(15 Jan 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
++CLIENTS: RE-FILING EDIT TO REMOVE PART OF YIFAT ZAILER’S FIRST SOUNDBITE IN WHICH SHE MIS-SPOKE AND SAID SHIRI BIBAS’ SON’S BIRTHDAY IS TODAY. HIS BIRTHDAY IS ON SATURDAY++
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Herzliya, Israel – 15 January 2025
1. Pan up close from photographs of photos of Shiri Bibas and her husband Yarden and their children, Ariel, now 5, and Kfir, who will turn 2 on Saturday, held by Shiri’s cousin Yifat Zailer
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Yifat Zailer, cousin of Shiri Bibas, kidnapped on Oct. 7 with her husband and two toddlers: ++STARTS ON PREVIOUS SHOT++
"We don’t really celebrate. It’s the saddest birthday, the second one (in Gaza), because we had one last year."
3. Candle
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Yifat Zailer, cousin of Shiri Bibas, kidnapped on Oct. 7 with her husband and two toddlers: ++PARTLY OVERLAID WITH CUTAWAYS++
"I want to tell all parties involved in the negotiations: It’s time to end this. They won’t be any more or opportunities like this. It’s time to bring home our people. It’s time to end this war. It’s time to prove that humanity can win. And people were taken from their homes in their pyjamas will be reunited with their loved ones. Don’t let us down."
5. Close of photos of the kidnapped family
STORYLINE:
A relative of Israeli children held captive in Gaza pleaded on Wednesday with negotiators to agree on a ceasefire deal.
Yifat Zailer, 38, the cousin of Shiri Bibas, who was kidnapped with her husband and two red-haired sons, Ariel, now 5, and Kfir, who will turn 2 on Saturday, said her family is afraid to hope.
Shiri Bibas and the boys were supposed to be returned during the last ceasefire in November 2023, but the ceasefire fell apart before they were released.
Kfir Bibas was the youngest hostage kidnapped on Oct. 7, 2023, at only 9 months old.
Zailer noted he has now spent more than two thirds of his life as a hostage.
“These days are horrible for us,” said Zailer, breaking down into sobs.
“I want to know already if they’re coming back. I want to know already if they’re ok or not. I want to hold my cousin in my arms and celebrate the biggest celebration,” she said.
"I want to tell all the parties involved in the negotiations, it’s time to end this, there won’t be any more opportunities like this. It’s time to bring home our people, it’s time to end this war," she said, tears streaming down her face.
Hamas has accepted a draft agreement for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the release of dozens of hostages, two officials involved in the talks said Tuesday.
Mediators from the United States and Qatar said Israel and the Palestinian militant group were at the closest point yet to sealing a deal to bring them a step closer to ending 15 months of war.
The Associated Press obtained a copy of the proposed agreement, and an Egyptian official and a Hamas official confirmed its authenticity.
An Israeli official said progress has been made, but the details are being finalized. All three officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the talks.
The U.S., Egypt and Qatar have spent the past year trying to mediate an end to the war and secure the release of dozens of hostages captured in Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered it.
Nearly 100 people are still captive inside Gaza, and the military believes at least a third are dead.
AP video shot by Sam McNeil
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