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Sources: Israel-Hamas Hostage Deal Imminent; Family Member Of Hostages Talks About Potential Deal; 28 Premature, Sick Babies From Gaza Now Receiving Care At 2 Egyptian Hospitals. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired November 21, 2023 - 14:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[14:30:00]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: We are back following the breaking news out of the Middle East. I'm Boris Sanchez, alongside Dana Bash and Jessica Dean.

Israel is potentially on the cusp of approving a deal that would see the release of some 50 hostages held Hamas and other groups. In exchange, Israel would free about 150 Palestinians in Israeli custody.

Earlier today, President Biden sounded confident this deal would get done.

DANA BASH, CNN HOST: That's right. And we want to go to M.J. Lee at the White House.

M.J., you have been doing some remarkable reporting on the contours of this deal, including just in the past couple of hours what we're hearing from inside the administration as they are waiting for this deal to be finalized, hoping, of course, that that happens.

M.J. LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and Dana, keep in mind there's no playbook for how everything would unfold once a deal is agreed upon. There's no precedent for how everything would unfold.

But the White House has laid out some of the broad strokes of how they be believe things would unfold once the hostages are released.

First and foremost, there would need to be safe passages that are established so that people can physically get out safely. You can see how a pause in the fighting would have everything to do with that.

And then the hostages would need to get medical attention. That goes without saying that we cannot imagine the conditions that these people have been under for many weeks now.

We don't know about the status updates, the status of their health updates. We've just gotten very little information about any of that.

And for any of the dual citizens in the mix, they would be repatriated to their home countries, if that's what they wanted, so they could finally be reunited with their families.

Then for any U.S. citizens that are in the mix, of course, the State Department would be very closely engaged and making sure that they get the help that they need, they get to where they want to go in terms of being reunited with families and potentially returning back to the states.

On that point, we still just have very little information. We don't know exactly what to expect about how many Americans may be in the mix in that initial 50 hostages that are expected to be released.

This is a question that I posed to President Biden directly several hours ago. He really didn't want to get into the details.

All we know right now, is that U.S. officials are feeling hopeful that 3-year-old Abigail Hassan (ph) will be in the mix of the 50 hostages. Again, beyond the 3-year-old toddler, we don't know.

Officials here are saying that as far as the release is concerned, this is a process that is going to be incredibly complex and it could take hours if not days for all of that to unfold.

BASH: Absolutely.

Thank you so much for that reporting, M.J.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: You know, it's interesting because this is such a critical moment for the White House, too, right?

Because the top officials in the White House, this has been one of their top priorities, not to mention President Biden himself stepping in to get the release of these hostages.

(CROSSTALK)

DEAN: There's a lot on the line for them here.

BASH: Wow. So much on the line.

You guys, we've all been reporting about the fact that the pressure on President Biden has been increasing. It's been increasing from within his own party.

The pressure is coming from various sides and various angles. There are some, who really since the beginning of the Israel retaliation, have been calling for a ceasefire.

Initially the president said we're not even going to do that. In fact, not initially, even to this minute, he's saying no ceasefire.

Then the question is, if there's a pause, how long is the pause? Then there's also a question that he's fielding from Congress, which they'll be dealing with next week when they come back.

Which is, will there any aid to Israel, which, not that long ago, was a given that how do you bring aid to Israel, which would be -- not unanimous but certain bipartisan and not with strings attached. And you're hearing more and more of a call for that. So, it is incredibly complicated. But everybody I speak with inside

the White House say that the person who is the most steadfast on supporting Israel.

And supporting whatever Israel thinks that it needs for nothing short of its existence, which, if Hamas stays in place and is successful, it would mean the eradication of Israel.

Not to sound too dramatic, but that's what we're talking about --

(CROSSTALK)

BASH: -- to say stay the course and support despite and -- despite the increasing pressure on him, again from within his own party.

SANCHEZ: If this deal is accomplished and the ceasefire holds for the four or five days that are being negotiated, I think it would be a big diplomatic win for the White House.

I'm curious to get your perspective because it comes with risk, right?

BASH: Sure does.

SANCHEZ: There have been, what, 64 attacks on American personnel in the region?

(CROSSTALK)

SANCHEZ: And Natasha Bertrand, from the Pentagon, reported earlier that there was an attack by U.S. forces. An aircraft fired on a vehicle and killed hostile forces at the Al Assad Air Base in Iraq.

[14:35:02]

You have to weigh -- I was speaking with Colonel Leighton behind closed doors before we got on set.

He relayed so much of the idea that this ceasefire and whether Hamas breaks it or not ultimately depends on Iran and whether the U.S. confronts Iran directly. Again, there's a lot of risk of escalation.

BASH: Yes. Nothing happens in a vacuum, anywhere, but particularly the Middle East and particularly dealing with Iran which has tentacles and proxies everywhere.

That's what we're seeing just today with an attack inside Iraq. It's no question one of the things that the Biden administration is weighing, because it is -- it's Whack-a-Mole in the Middle East.

And the conversations that are happening, and where Becky is in Qatar, is so key. They are the linchpin not just for the critical conversations and negotiations to get civilian hostages who are being held and have been for 45 days, including a toddler who is an American citizen.

But also the broader, very delicate talks with the region to make sure that what Iran is doing doesn't escalate.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

BASH: Yes.

SANCHEZ: Still much more to come. Special live coverage straight ahead.

We are also going to speak to a man whose family was kidnapped by Hamas. What he thinks about this potential imminent deal, when we come back. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:40:50]

BASH: Welcome back to our breaking news. The full Israeli cabinet is meeting to discuss a potential hostage deal that would free about 50 women and children, mostly women, we're told, from inside Gaza in exchange for a four to five-day pause in fighting.

Three Palestinian prisoners could be released for each Israeli hostage.

DEAN: For the families of those held hostage, you can imagine -- it's hard to imagine that this has been an agonizing 45 days.

That includes the family of the Chen Almog Goldstein. She and three of her children, 17-yeawr-old Agam, 18-year-old - 11-year-old Gal and 9- year-old Tal were abducted on October 7th. Her husband and elder daughter were murdered on October 7th.

SANCHEZ: We want to bring in Chen's elder brother, Omri Almog, who joins us now.

Omri, thank you so much for sharing part of your afternoon with us.

I want to know how you're feeling right now. You're waiting to find out if these Israeli officials are going to accept this deal. What's going through your mind?

OMRI ALMOG, FAMILY KIDNAPPED BY HAMAS: First of all, I want to say since October 7th when we lost communication with Chen and the three kid, Agam, Gal and Tal, we -- they were missing for over 10 days.

So I said from the beginning to myself and to the family that they're alive. There's no body found, they are not murdered, and the time goes by, I said they are alive. They are somewhere in Gaza.

I know my sister. And now the feeling is with a lot of hope. But we still have to wait patiently to finish all this, less talking. It's much better to everyone, both sides.

When we see them in Israel, it's going to be a done deal for our family. That's no question.

SANCHEZ: I imagine it will be a huge relief for your family after everything you endured.

Have you heard anything from the Israeli government about the deal, whether there has been any confirmation that it could include your sister and the three children?

ALMOG: We know the family -- there's two families here. The Goldstein family and Adal's family, who live in Kfar Azza. And my parents live in Kfar Azza. My adult sister live Kfar Assar. And they all safe.

We, both families, we know for the last few days that something is cooking. We don't know what, and we didn't ask. There is connection with a lot of people that are talking to us. But nothing solid that I can tell you.

Whatever you understand from the media is what I know. But they're talking to us and they wait patient to give us some details because when we have details, they'll give it to us.

As of right now, we don't know anything. We're just waiting. I'm sure in a few days something will happen.

SANCHEZ: Just to be clear, has anyone in the Israeli government given you an indication about the family's condition since October 7th?

ALMOG: They do. Israel knows some details. It's not something that I wanted to share with you.

SANCHEZ: Sure.

ALMOG: But it's not also a big detail or something huge.

[14:45:00]

But as I said, we know they are hostages, they moved from missing to hostage. You have to understand that this is kids and this is family, people that their lives are on the scale.

So, whatever we said is not going to be good. We have to wait patiently. Believe me, I will be happy, happy, happy to talk to you when -- after I touch them and I see them.

(CROSSTALK)

SANCHEZ: Of course.

ALMOG: The whole world understands we're talking about kids and women here. They have nothing to do with this conflict. They just live their lives.

This is the situation right now. We have to wait. It's hard. It's nervous, but there's nothing we can do.

SANCHEZ: That is such an important point. These are innocent civilians that don't have anything to do with the conflict.

I'm wondering what your message might be to Israeli lawmakers, to the full cabinet as they consider finalizing this deal. We understand that some of the members of the cabinet were opposed to it.

ALMOG: A lot of people in Israel, especially the government, understand for the past 40 days after this cruel torture attack by a bad organization that needs to be taken off.

That the first thing of rebuilding Israel and the communities there, Kfar Azza, all the Kibbitz, is to bring those people back to Israel border, back to the families, back to us.

Kids taken out from beds with pajamas, no shoes, and nobody knows where they are for the past 46 days. It's beyond imagine.

So now we can see the light in the end of the tunnel. It's still time to wait and we are waiting patiently.

SANCHEZ: It is a very delicate time.

Omri, if this deal goes through and you see Tal, Gal, Agam and Chen again, what's the first thing you'll do? What will you say to them?

ALMOG: First, I will say I'm sorry.

SANCHEZ: Wow.

ALMOG: Because there's no reason that the army is behind civilians. The army needs to be at the front. We missed this whole horrible situation. The army was behind civilians instead of being at the front.

So, I think -- I'm thinking about it all the time, I'll say I'm sorry to my sister. She needs to be -- living the rest of their lives in a broken family with no husband, with no older daughter, beautiful, beautiful daughter, and an amazing, outstanding talented husband.

And this broken family needs to come back to the grandmother and the grandfather, my parents, and Nadal's parents because they live together.

Nadal has a sister with four daughters. They are the same ages as Chen's kids. Those kids, those daughters of Nadal's sister, they are just waiting and crying, and pray for seeing back Agam, Gal and Tal. It's --

SANCHEZ: Yes.

ALMOG: You know, it's a broken family. We need to bring back whatever is left and we need to rebuild for us so people can go back to there.

And this is a war. We are in the middle of war, fighting for this beautiful country. The only beautiful country, the way I see it, in the Middle East.

And this is what Nadal wants all his life. He said we never leave home, and we have to stay where we are at.

We need to -- we need to rebuild this place, this kibbutz. No question about it.

SANCHEZ: Omri, I'm so sorry you and your family had to endure this. I hope, when the deal is secured, you're able to see your family members again and that you can soon move forward from this tragedy.

Thank you so much, Omri Almog, for your time.

ALMOG: Thank you for having me. Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Of course.

Still to come on CNN, a potential hostage deal imminent. We have much more on this developing story from the Middle East straight ahead. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:59:26]

BASH: Twenty-eight premature babies who were evacuated from Gaza's Al Shifa Hospital earlier this week are now receiving care in two Egyptian hospitals. The Egyptian government says 12 of those babies arrived in critical condition.

DEAN: CNN's Eleni Giokos is in Cairo for us.

What more do we know about these babies tonight?

ELENI GIOKOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, of the 28 babies, as you say, what we know today, the Egyptian authorities tell me that 12 of those were in very critical condition.

They were airlifted to a hospital in the new administrative capital in Cairo for urgent attention. The doctors say that it takes only about 48 hours to stabilize.

[14:55:00]

But you know what has really been one of the big stories is the fact that only four mothers had accompanied the 28 babies. The rest we just don't know.

We don't have information of where their parents are, whether they have living relatives.

But there was one family that was reunited with their little son in Gaza when their little boy was moved from Al Shifa Hospital to the Emirate Hospital. They hadn't seen him for weeks.

I want you to listen to what the father said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALI SBEITI, PARENT OF NEWBORN GAZA BABY EVACUATED TO EGYPT (through translation): Thank God we now feel our son is safe after not seeing him for more than two weeks. We didn't know if he was dead or alive, especially when communications were disconnected with the doctors.

They called us in the beginning to tell us that the child feels better and that we can come to take him, but the Israelis had already cut the street and we were in new Surat.

I'm taking him home, but may God help the rest of the parents.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GIOKOS: And what I have with me as well is a list of what the babies are dealing with right now. They all have low blood oxygen levels. Most are underweight. They're dealing with various injuries. And we know they're all suffering serious infection.

You have to remember the conditions in which they were in in Al Shifa Hospital. We saw that IDF raid, we saw there was just too much bombardment around the hospital. They couldn't evacuate.

That hospital had run out of oxygen, had run out of basic facilities as well. So, it's no surprise that they're in this condition.

But you know, seeing the Egyptian side of things and the medical interventions here, the big hope is they'll get stabilized and then the next step is to try to find their parents.

DEAN: You hope you can get them stabilized and get them all well.

Eleni Giokos, thanks so much.

We are just getting this information in that this hostage release deal that's being worked on right now is set to include Red Cross visits to hostages that will still be in Gaza.

We're told that it would be visits to hostages from Israel that are still being held there in Gaza and medicine for hostages that need it. That is coming from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office.

There's still more breaking news on this as the minutes go by. We'll have more for you when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)