuesday afternoon.

The plan has received widespread international backing, and Trump told reporters on Monday that he thought there was a “really good chance” of a lasting deal.

“This is beyond Gaza,” he said. “Gaza is a big deal, but this is really peace in the Middle East.”

Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty told journalists that members of the U.S. delegation would join the talks on Wednesday.

Trump’s peace plan

Many uncertainties remain, however, including the demand that Hamas disarm and the future governance of Gaza.

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long said Hamas must surrender and disarm, but Hamas has not yet commented.

The plan envisions Israel withdrawing its troops from Gaza after Hamas disarms, and an international security force being put in place. The territory would be placed under international governance, with Trump and former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair overseeing it.

The war began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas stormed into southern Israel and killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251.

The devastating war that has ensued has upended global politics, resulted in the deaths of 67,160 Palestinians and nearly 170,000 wounded, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, and left the territory in ruins.

The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants, but says more than half of the deaths were women and children. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government, and the United Nations and many independent experts consider its figures to be the most reliable estimate of wartime casualties.

A growing number of experts, including those commissioned by a U.N. body, have said Israel’s offensive in Gaza amounts to genocide — an accusation Israel vehemently denies.

On Tuesday at the area attacked by Hamas two years ago, thousands of Israelis gathered to pay tribute to loved ones who were killed and kidnapped. An explosion echoed across the fields following the launch of a rocket in northern Gaza. No damage or injuries were reported.

People attend a memorial service marking two years since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas cross-border attack on Israel, in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, southern Israel where many of its community members were Killed and abducted, Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

In Gaza City, residents said Israeli attacks continued until Tuesday’s early hours. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

“We pray to God that this war will end as soon as possible, today instead of tomorrow,” Sanaa Adwan, a displaced woman, said in Khan Younis on Monday.

A promise of humanitarian relief

Ahead of the resumption of talks, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the hostilities have created “a humanitarian catastrophe on a scale that defied comprehension.”

“The recent proposal by U.S. President Donald J. Trump presents an opportunity that must be seized to bring this tragic conflict to an end,” Guterres said in a statement.

Mediators from Qatar and Egypt are facilitating the talks, meeting first on Monday with members of the Hamas delegation and later with those from Israel.

Monday’s talks went for four hours, according to Majed al-Ansari, a spokesman for Qatar’s Foreign Ministry.

Israel’s delegation included Gal Hirsch, coordinator for the hostages and the missing from Netanyahu’s office. Hamas representatives included top negotiator Khalil Al-Hayya.

White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said Monday that U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner were on hand to take part in the talks.

She did not comment on a specific deadline for concluding them, but said it is important “that we get this done quickly.”

Part of the plan is to surge humanitarian aid into Gaza, where more than 2 million Palestinians are facing hunger and, in some areas, famine.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said there are “many thousands of metric tons in the pipeline of goods ready to enter” from Jordan, the Israeli port of Ashdod and elsewhere.

Rising reported from Bangkok. Melanie Lidman in Reim, Israel; Sam Mednick in Tel Aviv, Israel;Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed.