(8 Mar 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
++QUALITY AS INCOMING++
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tel Aviv, Israel – 8 March 2025
++NIGHT SHOTS++
1. Wide of protesters
2. Protester waving sign reading (English) "Let my people go" on one side, and "Nir Oz trials are coming!" on other side
3. Zoom out and pan left of protesters
4. Prop body covered in Israeli flag, sign reading (Hebrew) "The price of cancelling phase two of the deal"
5. Protester with sign reading (English) "Bring them home from hell"
6. Various of protesters around fire and banner reading (Hebrew) "Mr Trump, hostages are waiting for you to get them home"
STORYLINE:
Crowds of protesters took to the streets of central Tel Aviv on Saturday for a weekly demonstration demanding the immediate release of all the remaining hostages still being held in Gaza.
It comes as Israel said that it would send a delegation to Qatar on Monday “in an effort to advance the negotiations” around the ceasefire in Gaza, while Hamas reported “positive signals” in talks with Egyptian and Qatari mediators on starting negotiations on the truce’s delayed second phase.
The statement from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office gave no details except to say it had “accepted the invitation of U.S.-backed mediators.”
Hamas spokesman Abdel-Latif al-Qanoua also gave no details. Talks on the second phase should have started a month ago.
There was no immediate comment from the White House, which on Wednesday made the surprise confirmation of direct U.S. talks with Hamas.
Over the past week, Israel has pressed Hamas to release half of the remaining hostages in return for an extension of the first phase, which ended last weekend, and a promise to negotiate a lasting truce.
Hamas is believed to have 24 living hostages and the bodies of 34 others.
Israel last weekend cut off all supplies to Gaza and its more than 2 million people as it pressed Hamas to agree.
The militant group has said that the move would affect the remaining hostages as well.
The ceasefire has paused the deadliest and most destructive fighting ever between Israel and Hamas, sparked by the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
The first phase allowed the return of 25 living hostages and the remains of eight others in exchange for the release of nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.
Israeli forces have withdrawn to buffer zones inside Gaza, hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians have returned to northern Gaza for the first time since early in the war and hundreds of trucks of aid entered per day until Israel suspended supplies.
Before their weekly rally in Tel Aviv, relatives of hostages appealed to U.S. President Donald Trump, who met with eight former hostages on Wednesday.
Israel’s military offensive has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t say how many of the dead were militants.
Hamas’ attack in October 2023 killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, inside Israel and took 251 people hostage.
Most have been released in ceasefire agreements or other arrangements.
AP video shot by: Shlomo Mor
===========================================================
Clients are reminded to adhere to all listed restrictions and to check the terms of their licence agreements. For further assistance, please contact the AP Archive on: Tel +44(0)2074827482 Email: info@aparchive.com.
Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/
You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/239d8fd3052a4b54b77938cff4c8e432
Author: AP Archive
Go to Source
News post in March 14, 2025, 12:04 am.
Visit Our Sponsor’s:
News Post In – News
