Hundreds gather in the Loop to mark two years of the Israel-Hamas war

A few hundred people gathered Saturday in the Loop to mark two years of the Israel-Hamas war.

Noura Ebrahim with the U.S. Palestinian Community Network (USPCN)-Chicago and coordinator of Boycott Divest and Sanctions Chicago told the crowd of about 300 that protesters have been demonstrating every week in support of Palestinians and that they “will never surrender our right to exist as a people.”

“We continue to march week after week for Palestine and in solidarity with immigrant rights groups fighting [President Donald] Trump’s agenda because our liberation is bound together with the liberation of all oppressed people,” Ebrahim said. “But marching is not enough. Statements are not enough. We are not just fighting genocide abroad. We are confronting the corruption, white supremacy and colonial mindset that sustain it here in Chicago and America here at home.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday he hopes to announce the release of all hostages from Gaza “in the coming days,” as Israel and Hamas prepare for indirect talks in Egypt on Monday on a new U.S. plan to end the war that began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas led an attack on southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people while 251 others were abducted. Most of the hostages have been freed under previous ceasefire deals.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said the Palestinian death toll in the war has topped 67,000. The toll jumped after the ministry said it added more than 700 names whose data had been verified.

But Netanyahu signaled there would not be a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, something Hamas has long demanded. He said Israel’s military will continue to hold territories it controls in Gaza, and that Hamas will be disarmed in the plan’s second phase, diplomatically “or through a military path by us.”

The prime minister spoke after Hamas said Friday that it has accepted some elements of Trump’s plan to end the war in the Gaza Strip, including giving up power and releasing all remaining hostages, but that others require further consultations among Palestinians.

Trump welcomed the militant group’s statement but on Saturday warned that “Hamas must move quickly, or else all bets will be off.”

Contributing: AP