(16 Mar 2025)
RESTRICTIONS SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Jerusalem – 16 March 2025
1. Close of Israeli police band
2. Wide of band playing and marching while people march by holding giant yellow ribbon for the hostages held in Gaza
3. Various of parade and people playing instruments
4. People watching parade
5. Various of floats in parade
6. Pan of parade
7. SOUNDBITE (Hebrew) Shlomi Hajaj, uncle of Israeli hostage, Rom Braslavski:
"Happy Holidays? I can’t say it’s a happy holiday, it’s a sad holiday because he’s not with us (Rom Braslavski). If they (the hostages) had returned, we would all be even happier, and the whole country would be happy, but there are those who continue (to be sad). But there’s nothing we can do, we’re just waiting for the return of the captives as soon as possible, and not (wanting to) wait even a minute because every day that passes the situation gets worse, whether it’s for the captives or for the families who experience their children in captivity. The families are falling apart in a very, very, very difficult way, very, very difficult way."
8. Women with tambourines in parade
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Noa Heller, visiting from the US:
"It feels like really special (Purim this year) because, you know, there’s still like, how many hostages, like 70 or so in Gaza and they can’t celebrate Purim so it’s almost like we’re celebrating for them by setting up the, like, the symbol, and by, like, advocating for their, like, release, just to bring them home."
10. Various of parade
11. People holding yellow ribbon for hostages
STORYLINE:
Jerusalem held its yearly Purim holiday parade on Sunday.
Purim celebrates the biblical story of how a plot to exterminate Jews in Persia was thwarted, and thus is embraced as an affirmation of Jewish survival throughout history.
The Israeli police band kicked off the parade, followed by people holding a giant yellow ribbon, representing the hostages held in Gaza.
For many, Purim has had an extra significance since the war in Gaza that was triggered by the October 7, 2023 attacks.
"Happy Holidays? I can’t say it’s a happy holiday," said Shlomi Hajaj, the uncle of Israeli hostage Rom Braslavski who was kidnapped from the Nova music festival.
"Every day that passes the situation gets worse, whether it’s for the captives or for their families," he said.
A first phase of a ceasefire ended two weeks ago, but the pause in fighting has held – if tensely – for now.
The initial 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.
Hamas is believed to have 24 living hostages and the bodies of 35 others.
Israel and Hamas were to begin negotiations on the ceasefire’s second phase in early February, but only preparatory talks have been held.
In Phase Two, Hamas would release all remaining hostages in exchange for a lasting truce.
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostage.
Most have been released in deals, while Israel rescued eight living hostages and recovered the bodies of dozens more.
Israel’s military offensive has killed over 48,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many were combatants.
Israel says it has killed around 20,000 militants, without providing evidence.
AP video by Moshe Edri
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