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CNN International: Israel and Gaza Truce to Begin at Friday; Hamas to Release First Group of Israeli Hostages; Humanitarian Aid Standing by at Rafah Crossing; Aid Will Start Flowing Into Gaza Once Truce Begins; Interview with Family Members Taken Hostage by Hamas Ahal Besorai; Israel Continues its Bombardment of Gaza; Director of Gaza's Al-Shifa Hospital Detained; Geert Wilders and his Party Winning Wednesday's National Election; Interview with U.S.-Middle East Project President and Former Israeli Negotiator with the Palestinians Daniel Levy; Deadly Car Crash at the U.S. Canada Border; Macy's Iconic Thanksgiving Day Parade. Aired 1-2p ET
Aired November 23, 2023 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[13:00:00]
ISA SOARES, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Isa Soares, and I'm coming to you from London.
In just under 12 hours, and a day later than of course expected, Israel and Hamas are set to begin a four-day truce. The hard-fought agreement, the details of which were announced by Qatar in the last few hours, brings a brief respite, of course, after six weeks of deadly hostilities.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAJED AL-ANSARI, QATARI FOREIGN AFFAIRS MINISTRY SPOKESMAN: The beginning of the pause will be 7:00 a.m. Friday, the 24th of November, and it will last, of course, as agreed, for four days. And the first patch of civilians to be released from Gaza will be around 4:00 p.m. of the same day.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOARES: Well, as you heard there from the Qataris, this pauses in fighting is said to begin early on Friday morning, that's local time. And then, and around 4:00 p.m., Hamas says it will release the first group of Israeli hostages understood to be 13 women and children. A number of Palestinian prisoners are also expected to be freed from Israeli jails, although it's not clear how many here. And a Palestinian official tells CNN they do not yet have the names of the prisoners set for release.
Right now, convoys of humanitarian aid, as you can see there, are standing by at the Rafah Crossing into Gaza, ready to enter soon as the truce comes into effect. After weeks of delays, aid groups are again warning that the need is dire, which is something we've heard time and time again from NGOs on the ground. I want to bring in our team to get more on this agreement. I want to bring in Jeremy -- CNN Jeremy Diamond, he's in Sderot, Israel and Alex Marquardt in Washington, D.C.
Jeremy, to you first. So, in roughly, what, 12 hours, less than 12 hours, the fighting is expected to pause and then we'll expected to see these 13 hostages to be released. Give us a sense of what the reaction has been to this in Israel. And I assume the families of those 13 have already been informed.
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right. The Israeli government this evening has indeed informed the families of those 13 hostages if indeed they are part of that group tomorrow. The families of those who are not going to be a part of that initial 13 have also been notified, I'm told, and all of this is playing out, of course, against the backdrop of weeks of negotiations that have been absolutely nerve-racking for the families of those hostages, nearly 240 of whom are being held inside of Gaza and have been held inside of Gaza for some 46 days.
I've spoken to several of those families and they've simply been waiting in anticipation to see if their family members will be part of that initial release of 50 hostages over the next four days.
Tomorrow we expect to see the first 13 of those cross into Israel beginning at around 4:00 p.m. local time and they are expected to cross at perhaps three -- any of -- one of three different checkpoints crossings into Israel.
And in the meantime, we also expect that ceasefire to kick in earlier in the morning, about 11 hours from now. But before that happens, what we are witnessing here in the Gaza Strip is a continuation of Israeli military activity. I've been hearing machine gun fire in the background. We've witnessed several large explosions. And the Israeli military has made very clear that they intend to continue operating, continue fighting in Gaza, up until they get the order to stop before that truce. Business as usual, in the words of one IDF spokesman.
And earlier today, we saw that Israeli forces were carrying out large strikes, not only behind me in Northern Gaza, but also in Southern Gaza as well.
SOARES: Right. So, both sides going to the very last minute before that truce does go ahead.
And, Alex, this deal is fragile and as you well know, this -- anything could go wrong here. So, talk us through the mechanics of this. How will this happen?
ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, I just want to note, Isa, unlike what Israel has told these families, the U.S. is not telling any families, that their relatives are coming out until they have that confirmation. And confirmation in the eyes of U.S. officials is the -- that those hostages actually coming out of Gaza and their identities being confirmed by either U.S. officials on the ground or a trusted third-party like the Israelis. But there are a lot of moving pieces to this, Isa. So, the expectation is that these three -- 13 hostages coming out tomorrow will be handed over to the Red Cross, and then they will leave the Gaza Strip.
[13:05:00]
There is an assumption that they will be going, at least some of them, out through the Rafah Crossing into Egypt, at which point they will be met by Israeli soldiers who will confirm the identities of these 13 who are believed to be Israelis, but there could also be some, some dual nationals.
At that point, they will then be taken back into Israel, two hospitals where you can imagine that not just from the past 47 days of captivity that they have medical conditions that that need tending to, but they also could have, you know, regular health conditions that need medical attention, but also, they could have sustained injuries from the from the horrific attacks on October 7th and everything that they've dealt with since then. So, that's the medical side of things.
We also understand that for those dual nationals, they will also be able to meet with diplomats from the embassies of the other countries. And in the case of American citizens, then they will be given consular help by the U.S. embassy if they want to come back to the United States.
I just want to hit on that what you said about the Palestinian prisoners as well, Isa, a Palestinian official saying they have not gotten the names of Palestinian prisoners expected to be released tomorrow. We do know that for every hostage release is supposed to be three Palestinian prisoners. So, that's around 39. We understand the expectation would be 30 to 35 actually would be released tomorrow and they will be released at a checkpoint in the West Bank. Isa.
SOARES: All right. OK. That's great to have that update.
And, Jeremy, just -- let's talk about the humanitarian aid. As we have seen, as we've heard time and time again from doctors and NGOs, the need is great in Gaza. Do we know how much aid and how soon it will go into Gaza once this truce does begin?
DIAMOND: Well, Israeli officials have said that aid trucks are expected to go into Gaza as soon as that truce, begins. So, unlike the hostage release and the release of Palestinian prisoners, which is expected to happen later tomorrow afternoon, we expect that aid trucks will begin to go to that Netzarim (ph) Crossing between Egypt and Israel, where they will undergo security checks, and then be able to go into Israel.
We expect an uptick of several hundred aid trucks to go into Gaza per day. Of course, international humanitarian organizations have said that this is still not enough, but it certainly will represent an uptick for the Palestinian people in, in Gaza.
And what we also know is, of course, this will be the first time that, you know, civilians in Gaza can have some expectation of safety for the first time in 47 days. You know, they have been undergoing constant bombardment, even the areas that where they've been told to go further south have proven to not be very safe. They've come under bombardment there as well.
And so, if this truce holds, this could be the first day, the first four days during which they could see some sense -- feel some sense of safety and an opportunity to regroup, for some people to bury their dead and also simply to grieve.
SOARES: Yes. And, Alex, my final question to you, did we get any sense -- do we still have Alex with us?
MARQUARDT: Yes, I'm here.
SOARES: Yes, we do. Fantastic. Alex, do we have any sense from what the Qatari said as to who will supervise this truce? I mean, and what would be considered a breach here?
MARQUARDT: Well, all of the different parties are going to be monitoring this very closely. The Qataris certainly say that they will be in close contact with the Israelis and Hamas. U.S. officials separately have told us that they will be watching all of this very carefully.
Now, keep in mind, Isa, all sides want to make sure that this goes forward, that this exchange happens. Everybody has an incentive here. And so, there are certain -- there are certainly questions about what would constitute a violation of this. You know, should we see some rockets being fired into Israel in the coming days? If there's more fighting on the ground in Gaza. No one has put a particularly fine point on that as to what would cause this to fall apart.
There are certainly -- because of how fluid it is, you could certainly imagine that some parties will -- could accuse the other side of violating the -- this pause. But certainly, all of these different parties, whether it's the mediators, the U.S. and Qatar, or Hamas and Israel who have the most to lose, do want to see this pause take place and this exchange to take place. Isa.
SOARES: Yes. And as you were talking, I could hear, Jeremy, sounded like rockets sounded -- or noise behind you. I would expect that both sides will go on -- continue fighting to the very last second. Just give us a sense of what you're hearing behind you.
DIAMOND: Yes, yes. We've been hearing several explosions in the background, which could be Israeli bombardments. What we also know is that the Israelis have been carrying out controlled detonations of some of the hundreds of Hamas tunnels that they've been discovering inside the Gaza Strip.
[13:10:00]
We've also been hearing small arms fire, machine gun fire throughout the evening, and we expect that to continue. The Israeli military has made very clear that they will continue fighting. Hamas has indicated that they will continue fighting as well. The main question is when the clock strikes 7:00 in the morning tomorrow, will that fighting actually come to a close? And that will be, of course, crucial to know whether the release of hostages and Palestinian prisoners can proceed later in the day.
SOARES: Jeremy Diamond and Alex Marquardt there for us. Appreciate it. Thank you to you both.
Of the families of the hostages taken by Hamas, the last six weeks have been unimaginably painful. Wait for news. I want to bring in Ahal Besorai now. His sister was killed by Hamas and members of his family are being held in Gaza. Ahal, thank you very much for taking the time to speak to us this evening.
I can't imagine how agonizing and traumatic the last seven weeks have been for you and your family. As you would have heard already, 13 women and children are going to be released tomorrow once the pause in fighting begins at 7:00 a.m. local. What are you hearing? Are your nephews part of this?
AHAL BESORAI, FAMILY MEMBERS TAKEN HOSTAGE BY HAMAS: No. I have a brother-in-law, a nephew who is 17 and a niece who is 13, held by Hamas terrorists in Gaza, kidnapped from Kibbutz Be'eri. And as far as we know and we're officially informed, they are not part of the list to be released tomorrow, of the 13 to be released tomorrow.
SOARES: And I'm sorry for that, Ahal. I'm sorry. That's not the news, of course, that you have wanted, that any family would wanted. Can you just tell our viewers how you being communicated this? How -- what authorities are telling you?
BESORAI: So, we have a lady, an officer lady of the Israeli IDF that is in charge of our family and communicating with us any news concerning the family members who are held by the terrorists in Gaza, and she basically called me to let me know.
SOARES: And this deal, as you would have heard that conversation between our correspondents on the ground, is incredibly fragile. And I assume tomorrow will be the template. How optimistic are you that your nephew, niece, and your brother-in-law will be released in the following hostage releases?
BESORAI: You know, so it's a very sort of strange situation, you know, where you are afraid to be hopeful. You know, it's a very strange state of affairs. And the reason for it is, you know, that Hamas or this ISIS like terrorist organization is known for its manipulation and its ability, you know, to play with us as you know, they did yesterday by delaying it as they will probably do during these four days or six days if there are more hostages to be released.
So, you know, we are -- or I am, I don't know, calmly sort of hopeful, but, you know, I'm also afraid to be hopeful because I know, you know, that, for instance, in 2014, you know, the humanitarian ceasefire, they actually breached it 30 minutes after it and kidnapped Hadar Goldin, killed him and kidnapped his body.
You know, so -- SOARES: Yes.
BESORAI: -- it's very, very difficult. You don't deal here with a proper state but, you know, with a vicious and sadistic terrorist organization.
SOARES: Yes.
BESORAI: But you have to be hopeful.
SOARES: And that's the reality, isn't it? Is that Israel has having to make a deal with a terrorist organization that six, seven weeks ago, of course, killed -- brutally murdered 1,200 people in Israel. And I think everyone can understand why there's a lack of trust here. How do you wrestle then with that?
BESORAI: You know, so part of this 1,400 or so people who were murdered by this terrorist organization was my sister on Kibbutz Be'eri, you know, from where, you know, the rest of the family was kidnapped to Gaza. I mean, they are the ones who are holding my family and the other 2,040 Israelis. So, you have to deal with them in order to release it.
SOARES: Yes.
BESORAI: I mean, you don't deal with them directly, you deal with them through the U.S., through Qatar and Egypt. And hopefully, you know, the guarantee or umbrella that this country's put over the deal would make sure that Hamas is not breaching it. I know and I'm sure that Israel won't breach this agreement.
[13:15:00]
SOARES: And could I ask, if you don't mind, how you deal with the waiting? This must be agonizing for you, Ahal.
BESORAI: You know, I tried to be honest, not to think about it too much. You know, not to torture myself with thoughts of what's happened to them. You know, I try to keep positive, you know, to pray maybe for their release. Talk to family members and friends about it and, you know, just as hard as it is with this situation, try -- just try to be hopeful and positive rather than negative and in desperation.
SOARES: Yes. Well, Ahal, we're all hoping. Go ahead. Finish your thought. Go ahead.
BESORAI: No. I say, you know, it's not always easy, you know. So, it's grief for me, you know, both for my sister and the worry for them. It's like a sea, you know, it comes in waves.
SOARES: Yes.
BESORAI: You know, so sometimes they come sea and sometimes, you know, there are big waves. And, you know, you cry or you become very emotional and very worried. SOARES: Ahal, we're all hopeful, are all hoping that your brother-in- law, your nephew and your niece are home with you soon. Thanks very much, Ahal, for taking time to speak to us.
BESORAI: Thank you so much. Thank you, Isa.
SOARES: Thank you. And with less than 12 hours left before tomorrow's scheduled truce, Israel continues its bombardment of Gaza. As you heard there, just behind our live shot with our Jeremy Diamond, these pictures from south of the enclave. The IDF said earlier it was striking targets in the northern city of Jabalya, as you can see in your map.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces confirmed they have arrested director of Gaza's largest hospital, that's Al-Shifa. Dr. Muhammad Abu Salmiya, was detained over allegations that the hospital served as a Hamas command and control center, that is according to the IDF. That is a claim the militant group and hospital officials have denied.
For more on this now, our Nada Bashir is in Jerusalem. And, Nada, let's talk first about the deal, this truce that is expected to start at 7:00 a.m. local tomorrow to last four days. Before that, as we heard there from Jerry Diamond, that both sides are upping the ante in their attacks. Talk us through what you're hearing from your contacts inside Gaza.
NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER: Well, we certainly have seen an uptick in the number of airstrikes ongoing at the moment on the ongoing ground fighting in Northern Gaza where there has been that sort of concentration of focus for the Israeli military when it comes to its ongoing operation, it says, to target Hamas positions across the Gaza Strip.
And we've heard from the Israeli military say that they targeted more than 300 Hamas targets, in their words, over the last day. But as we know, this is an area that is densely populated, filled with civilians, and we have been speaking to people on the ground, particularly around the Jabalya neighborhood, where, as we know, the Jabalya refugee camp is located.
We have seen this area facing aerial bombardment on a multiple number of occasions at this point. Residential buildings brought to the ground. Many people killed, and we've been speaking to people on the ground in the Jabalya neighborhood who have lost loved ones, who have had to dig through the rubble with their bare hands, searching for their children, for their parents, for their brothers and sisters as these airstrikes continue.
And in fact, we've been speaking to other families who have had to flee to multiple cities continuously followed by airstrikes desperately searching for safety. But as we know, there are a few safe places left inside the Gaza Strip. So, this news of a truce, be that a four-day truce or potentially longer, if indeed that is the case, although Israelis also saying that would be unlikely at this stage. But nevertheless, that news of a choice will provide some much-needed respite for those civilians inside the Gaza Strip. This will be a pause in fighting, but it will also provide that much needed opportunity for aid agencies to get into Gaza, to allow that crucial aid to get in. And we've been speaking to people, we've been speaking to medical professionals on the ground in Gaza who have been talking about the severe need, this severe lack of humanitarian aid getting in. We're talking about clean drinking water, we're talking about food, medication and of course, crucially fuel.
Now, over the weekend, we did see the Israeli government allowing fuel to get into support water and sewage systems. But what is desperately needed is fuel to support humanitarian operations and crucially to power Gaza's hospitals.
As we know, the vast majority of hospitals in Northern Gaza are now in operational. That is a huge point of concern, particularly at the Al- Shifa Hospital, Gaza's largest, where the Israeli military has focused its raids ongoing, of course, as they say, looking for a command control center they believe to be beneath the Al-Shifa Hospital. They say they have found tunnels and evidence of weapons on the Al-Shifa complex.
[13:20:00]
But as you mentioned, Isa, this has been staunchly denied by medical officials at the Al-Shifa Hospital as well as Hamas itself.
SOARES: Yes. On Al-Shifa, I mean, we had the IDF saying -- confirming the director of the hospital, Nada, had been detained.
BASHIR: Sorry. We have heard from the health officials, including from the health ministry inside the Gaza Strip, which as we know, is run and administered by Hamas, saying and confirming that Muhammad Abu Salmiya, the director of the Al-Shifa Hospital, had been detained alongside a number of other doctors. They say they were detained at a checkpoint in Central Gaza as they were making their way, evacuating from Al-Shifa, crossing over into Southern Gaza. Of course, they were detained at that checkpoint.
As we understand it, the Israeli military says they are questioning Muhammad Abu Salmiya as to what he knew about a Hamas presence at the Al-Shifa Hospital. This is part of their ongoing investigation into their allegations of a Hamas command and control center being located beneath the Al-Shifa Hospital. But we have heard from the health ministry in Gaza saying they are now cutting ties in terms of their cooperation with the U.N. agency, the U.N. World Health Organization, who coordinated this convoy leaving Al-Shifa.
As we know, there are still some patients inside Al-Shifa who desperately need to be evacuated but require specialist medical evacuation. And therefore, that could take some time. The health ministry in Gaza is now calling for the U.N. to issue a report, a clear explanation as to why this detention took place. They're also, of course, calling for the full release of medical officials from Al- Shifa.
As we know, those doctors, Muhammad Abu Salmiya in particular, have repeatedly denied any Hamas presence at the Al-Shifa Hospital.
SOARES: Nada Bashir for us there in Jerusalem, in the south (ph). Thanks very much, Nada.
And still to come tonight, his unexpected election win is being held by some and serving as a warning shot to others. A Dutch far-rights candidate celebrates his victory. That story with our Anna Stewart when we return.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SOARES: It's a surprise victory that's being celebrated by far-right leaders and is sending shockwaves in the Netherlands and across Europe. Dutch far-right populist Geert Wilders and his party were poised -- are poised to really start to form a coalition government after they won Wednesday's national election by a landslide.
And Geert, who is often called the Dutch Donald Trump is vocally anti- E.U., has vowed to halt all immigration and wants to stop providing arms to Ukraine. Wilders had this to say as he celebrated his win. Clearly, he was very ecstatic.
[13:25:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEERT WILDERS, DUTCH FREEDOM PARTY (through translator): We will make sure that the Netherlands will be for the Dutch people again. We will restrict the asylum tsunami and migration. People will have more money in their wallet again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOARES: Anna Stewart is here with me for the very latest. And, Anna, you know, for many of our viewers, he's a well-known face, right, in European politics. How has he enabled to achieve this?
ANNA STEWART, CNN REPORTER: It's been a shock. He's always taken a chunk of seats in parliament in recent elections, but no one ever considered that he would actually win the most votes. And it wasn't even close. And I think that's what's really sent a shudder through the spine of Dutch politics, but also more broadly, Europe.
Now, in this election, Geert Wilders actually pulled back a little bit on some of his more inflammatory rhetoric about closing down mosques, banning the Quran or having a referendum on the E.U. For this election, he focused very much on immigration, which has been a very hot topic. inability to decide on how to curb asylum applications, is was what was the downfall of the last government, and it won him an election.
SOARES: I'm going to interrupt you because I hear the IDF is speaking, from where I can see. Are they speaking right now? Can we go to them if we have it?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Infrastructure of their own. Is it going to be a ceasefire in the north as well? Is Israel going to have a pause? Going to initiate a pause? Are you expecting terror -- Hamas terrorists to come from the -- back from the north -- from the south to the north?
READ ADM. DANIEL HAGARI, IDF SPOKESPERSON (through translator): From the beginning of the war, we are operating fiercely regarding any threats. If we're going to see a threat in the north for -- we are going to remove it. There's no squad that's going to go next to the fence. We are going to attack any threat on our territory.
This is clear. We are not attacking in Lebanon, if there's no any threats. Unlike Hezbollah, that we need to we eliminate, everything that they are doing regarding terror. This is regarding Lebanon. Regarding your question, regarding Gazans that are going back to north. There's not going to be any movement from north to south. This is what was -- that's what agreed.
We are set in the Strip and we're going to do -- we're going to deal with everything that it's going to happen there. And we're going to have operational or fulfillment of this agreement.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Does IDF want to control in Gaza?
HAGARI (through translator): Physically, there are stages in this war. We are in the stage regarding bringing back the hostages. This demand us -- from us broad operation. At the end, we are going to have arrangement in the borders.
Regarding the sovereign activity in Gaza, this is coming from the government. Thank you.
SOARES: A very, very brief there statement and press conference -- news briefing, I should say, from Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari. He -- we didn't hear the beginning of his question, but we can have a rough idea. He said, we are going to attack any threat in our territory, I think referring, of course, to the attacks that we've seen in Hezbollah, in Lebanon, and as well inside Israel, IDF today striking Hezbollah infrastructure and rocket launches in Lebanon.
He said then, there was no -- there'll be no movement from north to south. This is relating, of course, to the truth that has been agreed today, as you heard from Israel and Hamas is going to begin at 7:00 a.m. local. He said, we are going to fulfill this agreement. If you remember from this agreement, there are 13 women and children expected to be released. And he talked about the arrangement happening at borders.
Let's get more on this deal. Our Becky Anderson is in Doha. And, Becky, you were in that room, from what I can remember, when the Qataris announced the details of this deal. And it's clear this is a major breakthrough, but it's also fragile. So, I wonder how -- who will supervise this? What would constitute a breach? Your take here.
[13:30:00] BECKY ANDERSON, CNN ANCHOR, CONNECT THE WORLD: Yes. No, those are really important questions, on how this will be supervised, the Qataris announced today that they're setting up an operations room here in Qatar. They're not on the ground. They're here in Qatar, on the phones, keeping in constant contact with those on the ground.
There'll be an ICRC, Red Crescent, Red Cross representative here in Qatar working with their colleagues on the ground. And so, it will be from Qatar, to a certain extent, that the sort of eyes on what is happening or the ears on what is happening to ensure that this all goes to plan. It is very fragile.
They described to me this 45 days' worth of negotiation as intense, as extremely complicated, complex, made all the more difficult over that period by the escalation on the ground. You heard the IDF spokesperson there saying that they will honor the truce. The truce that, as you rightly point out, begins at 7:00 local time tomorrow. It will be hours after that, not until at least 4:00 in the afternoon, when the first hostages held by Hamas, 13 women and children will be released into the hands of the ICRC.
And at the same time, as we understand it, prisoners -- Palestinian prisoners, women and teenagers, will be released in the same numbers as we understand it from Israeli prisons.
It's really important that we try to get sort of a full picture of what the operational details of this humanitarian pause over four days will be understandably, perhaps the Qataris who have mediated this, were unwilling or unable to give us all of the granular detail. But I did press Majed Al-Ansari, the spokesperson who held the press conference today, about how this secession of violence would be described, as it were, or how it's described in the deal and what a breach would look like. Have a listen to what he told me.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Thank you, sir. What is the process and route by which the hostages will be transferred out of Gaza into Israel?
AL-ANSARI: I'm sorry, Becky. I can't disclose information for security reasons. And as I -- you know, we've always said, our main objective here is the safety of the hostages. So, we can't disclose a lot of information regarding the routes they will be going through. But we will be focusing on making sure that they get there safely through making sure that through our operations room that we'll work with both the Red Cross and the parties of the conflict, that all information is in real-time and everybody is getting the information the right way so we can move them safely from one place to another.
ANDERSON: And a follow up question, if I can. Are you mediating a separate track with Hamas for the release of non-Israelis, specifically Americans? And are there Americans on the list?
AL-ANSARI: The criteria on which to prioritize the hostages was purely humanitarian, as you know. And our focus was on getting the women and children out of harm's way as soon as possible, which is basically what we are doing within this agreement. And we will be going through, hopefully, that the momentum carried by this deal would help us get everybody out in time and at the same time, of course, lessen the hardship of the people in Gaza through the humanitarian pause that is taking place.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: So, more information there on just what would happen with regard the exchange between -- of these hostages out of Hamas' hands and into the ICRC's hands.
Very specifically in answer to the question on a breach, again, you know, he didn't have a massive amount of detail specifically, but what he did say is the expectation is -- and there are obligations on both sides, that they have to -- that need to be fulfilled, but on the -- very specifically on the breach, he said that both sides understand that this is a complete secession of hostilities, and that includes not just on the ground, but in the air.
He reminded us that the last time we saw the release of, hostages, two sets of two hostages earlier on, during this conflict, there were actually surveillance drones, flying and it was, quite alarming, for those involved in the hostage release, because it could have been seen that was actually a hostile drone.
And so, it's really important that the skies are completely clear of any activity when those hostages are released.
SOARES: Yes.
[13:35:00]
ANDERSON: So, you know, again, this is fragile, and you are very right to point that out. Very fragile. We hope things don't slip. They clearly have a real plan with this operation center set up here to try and ensure that both sides fulfill their obligations. And at this first four-day period that has been agreed is successful.
SOARES: And as you were talking, Becky, we've now heard from Yoav Gallant, the Israel's defense minister, who has said they expect at least two more months of fighting against Hamas, which begs the question of the goals here, because what I heard from the Qataris, they seem to be having very different divergent goals that Qataris have to Israel. Qataris wanting something -- a more prolonged pause, perhaps even a ceasefire here.
ANDERSON: That's right. Both Majed Al-Ansari today at the press conference and the man behind the mediation here, Mohammed Al- Khulaifi, who I spoke to yesterday, described where they are at as just the beginning. They see this as a sort of -- as a wider plan. This is the first step to what they hope will be a complete secession of hostilities, a ceasefire.
But we know that the Israelis have been categoric about the fact that there will be no ceasefire until all hostages are released. And that means all hostages, including those soldiers and hostages of serving age, and they are very specifically not included in this first plan. The first plan is for these 50 civilian hostages, and specifically women and children.
So, the Qataris -- the State of Qatar has been very explicit about what their wish is from the outset. They have said from the beginning that they want to see a ceasefire in this. And that is echoed around this region where I am of the Gulf, on the wider Middle East, and in fact, in many other places in the world.
And so, yes, they've described this as only the beginning, this is the start of their work. But it is a huge diplomatic breakthrough, this truce, this four-day humanitarian pause, which of course also allows in, you know, a significant amount of aid and fuel for humanitarian purposes.
And I think -- let's be frank, let's -- I think they need applauding to a degree for the work that is being achieved. It's a really -- it's the first significant diplomatic breakthrough in 45 odd days of this conflict. But it is fragile, it could slip at any stage.
SOARES: Yes. Indeed.
ANDERSON: All sides need to stick to the plan.
SOARES: It is fragile. And tomorrow, Becky, as you've alluded to before, will be the first template. Becky Anderson, breaking it all down for us there in Doha. Thanks very much, Becky.
We are going to take a short break and we're back after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[13:40:00]
SOARES: I want to bring in Daniel Levy, he worked under two former Israeli Prime Ministers as a peace negotiator with the Palestinians. He joins me now from London. Daniel, great to see you.
I'm not sure whether you could hear our Becky Anderson just before we went to break. She was talking about, how complex as well as fragile, this deal is. It's a major diplomatic breakthrough, as she called it, but getting here hasn't been easy, as you know. What do you make of the deal itself, first of all?
DANIEL LEVY, PRESIDENT, U.S.-MIDDLE EAST PROJECT AND FORMER ISRAELI NEGOTIATOR WITH THE PALESTINIANS: You know, I think the importance is in the fact of the deal. We will pour over the details, but I think I would set those aside and say the importance is the proof of concept that the return of the Israelis being held in Gaza will be a negotiated return, that you can negotiate with Hamas, that you can have a cessation of hostilities for a period of time, and how do we build on that and make sure that this is locked in and we don't see a return to the kind of devastation and destruction of the last few weeks. Because unfortunately, absent real push and effort and pressure, that's where we're going back to, that the Qataris have delivered, not on their own, but they've played the key mediating role.
SOARES: Yes. And you know, as you well know, and I've spoken -- I was speaking to a family member of a hostage whose sister was killed on October the 7th, brother-in-law, nephew and niece being held by Hamas, and he was saying, you know, there's just no trust, and there's clearly no trust between Hamas and Israeli government.
The fear, of course, is, Daniel, that there'd be some sort of slippage or breach of an agreement, especially in terms of the supervision of this truce. He said to me, the family member said he was afraid to be hopeful. Speak to that concern.
LEVY: That is the most human thing. You're going to have Israeli families on tenterhooks. And of course, most of the families won't be getting their loved ones home in this first release. You're going to have families of Palestinians, mostly in the West Bank, waiting for those releases of women and children from Israeli jails. You're going to have Palestinians in Gaza who will go through these days and then be dreading.
First of all, they'll be dreading tonight, because tonight may be an ugly night, but they'll be dreading what happens next. There are going to be a lot of tensions in these next days. Do both sides stick to it? Does Israel do something overnight, which puts this off track? Does a militant group not under the control of Hamas do something in the next four days? Is there an action in the West Bank? Because we can't forget 230 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since October 7th.
Things are still escalating between Israel and Hezbollah. What is this drone flying agreement? So, lots of things that could cause this to unravel. But if it doesn't, if we can prove that this can be done, then it has to be the on ramp, the building block to ending this, because the military goal has not been achieved. It won't get the Israelis out. And we've had 14,500 Palestinian dead, including 6,000 children. We need to get onto a new page. This is the crack. This is the crack of an opening to that.
SOARES: And you're talking about what may happen today, and I was speaking to our Jeremy Diamond in Sderot at the top of the hour, and you could already hear blasts going off. I would assume, and I think you were hinting at this, Daniel, that both sides will be going -- will be fighting to the very last second here.
LEVY: You got it. That's exactly what will happen. But the -- since the attack. Into Israel on October 7th and those horrors, we, of course, have seen rocket fire into Israel. Of course, Israeli soldiers have faced Hamas resistance. That rocket fire has depleted very significantly.
But what we've mostly seen is these Israeli bombardments into Gaza and this unbelievable hellscape of destruction that Israel has caused. The other thing that we've seen, I just think it's really important to acknowledge this at this moment, is so much of the heavy lifting alongside the Qataris and others to get this release deal has been done by the families.
The families became convinced, enough of them at least, that the pressure point they had to work on was their own government. And they've managed to develop enough pressure that the government -- which didn't want to make this agreement, it could have had this agreement long ago, has gone along with this. And I think to keep it going, unfortunately, a lot of the heavy lift will be on them because we've heard the Biden administration who want this deal also make clear that they are not yet on board for a ceasefire, very unfortunately.
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SOARES: Yes. And we have seen some of the protests, haven't we, by members of those families who have been protesting outside Netanyahu's residence. I want to play something that we heard from John Bolton, because John Bolton said yesterday, Daniel, that he was troubled by the deal. He said it was conceptually wrong. This is what he told CNN. Have a listen to this.
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JOHN BOLTON, FORMER TRUMP NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: There are many, many aspects of this deal that are wrong, but here is what I think is the most, problematic. The game that's being played here is Hamas couldn't care less about a humanitarian pause. What they're interested in is getting a pause started and then extending it to become a truce and then extending it further to become a ceasefire.
Now, that may not happen all at once, but Hamas benefits more than the Israeli Defense Forces do, by having this pause.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOARES: So, I wonder, Daniel, I mean, what has been the reaction from the far-right wing of the Netanyahu party? How much dissent is there to this deal?
LEVY: I think it's important that you align John Bolton with the far- right wing of the Israeli government, because I don't think John Bolton has ever seen a war he didn't like or seen an end to a war that he did like.
It was interesting in the Israeli cabinet that both of the far-right parties had come out and said they would vote against it. In the end, one did, but one didn't. One opposed it. But there is this narrative in Israel that the release can't get in the way of the war, and that was precisely what the families had to push back against.
And you had these amazing scenes in Israel of members of the families in screaming matches with right-wing coalition, members of the government saying, stop talking about killing Arabs and start talking about saving Jews. These were remarkable scenes. I think what happened is that the families over the course of these weeks understood that rather than focusing on mobilizing support overseas, they had to mobilize support in their own country. Israel wants to continue with this war, but I think what they're going to find is there is no military solution, not in the immediate term to Hamas and not in the bigger picture to Palestinian dispossession and to ending the overall state of war between Israelis and Palestinians, it needs to be politics.
SOARES: Yes. And on that point, Daniel, I mean, in the past, and correct me if I'm wrong here, we have seen extensions that have led to ceasefires. How likely is this to happen? How much pressure will Netanyahu be under by allies around the world to turn this into a ceasefire?
LEVY: So, we have seen extensions of ceasefires into durable ceasefires for more -- for longer periods of time. That doesn't seem to be the trajectory we're on yet here. I think the important vector internationally is, when does the Biden administration get on board with the ceasefire?
The important vector domestically in Israel is going to be once, and we'll have to see how this plays out. But once one sees these families being reunited, these people, we hope, coming out alive, what does that do to the dynamic of further pressure to see further deals? Because it's proof that you're not going to spring them militarily, you're going to get them through negotiations.
And then, the crucial thing, if we can get to some kind of quiet, do you use that time to do politics, to address the fact that as long as Palestinians live under a system of occupation and structural violence there will not be security for Israelis or Palestinians, or do you waste that time? And then, we're going to be in a very long, very ugly, continued, protracted, horrendous situation like we've had already, but I'm afraid even worse.
SOARES: Yes. And the real test, of course, like you said, Daniel, will be tomorrow at 7:00 a.m. and then at 4:00 p.m. when we'll see those 13 hostages hopefully released. Daniel, it was great to get your insight. Thanks, Daniel.
And still to come tonight, investigators try to figure out what happened in a deadly car crash at the U.S. Canada border. We have all the details ahead for you. You are watching CNN.
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SOARES: Well, investigators are trying to figure out what happened in a deadly car crash at a U.S. Canada border crossing. Surveillance video captured the dramatic moment a car traveling at high speed, hurtled, as you can see there, toward the crossing in Upstate New York. The vehicle crashed and exploded, killing two people inside.
CNN's Athena Jones joins me now. And, Athena, this car disintegrated. Only the engine, I believe, was left. What have authorities been telling you, been able to determine here?
ATHENA JONES, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi. So, well, as you said, the New York governor, Kathy Hochul, said only the engine is left of that vehicle. It was entirely incinerated. So, they've got a lot of kind of pieces to put together. The debris was shown over a large area.
What we do know is that the FBI, along with its law enforcement partners concluded in a matter of hours, very stressful and confusing and frightening hours, that this incident that killed a man and his wife was not a nefarious act. It was, in fact, just a tragic accident. Listen to what an eyewitness, the governor and the FBI special agent in charge for the region had to say about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I first thought it was an airplane. Look like slow motion. And I said, my God, it's a car. And it's a vehicle and it's flying through the air.
GOV. KATHY HOCHUL (D-NY): At this time there is no indication of a terrorist attack.
MATTHEW MIRAGLIA, FBI SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE: I feel at this point that this might be just something that occurred. There's no larger picture here to look at.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JONES: So, no larger picture, and that's what authorities were most worried about because this is happening at a time of heightened concerns about terrorism and terrorist acts and at a time when many law enforcement agencies in different parts of the country are already at a heightened state of alert. And so, very important that this was taken very seriously and that so many agencies came out in support of this effort to resolve the issue.
Of course, three -- all four bridge crossings were closed as a result of the incident. Now, three of them have been open. Still, the Rainbow Bridge behind me, you can see is still closed. Authorities, we saw earlier this morning, doing some more fact-finding.
I can tell you that when it comes to this vehicle, at first there was confusion about which side of the border it came from, but it in fact came from this side, the U.S. side. Authorities believe this man and his wife had planned to go to a concert from the rock group, Kiss, in Canada, when that was canceled, they decided instead to go to a casino, the accident took place on the way back.
The car -- the 2022 Bentley accelerating along the other -- the lane on the other side, hitting a curb and then hitting this barrier and ending up airborne, hitting a border patrol booth and injuring that border patrol agent. He suffered minor injuries and has been treated.
So, a tragic accident, but two lives lost. No links to terrorism. And no explosives found in the vehicle. Isa. SOARES: Athena Jones there for us in Buffalo. Thanks very much, Athena.
And today marks the celebration of Thanksgiving in the U.S. There had been concern after that explosion about the safety of large events. Brynn Gingras has more in New York at Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Have a look at this.
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BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The iconic Macy's Day Parade, 97 years this has been going on without a hitch and no different this year. Listen, police say there is no credible threat to the city or to this spectacular event.
And we have seen a number of security measures taking place. As you can see, there are police officers lined up every few feet behind me. We've seen bomb sniffing dogs walking the parade route, sanitation trucks blocking the streets coming to the parade route. So many measures that we see. And then, of course, ones we don't see.
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We know law enforcement has been on the heightened alert ever since the war broke out in the Middle East. But again, this is such an iconic event that it's no different. And all it comes down to, of course, is men and women working to make sure the 3.5 million people that come out to this parade just have a ton of fun.
Are you guys having fun? It's such a great time. Happy Thanksgiving to you. I'm Brynn Gingras, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOARES: And keeping with the tradition this Thanksgiving, remember Jamal Hinton and Wanda Dench? They went viral in 2016 after the Arizona grandmother accidentally text messaged the young man inviting him to Thanksgiving dinner. The mistake didn't stop the two strangers from spending the holiday together. Today marks the eighth year they've celebrated Thanksgiving in each other's company. Both sides there showing much needed humanity.
If you are celebrating, happy Thanksgiving to you. That does it for me. Thanks very much for watching. Do stay right here though because I'll be back within an hour. "Isa Soares Tonight" is next.
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