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CNN Monitors Developments On The Israel-Hamas Temporary Ceasefire; Israel-Hamas Truce Appears to be Taking Effect; Israel: Families of Hostages to be Freed Have Been Notified; Qatar: Hoping to Extend Israel-Hamas Truce Beyond Four Days. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired November 24, 2023 - 02:00   ET

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

[02:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN ANCHOR: Well, hello and welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Becky Anderson live for you today from Doha in Qatar. A four-day truce between Israel and Hamas does now appear to be taking effect. Seven weeks of a punishing air and ground campaign to root out the militant group. Hamas now on hold. It's part of a deal to secure the release of Israeli hostages captured in the October 7th terror attack.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond and his crew near the border with Gaza report what sounded like artillery fire in the early minutes of today's truce that started two hours ago, but that has since stopped according to Qatar which was absolutely instrumental in brokering this deal.

The first hostages from Israel are now expected to be released at some point after 4 P.M. local time. That is about seven hours from now. Women and children, some from the same families, will be turned over, or at least this is the plan, to the Red Cross. Gil Dickman's cousin is amongst those held hostage in Gaza.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GIL DICKMAN, COUSIN OF HOSTAGE: I hope that this happy picture of people coming home is going to make the next deal come faster in a way so that finally, finally, all of the hostages are coming home.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: Let's bring in CNN's Jeremy Diamond. Jeremy, you are live this hour in Sderot in Israel. What can you see and hear from there?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we appear to be hearing and seeing a truce between Israel and Hamas actually beginning to take hold. It certainly did not seem that way in the first 15 minutes or so of when this truce was supposed to begin.

In those first 15 minutes, we continue to hear the sound of heavy weaponry being fired. We were hearing loud booms inside Gaza. We were hearing continuous small arms fire, as well. But since then -- since those initial -- and what we also heard, I should note was rocket sirens in two Israeli communities on the border with Gaza.

But since then, what has taken hold is a relative calm, the, you know, calm, first calm that we have seen in these 48 days of war as this truce between Israel and Hamas appears to finally be taking hold. That is obviously welcome news for the families of those hostages who are set to be released, the first 13 of them, women and children around 4 P.M. this afternoon.

We expect that those hostages will be taken by Hamas, transferred over to the Red Cross before being transferred to Israeli forces at various potential points along Israel's border with Gaza. We don't know yet exactly which of those 13 hostages are expected to be released, but we are told that their families have been notified.

One thing is clear though, Becky. This temporary pause in fighting over these four days, to allow for the release of those hostages, it could be extended for a few more days to allow for additional releases, 10 hostages per day perhaps. But the Israeli military and its political leadership is making very clear that this is simply a pause in fighting and that their fighting will resume after this pause ends.

Israeli Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant yesterday, indicating that the fighting could go on for at least two more months until Israel achieves its goal of eradicating Hamas, removing its hold on power in Gaza and also freeing all of those nearly 240 hostages.

ANDERSON: Yeah, that will be a punishing restart in this conflict if indeed that is what happens, that the Israelis once again ratchet up the assault on Hamas. They have two objectives, they say, to dismantle, destroy the infrastructure that Hamas uses and indeed the assets that Hamas has on the ground. The other key objective, of course, is to return all of the hostages and that is the 240 or so hostages being held in Gaza by Hamas and by others. That's the key objective on the Israeli side.

Of course, I suggest that it will be a punishing restart in activities for those Palestinians in Gaza who have been witnessing and have had their lives destroyed effectively by what has been this 48-day conflict.

[02:05:00]

This window of course, Jeremy, also an opportunity to get much needed humanitarian aid in through that border -- 130,000 liters of fuel, for example, sitting on the Rafah -- Egypt side of the Rafah border crossing. Just how important will that humanitarian aid, supplies, food, medical equipment and fuel very specifically be for the people of Gaza?

DIAMOND: It will be critical, Becky. There is no doubt about it. Hundreds of trucks of aid per day expected to begin crossing into Gaza. Some of those, we were told, were going to begin crossing in, or at least undergoing the security checks on the Israeli side of the border, right after that truce took hold. But humanitarian agencies, United Nations and others have warned that

these trucks of aid will still be insufficient to match what is simply an enormous need for aid inside of Gaza. We have already watched as so many essential services in Gaza have broken down after weeks of bombardments that they have been facing. Hospitals, many hospitals in Gaza are out of commission. They are lacking fuel. They are lacking food. They are lacking water.

The water problem is one of the main reasons why Israel agreed last week for the first time to begin allowing some fuel into Gaza, the concern being that if those water, the sewage system and the water system in Gaza can't operate, that you could see an outbreak of very serious disease, which Israeli officials said would also imperil their war effort.

But there is no question that this initial pause of four days to allow some aid in, to pause the fighting, will be a very welcome reprieve for the civilians of Gaza who have endured terrible tragedy over these seven weeks of war.

ANDERSON: Twelve hundred people dead in the slaughter, the massacre that Hamas conducted on October 7th. Twelve thousand seven hundred and counting killed in Gaza since this war began. This effort began by the Israelis to root out Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Some half of those women or more than half of those women and children, as you rightly pointed out, doctors on the ground now really, really concerned about the gastrointestinal diseases that so many who have survived this are now, you know, bearing witness to and are going through.

Jeremy Diamond is in Sderot in Israel. Thank you, Jeremy, for the time being. While we do not expect to see any Israeli hostages released by Hamas for at least several more hours, seven at least. What do we expect to see then on these aid trucks that will begin or are scheduled to begin rolling into Gaza sometime today?

This is the convoy built up on the Egyptian side of the border. An Egyptian official says 200 trucks will enter Gaza daily with food, water and medicine. And just to give you some context there, some 450 or so were coming in through that border crossing on a daily basis before this conflict began. And that was aid that those in Gaza who were not experiencing a full-on assault needed.

So many people in Gaza are refugees, so many reliant on aid. This is medical supplies, this is food, this is water, this is fuel that these people need. It's also said, he also said that Gaza would receive, as I say, 130,000 liters of diesel fuel and four gas trucks each day beginning today.

Live now to Ramallah in the West Bank and to Hiba Tibi. Hiba, it's good to have you. You're the country director for care in the West Bank and in Gaza. Just explain for our viewers how important what is scheduled to start today and we hope is now underway an hour in this humanitarian pause. How important is it? HIBA TIBI, CARE COUNTRY DIRECTOR, WEST BANK AND GAZA: I can tell you

how important this question is. The level of importance, I could not put it in a better way than what you have put it just before the testimony from the team in Gaza. There is a need, a huge, huge demand and needs on different items that are required for basic daily life for any human being.

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And this includes water, food, shelter items, because many of the people are continuously getting moved from the north to the south and they are sleeping outdoors. The winter has arrived in Gaza and the access to medical supplies and medical services.

All of these, we look at these four very precious days as the chance to rebuild the possibilities of saving lives and more dignity -- bringing more dignity to people, to kids, to children, to newborns, to women, to elderly who were not able to access the basic, basic services over the last days.

Rumors say that these are, or announcements say that these are going to be 200. This is 50 percent of the daily demand before war, but at least these are bigger numbers compared to the last days.

And the safe environment will allow the humanitarian actors also to pull themselves together and then to be able to distribute this humanitarian assistance in a more sustained manner and a more organized manner compared to distributing it under constant bombing or airstrikes or clashes.

So, this is why we look at these four days as a big opportunity and huge opportunity with big hope of at least continue in a more systemic and organized way to save lives of the people in the South.

ANDERSON: Unless you've been in a war zone, I don't think that, you know, it's possible to explain what the sense of a pause in the guns will bring to the people of Gaza.

You know, so many who have been forcibly displaced into the south, of course, the Israeli army remain on the ground in northern Gaza, having moved in some weeks ago and conducting raids there. They are now, you know, they've stopped their activities and that is part of the deal.

But just for the sake of our viewers, we heard some Palestinians and some residents of Gaza talking about just how important this lull in the fighting will be. Hiba, how would you explain the importance of this, the psychological importance, the relief that people will feel just knowing that they won't have that kind of reverberation of war around them?

TIBI: Again, an amazing question, Becky. I was on phone with the colleagues just before I come into this interview. Everyone was extremely devastated yesterday with the truth not going in practice or was put on hold. Today, everyone is expecting it.

They have mixed feelings, lots of issues that they want to look at to at least resume their sort of normal life again. We even if it's for four days is very important.

As you have mentioned, the striking was constant since 47 days. It's constantly happening. They are expecting some of them, they said -- my colleagues, I'm giving you testimonies from my colleagues. Some of them said, finally I might be able to sleep for one night in the coming four days. Some of them were very hopeful to go back to their houses.

All of them, they evacuated to the South. They were hopeful to go back to the North -- but of course this is not possible, to check on their houses, to check on their -- to get more stuff for their daily usage. People left their homes with minimal stuff with them because they did not expect that it's going to be for that long. But of course, this is not possible.

They want also to contribute to two things. First of all, secure what is missing for themselves, like my colleagues. For their families, you know, it was very difficult over the last, intensely last days, to get food, to get bread, to secure cooking gas.

They are so hopeful that these basic requirements will be secured. This is one thing. And secondly, to contribute to the distribution of aid that we are entering into Gaza or we are bringing from within Gaza.

Of course, for us as an organization, we don't know if our office is still existing or and we will not be able to check on it. It's in the north. We don't know about our warehouses if they are still existing or if they were affected. But at least these days are looked at as a very hopeful moment for people to secure their needs, to contribute to helping others.

[02:15:00]

For some, it's a very harsh moment because as you know there are thousands of people who are missing, thousands of people who are under the rubble. They were hoping to go to the north. They will not be able to do that to at least look for those who are missing.

But for those who are in the south, for instance, they can go back to Khan Younis, dig for their unfortunately bodies under the rubble, decently bury them and secure maybe an access to hospital medical services. Priority was given to saving lives and for the wounds.

Now, one of my colleagues, he was waiting for the moment where he can take his kid who has skin disease because of lack of water, just to get him checked by the doctors. And this is how important it is for the people in Gaza.

ANDERSON: Well, that was Hiba Tibi speaking to me in the last hour. Important context there for you. Just a sense of what people are going through on the ground. Well, the Israel Defense Forces, the IDF, say they detained the director of Al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza.

The IDF says he was transferred to the Israeli security agency, the Shembet, for questioning. Israel says it has evidence that the hospital served as cover for a mass command and control center and wants to ask the director what he knew about that.

Israeli officials say the Hamas tunnel network under the hospital used power and resources taken from the hospital and says Hamas stored weapons inside and on the hospital grounds. Meanwhile, the Hamas- controlled health ministry has suspended cooperation with the World Health Organization because the director was detained while traveling in a convoy coordinated by the WHO.

Well, doctors in Gaza tells CNN the hope is that the truce will allow for patients and staff --hospital patients and staff to safely evacuate from north and central Gaza. Information trickling in suggests the number of people killed in the enclave continues to climb.

That is according to the Hamas authorities in Gaza who say the death toll from Israeli attacks now stands at more than 14,850. An injured Palestinian man evacuated from Gaza to Egypt described life in the enclave during the war.

UNKNOWN: We pray for martyrdom. But the fear -- this fear, I can't describe it. We die every night in this war. You hear the sound, about to strike. And we don't know where it would hit. A missile destroys a block. So, imagine what happens when we are hit with three missiles.

ANDERSON: Well, the Palestinian Health Ministry in Ramallah says that disruptions to communication networks in Gaza have made it difficult to collect the most up-to-date information from hospitals in the Gaza Strip. Well, civilians in Gaza have been struggling to survive as the war intensified.

One young blogger's video diary has documented the struggles and tragedies that people have endured in the enclaves since the war began amid this conflict. CNN's Jomana Karadsheh has that for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Life before the wars felt like a distant memory for video blogger Ayat Khaddoura. They were the days when she'd smile in her videos, taking her followers behind the scenes of her work in Gaza. For weeks now, her posts have been about life at a time of war.

AYAT KHADDOURA, BLOGGER (through translator): We now wake up at 5 A.M. to queue for bread. We now walk more than six kilometers to fill up a gallon of salty or fresh water. We charge our phones on the streets using the solar power we can find. We crave our favorite foods, but there's no power, no gas or water, so we have to make do with canned foods.

KARADSHEH (voice-over): Ayat showed people how Gazans survive. Neighbors sharing the little they have to bake bread in clay ovens. And at times, it was about how close death felt as bombs rained down on Gaza. KHADDOURA (through translator): This might be my last video. They

dropped leaflets asking people to evacuate the area. Most people fled. People were running in the streets like crazy, not knowing where to go. The situation is terrifying. God have mercy on us.

KARADSHEH (voice-over): As the war intensified in the north, Ayat didn't leave. The safety they were told to evacuate to in the south was an illusion. Nowhere in Gaza is safe, she said.

KHADDOURA (through translator): Death and destruction is everywhere in Gaza.

[02:20:00]

The occupation has no mercy on anyone, not the elderly, not the children, not the women, no one. All civilians are under fire in Gaza. Where are the decision-makers? Where's the world? Gaza is being annihilated. We are dying. Someone do something. Enough.

KARADSHEH (voice-over): But these desperate cries of so many like Ayat haven't stopped this seemingly endless nightmare for the people of Gaza, where burying their dead has become their every day, where every moment feels like it may be their last.

On Monday, it was Ayat's, killed along with other family members in a night of intense bombardment of Beit Lahya. Her last video, the haunting words of a 27-year-old with a final message from Gaza to the world.

KHADDOURA (through translator): We're humans like everyone else. We had big dreams. Now our dream is, if we are killed, we are a body in one piece, so we can be identified, buried in a grave, not body parts in a bag. When will this war end? Who will remain to tell people what happened to us, what we lived through, what we've witnessed?

KARADSHEH (voice-over): Jomana Karadsheh, CNN, London.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON (on-camera): Well, heightened tension along the Israel- Lebanon border as the IDF and Hezbollah again exchange heavy fire. An update from Beirut is just ahead.

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ANDERSON (on-camera): Welcome back. I'm Becky Anderson in Doha, in Qatar. We are monitoring events for you in the Middle East where a four-day truce between Israel and Hamas does now appear to be in effect.

Here's a live look at the border between Israel and Gaza. Right now as we speak, our correspondent in the area reported hearing what sounded like Israeli artillery fire for a few minutes after the truce was due to begin about two and a half hours ago, although that did end fairly quickly in the coming hours.

Israeli hostages held by Hamas are scheduled to be released to the Red Cross and Israel will free Palestinian prisoners to the West Bank. Tons of aid also set to begin flowing into Gaza. Well, an Israeli official says 39 Palestinian prisoners will be released on Friday, but not until 13 women and children who are Israeli hostages or hostages held by Hamas in Gaza are freed.

The Israeli government has notified the families of the first group of hostages set to be released on Friday. And the U.S. says it will contact families of American hostages released after it has confirmed that they are departing Gaza. We have no confirmation as of yet as to who is on that first list.

Qatar says it will be receiving a list of Israeli hostages to be freed in a day-by-day process. Israel will also hand over a list of Palestinian prisoners expected to be released every day, as well.

Israel and Hamas may have agreed to a truce for now, but Israel was very active on Thursday against Hezbollah in neighboring Lebanon. CNN's Ben Wedeman is in Beirut and filed this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The Lebanese- Israeli border saw some of its most intense exchanges of fire Thursday between Israel and Hezbollah. A day after an Israeli strike killed five Hezbollah fighters, including the son of the leader of Hezbollah's parliamentary bloc.

According to Lebanon's official news agency, there were almost two dozen individual strikes by Hezbollah on Israel, mostly focusing on military targets. The group claimed it fired 48 Katyusha rockets on the Israeli infantry base at Ain Zaitim, and also claimed it killed four Israeli soldiers in a separate attack Israel has yet to comment.

The Israeli military, for its part, said it launched multiple air and artillery strikes on what it called Hezbollah's infrastructure and rocket launch sites. Thursday Iranian Foreign Minister Hussein Abdullah Heyan on a two-day visit to Lebanon, met with Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah to consult on efforts to end the war in Gaza.

During his time in Beirut, the foreign minister, interviewed on the Mayadeen satellite news channel, warned that if the truce in Gaza doesn't hold, the scope of the war will expand. While Al Jazeera Arabic, citing a Hezbollah source, said the group would hold its fire during the four-day truce if Israel does the same. I'm Ben Wedeman, CNN, reporting from Beirut.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON (on-camera): And I'm Becky Anderson in Doha and Qatar. We'll take a very quick break. Do stay with us though when we return. We'll hear from an Israeli woman whose elderly mother was kidnapped by Hamas. Stay with us.

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[02:32:52]

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN ANCHOR: Well, the four-day truce between Israel and Hamas is now in effect and does appear, at least, to be taken hold. Reports of artillery and rockets have subsided since shortly after the pause was due to begin.

Let's have a look at live images from the Rafah crossing, where aid trucks, as we understand it, have now started to roll through, 200 expected across through the crossing in the coming hours. If the truce holds, we are expecting the first group of hostages from Israel to be released later today, followed by Israel releasing a group of Palestinian prisoners.

Here is what one woman in Gaza had to say before this pause took effect.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): We hope for a truce. We are tired. The people of Gaza are tired.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Well, Israel says it has informed the families of the first group of hostages scheduled to be freed later on Friday. Their release is expected around about 4:00 p.m. local time.

Neta Heiman Mina is among the many Israelis anxiously awaiting today's hostage release. Her 84-year-old mom is among the Israeli hostages. She joins us now from Haifa.

And, Neta, it's good to have you. I know this must be an agonizing way to spend 47 long days now. What do you know at this point?

NETA HEIMAN MINA, MOTHER KIDNAPPED BY HAMAS: Forty-nine days. And what we are -- we don't have any news. We are waiting. We are waiting.

ANDERSON: Does that suggest then given that the Israeli government has confirmed it has informed the families of those families of the hostages who will be or are scheduled to be released today, does that suggest your mom is not amongst them to your mind?

[02:35:05]

MINA: They contact all the families who has got releases and who is not get released. My mom is not on the list for today's release. We hope that we will be in the next day because she's very old. She's 84 years old. She's one of the oldest women that they've taken hostage.

And we are very worried. We are very hopeful today that she will be in the next days.

ANDERSON: Neta, tell me about mom.

MINA: My mom is 84 years old, as I said. She lived in a kibbutz Nir Oz near the Gaza border. She lived there all her adult life. She was one of the people that established the kibbutz. She was a social worker for a long years. She work until the age of 80. A very family woman.

ANDERSON: Can you still hear me, Neta?

MINA: Now I hear you.

ANDERSON: You are telling me about your mom. 84 years old, held hostage by Hamas in Gaza, as you understand it. How do you feel about where this conflict has gone? In this four-day pause, that at least in principle, should allow for the release of some 50 women and children held by the group there in Gaza. I mean, just explain how you are feeling, yourself, and as a family.

MINA: I feel that everyone that we can get out from there is great. It's a very comfortable and it's a bless. Everyone that can go out, of course, it will be my mom as well, but everyone that can go out, it's a bless, and Israel needs to pay this price for the people that she didn't protect them.

And even those I heard this night that maybe a lot of people will get out. I think we need to get out everyone that we can. Of course, the old people and the children need to be priority, but if we can bring others, it's a bless.

ANDERSON: Do you share the anger of so many families of hostages held that it has been now as you rightly point out, and you corrected me, and you're right, 49 days since these hostages were taken. Do you share that anger? I'm sure you share the collective trauma and grief as so many Israelis are going through. Do you share the anger with the government for where we are at, at this point?

MINA: Of course. Of course. I am angry of the government that didn't protect her in her home. And she was sent by the country to sit on the border, to live on the border and they didn't protect her. I feel very angry about this. And I'm a little bit angry that they didn't succeed to do anything until now, 49 days.

ANDERSON: The Israeli government, and I know you're not a politician, and I've brought you on to very specifically talk about mom, which is front and center for you, but the Israeli government, the military at least, has said that it will ratchet up the intensity of this fight against Hamas. It's conflict, again, it will restart this conflict once it's humanitarian pause ends. Is that the right thing to do, Neta?

MINA: I don't know. I'm not an army woman.

[02:40:00]

And, look, Israel must have -- must protect herself. But if this war and what they are doing inside Gaza now is helping to bring back the people, I don't know. I know that no matter what, they will do after they bring the people, it won't resolve the conflict. It won't resolve the problem. The solution must be a political solution and not a military solution.

ANDERSON: And your view shared by so many in Israel, perhaps, equally. There will be many, many people who don't agree with you, who agree with the Israeli government and its military that its key objectives are clear and the right ones. But there are many who disagree at this point and there are clearly -- there's clearly very different perception of what is going on for the Palestinian people living in Gaza as well.

Just finally, how will your mom be coping?

MINA: How -- I didn't understand the question, how is my mom what?

ANDERSON: You know your mom inherently. How it will she be coping with this period of time? Have you got any sense of what you believe --

(CROSSTALK)

MINA: My mom is very mentally strong. My mother is -- was when she was taken very strong mentally and she was taken healthy, not injured. Then I hope she managed -- I don't want to -- but somebody managed it well, but I think she can hold on. I don't know what happened to her in this last 49 days and how it will affect her. But in her basic, she is a very strong woman mentally. Physically, not.

ANDERSON: Neta Heiman, we appreciate your time. Neta Heiman Mina, in Haifa today, thank you.

Well, Qatar's lead negotiator says it took a very intensive work to broker this hostage release deal. CNN's Brian Todd has more on how Qatar became such an essential mediator in this humanitarian pause in the Gaza Strip and, of course, embedded in that, these prisoner deals.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A pivotal player in getting the hostages freed from Hamas captivity, is a tiny emirate over 1,000 miles away from Gaza, smaller than the state of Connecticut, with about a quarter of the population of New York City. Qatar, an oil rich nation on a peninsula in the Persian Gulf, ruled by a 43-year-old Sheikh named Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, who took over when his father abdicated ten years ago.

Analysts say Qatar has been indispensable in brokering this hostage deal.

DAVID SCHENKER, WASHINGTON INSTITUTE FOR NEAR EAST POLICY: Qatar is central. It has relationships with a broad range of terrorist groups throughout the region, and unsavory regimes.

TODD: Qatar was instrumental in getting four hostages, two Israelis, and two Americans released about two weeks after the current war started. And that wasn't Qatar's first go around with deals like that.

PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Qatar has had a long role in these kinds of prisoner negotiations, most recently, playing an important role in getting five American prisoners released from Iran. There were $6 million of Iranian funds that were sent to Qatar.

TODD: That deal took place in September. Analysts say mediation has long been one of Qatar's most marketable skills, specifically, its ability to be an interlocutor between international players who are at odds with one another.

BERGEN: They are seen as a sort of, a fair player by many of the different actors in the region. They do have some leverage over Hamas.

TODD: For years, Qatar has given sanctuary two figures like Hamas's top political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, and Qatar's financial support for Hamas and Palestinian citizens in Gaza has been substantial.

SCHENKER: The state of Qatar funding Hamas for many years, underwriting the salaries of Hamas and of Palestinian employees in Gaza.

TODD: But Qatar has also been one of America's closest allies in the Middle East. Not only supplying oil and gas, but also allowing the U.S. to maintain the Al Udeid Airbase, headquarters of U.S. Central Command.

[02:45:04]

SCHENKER: We ran operations not only in Iraq, but in Afghanistan. Out of there, we continue to run operations.

TODD: Qatar was crucial in facilitating America's 2021 evacuation from Afghanistan. It's maintained back channel contacts with Israel, while at the same time having relationships with groups like the Taliban, and al-Qaeda, and sharing enormous national gas with Iran.

All of which allow Qatar to have dialogue with key players in the region, like no one else can. And, experts say, Qatar is willing to do things in negotiations over hostages or captured militants that the U.S. and others won't.

SCHENKER: The United States typically in the past has not paid ransoms. But, Qatar has no qualms about it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TODD (on camera): Analysts say when tensions in the Middle East subside, Qatar will be under significant pressure as it already has been from some members of the U.S. Congress, to sever its relationship with Hamas, and kick Hamas leaders out of Qatar. But they say it's an open question right now, whether Qatari leaders will actually take that step.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington. ANDERSON: Well, we do know that the Americans have agreed to review

that Hamas file back in Qatar at once these hostages are released. I've spoken numerous times diplomatic sources here in the region and to the Qatar mediation team about that, and they agree that that review has been discussed. The detail of what that Hamas file might look like, whether the political office for Hamas's political leadership will be here going forward is not clear going forward, but there is an agreement that a review will be conducted after these hostages are released.

I'll be back later in the hour, but after the break, Kim Brunhuber will have some of the day's other news.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:50:04]

KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kim Brunhuber in Atlanta, and we'll have more on the truce underway in Middle East in just a few minutes.

But first, a look at some of the other stories making news.

Germany's interior minister says the country is keeping up his crackdown on radical Islamists after police raided the homes of Hamas members and supporters in at least four regions. The raids also targeted the pro-Palestinian network Samidoun which advocates the use of violence. The two groups were banned in Germany earlier this month. Officials say Hamas supporters still tried to raise money for the group, but affect the political discourse in Germany.

In Ireland, police say the streets of Dublin are mainly calm after violent clashes broke out between police and protesters. It happened after five people, including three children, were stabbed in the central part of the city. Police say a man in his 50s has been detained as a suspect in the knife attack. Officials believe the stabbings weren't terrorist-related.

Ukraine says one person was killed and another wounded in a barrage of Russian strikes on the Kherson region. Ukrainian officials say Russian forces launched a 65 attacks on Thursday using mortars, artillery rockets, and drones, among other weapons. The attacks reportedly hit residential areas as well as businesses and medical facilities.

Chinese health authorities are explaining why there is been a spike in cases of children with pneumonia or respiratory illnesses in the northern part of the country. They told the World Health Organization on Thursday the uptick in cases is stemming from typical seasonal germs rather than any new or unknown bacterial or virus. They say the illnesses can be treated with antibiotics.

And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: Welcome back. I'm Becky Anderson in Doha in Qatar.

Our top story this hour, a four-day truce between Israel and Hamas does appear to have gone into effect. Here's a live look at the Rafah crossing in southern Gaza right now. Our correspondent in the area reported hearing what sounded like Israeli artillery fire continuing for a few minutes after the truce was due to begin.

And that artillery fire was witnessed, or the smoke at least, was witnessed from the border on the Israel-Gaza -- from Israel and into Gaza. Not here at the Rafah border crossing, though that does appear to have stopped now.

In the coming hours, 13 Israeli hostages held by Hamas should be released to the Red Cross according to the terms of the deal. And Israel has agreed to free 39 Palestinians held in Israeli jails, and dozens more over the coming days if Hamas keeps freeing Israelis.

Well, that wraps this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Becky Anderson live from Doha. We'll have the latest on this temporary truce between Israel and Hamas after this short break.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)