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CNN International: 17 Hostages Freed by Hamas on Day Three of Temporary Truce; Israel War Cabinet Discusses Possible Truce Extension; White House: Biden, Netanyahu to Continue Working to Release Hostages; At Least 120 Aid Trucks Enter Gaza at Rafah Crossing Sunday; Aid Worker Tells CNN About Life Inside Gaza Amid Truce. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired November 27, 2023 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and a warm welcome to our viewers joining us in the U.S. and all around the world. I'm Max Foster, live from London with our continuing coverage of the Israel Hamas war.

It's now the 4th day of the temporary truce between Israel and Hamas, and Israel says discussions are underway after received a list of hostages expected to be released from Gaza in the hours ahead.

On Sunday, 17 hostages were freed, including Israelis and foreign nationals, today set to be the final day of the agreement. But Hamas says it wants to extend the pause in the fighting beyond the four-day deal. A source tells CNN, Israel's war cabinet is also discussing that possibility -- or it was on Sunday night. As part of the existing deal an additional 39 Palestinian prisoners and detainees were released from Israeli jails on Sunday. All were males 18 years old and younger. Clare Sebastian, following all of this from London. So today is the last day of the truce. So, what do we expect to happen today?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, so as you said, we know that Israel has received a list. They're discussing it. We don't have any more on that point as of yet. They're going to release more information when they when they have it. I think all eyes right now because it's the last day of this sort of proposed 4-day period, is will it get extended? We're hearing of course from Hamas that they would like it to be extended. Israel discussing it. The Prime Minister Netanyahu said in discussions with President Biden that he would welcome it if more hostages could come out.

This is not a new breakthrough, right? This was baked into the deal from the start, the option to extend by an additional 24 hours if an additional 10 live Israeli hostages were released. So, we're waiting to see if that might happen. There's pressure from the outside. Qatar has made it clear -- the key mediator in all of this -- all along that they would like to see this extend not only into several more days, but into something more sustained, even a ceasefire. And even President Biden in the U.S. said on Sunday that he hopes that this won't be the end, he hopes that given that this has worked to an extent so far that they will move to get more hostages out. FOSTER: Hamas said Israel broke the agreement on Saturday. Today,

Israel is saying Hamas broke the agreement. Just take us through some of the delicacies here.

SEBASTIAN: Yes, I mean, this is really important, right? Because on the one hand, it has worked, dozens of hostages have been released, many more Palestinian prisoners on the other side. But there have been things that have gone wrong. There was a significant delay on Saturday. Hamas said that it was because Israel was not keeping up its end of the bargain, that not enough aid trucks were getting in specifically to northern Gaza. And then we later learned that there was an ongoing dispute because one of the hostages to be released on Saturday was a 13-year-old girl without her mother. Israel said that that showed that Hamas broke the agreement. And I -- CNN's Kaitlan Collins asked the IDF spokesman Colonel Conricus why he thought Hamas did that, take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JONATHAN CONRICUS, IDF INTERNATIONAL SPOKESPERSON: They're praying on the feelings of Israelis as simple as that. They want to manipulate. They want to create more suffering. They want to leverage each and every Israeli in their captivity for political pressure. They think that they can buy their way out of this situation, that they have forced upon us this war. And that they want to use the civilian hostages in order to try to survive and see yet another day. This will fail.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SEBASTIAN: Learned from this, right? One is that trust is extremely low, and this is extremely fragile as we go into this 4th day. And secondly, that multiple Israeli officials have told us that they, one, fought to include the mother in the deal and secondly didn't actually know her status. I think that is worth bearing in mind as we look to the 4th day. And also, to the 180 plus sausages that still remain in Gaza.

FOSTER: But there is -- there does seem to be some will this morning on both sides to extend the truce if possible.

SEBASTIAN: Yes, I mean, I think look, everyone would like to -- certainly, Israel would like to add more hostages. Hamas has made it clear that it would like to see more prisoners released from Israeli jails. I think the key complicating factor here is that Israel is also making it clear that it intends to pursue its second war aim, which is to completely dismantle Hamas. And it feels that it hasn't done that yet. So Prime Minister Netanyahu was actually in Gaza, according to Israel on Sunday and said, you know, we're going to keep going with this until victory. Wearing a flak jacket, wearing a helmet. I think the optics of that make it clear they intend to pursue that military goal as well.

FOSTER: OK, Claire, thank you.

Hostages freed by Hamas are experiencing joyful reunions with their families. Some of those released on Friday are being discharged from medical care. Channa Peri was amongst the first group.

[04:05:00]

She was released from a hospital in Herlong on Sunday. Similarly, Daniel Aloni and her five-year-old daughter Emilia were also in that first group of freed hostages. They also were discharged from the hospital on Sunday.

Hospital staff cheered on a -- cheered on a 33-year-old Filipino hostage freed by Hamas after he was discharged on Sunday. Jimmy Pacheco is a father of three and was working as a caregiver when he was taken in Israel. On Sunday three more Thai hostages were released in Gaza along with a dual Russian Israeli citizen. 15 other freed foreign nationals are in stable condition and improving according to the director of Israel's Shamir Medical Center. As she says, they're very happy to be there and they're getting the care that they need.

Meanwhile, there were celebrations in the occupied West Bank as dozens more Palestinian prisoners were released from Israeli prisons as part of the deal between Israel and Hamas. Crowds of well-wishers in Ramallah waved Palestinian and Hamas flags and gathered around the bus, which was carrying some of the freed prisoners. Celebrations were more subdued in Jerusalem. Where Israeli police have specifically warned against them. The Israeli Prison Service says 39 prisoners and detainees, all male teenagers, were released Sunday from seven prisons.

Now the White House says U.S. President Joe Biden remains in close contact with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, about the release of hostages. Mr. Netanyahu told President Biden that the possibility of extending the truce with Hamas would be welcome in return for the further release of 10 hostages per day from Gaza, according to a statement. CNN's Priscilla Alvarez has more from the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: President Biden on Sunday celebrated the release of Abigail Edan, a four-year-old American hostage who was held by Hamas and released as part of the negotiated deal between Israel and Hamas. She had been held in captivity for seven weeks, and both of her parents were killed in those October 7th terror attacks. The President calling what she went through a terrible trauma and also calling the experience, quote, unthinkable.

Now the president did speak with her family in both the U.S. and Israel on Sunday, though he did not have details on her condition when speaking to reporters earlier in the day. But the president making clear in those remarks that it's not just about the release of hostages, but also getting additional humanitarian aid into Gaza. And expressing some hope that there could be more pauses and fighting in the days to come to again get more of those hostages released.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Critically needed aid is going in and hostages are coming out. This deal was structured so that it can be extended to keep building on these results. That's my goal. That's our goal. To keep this pause going beyond tomorrow, so that we can continue to see more hostages come out and serve more humanitarian relief into those and in need in Gaza.

ALVAREZ: Now U.S. officials have said that Israel is prepared to continue pauses in fighting in exchange for Hamas releasing 10 hostages for each of those days. And the President spoke about that with the Prime Minister of Israel on Sunday, as well as getting again aid into Gaza and making sure that they can secure the release of more hostages.

So, what is clear tonight is that there are still intensive negotiations and discussions ongoing about getting those hostages released by Hamas after this four day pause.

Priscilla Alvarez, CNN at the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Before the third group of hostages were released by Hamas on Sunday, CNN's Wolf Blitzer asked his Israeli President, Isaac Herzog, about the prospect of extending the truce.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: So, you are open to extending the truce.

ISAAC HERZOG, ISRAELI PRESIDENT: So again, the way you interpret the word truce is complicated. We've already agreed, we made it public that if above the four --the initial four days there's a release of several prisoners, 10 per day or something 10, 11. I don't have the exact numbers. We will extend the humanitarian pause. Meaning the truce.

BLITZER: You call it a pause.

HERZOG: Yes. And that's our clear intention is to go in and complete the job because we must not enable this base of terror, this platform of terror which was taken over by cruel coup d'etat in 2007 by Hamas, to continue. And how would you expect anybody who went through these horrific torments and the horrific scene and this barbaric attack on October 7th with rape and torture and beheading and chopping and mutilating bodies and abducting hostages.

[04:10:00]

How do you expect anybody to go back there if there's no complete end to this threat?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Joining me from Canberra, Australia, Malcolm Davis, a senior analyst in defense strategy and capability of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. Thank you so much for joining us. We're interested in how the military positions have changed as a result of this truce, because the war isn't over. We've seen Prime Minister Netanyahu wearing a flak jacket. There's some messaging within that. We're also seeing this opportunity, aren't we, for Hamas to regroup to some extent?

MALCOLM DAVIS, SENIOR ANALYST, AUSTRALIAN STRATEGIC POLICY INSTITUTE: That's correct. The war is definitely not over. I think that we're in a temporary pause whilst this exchange of hostages and prisoners goes ahead. But you know, it's highly unlikely that Hamas would release all the hostages. So, at a certain point, this ceasefire must come to an end. And then Israel will go back to achieving its primary goal, which is the destruction of Hamas and the defeat of Hamas. And obviously, you know, sort of that's the war will resume with a ferocity that we've seen before.

FOSTER: What kind of efforts could Hamas have made in this truce to try to get on a more stable footing? How could they have taken advantage of it?

DAVIS: Well, certainly in the absence of Israeli bombings and strikes, what they would be wanting to do is regroup and resupply their fighting forces and basically, potentially even reposition and redeploy those fighting forces to new defensive positions. They've had, you know, they'll have four days. Maybe a day or two longer to do that to ensure that the Hamas forces are better equipped with new ammunition, new supplies, you know, the essentials that every soldier needs, food and water. And essentially then prepare for the Israelis then to come back at them. And at the same time, the Israelis would then be watching what Hamas are doing, gathering intelligence, planning their next round of strikes.

FOSTER: How are they able to do that when they're not able to fight? They're using technology, presumably, and they're still on the ground, aren't they?

DAVIS: They're using technology, I mean, so obviously the use of drones would still be occurring. So, they wouldn't be dropping bombs or firing munitions. But what they would be doing is gathering intelligence, watching what the Hamas forces are doing in terms of how the Hamas redeploy their forces and where supplies are moving across the battlefield. They'd also potentially be doing what's known as electronic intelligence and signals intelligence -- or ELINT and SIGINT, as it's known -- to try and monitor any transmissions by Hamas. And yes, it's known that Hamas used that tunnel network to communicate, but there would be some radio emissions potentially.

So, it's possible that the Israelis are gathering intelligence that way. The Israelis have spy satellites, so they'll be watching things from space. They'll be watching things from the air. And of course, you would have Israeli Defense Forces on the ground that would be monitoring Hamas movements as well.

FOSTER: And we could probably read into the fact that Israel seems keen on extending the truce. We could probably read that that they are across the intelligence and are quite confident in the intelligence they're gathering and they're ready to go back in as and when.

DAVIS: Yes, I think so. And I think the Israelis have probably used the ceasefire quite wisely to gather as much intelligence as possible. And when this ceasefire comes to an end, the Israelis will launch their campaign once again with that initial ferocity that they began with, and they would have fresh intelligence on what Hamas are doing and where they're positioned. So, I would expect the resumption of the conflict to be very intense indeed.

You know, Hamas doesn't have a comparable intelligence gathering network. So, they would be at a disadvantage in terms of understanding and knowing the battle space compared to the Israelis. But you know, the Hamas group can hunker down inside, bombed out buildings, prepare booby traps, position snipers. And so, it is going to be difficult for the IDF once they start advancing further into Gaza as a result.

FOSTER: OK, Malcolm Davis, as ever, thank you for your analysis today.

DAVIS: Thank you.

FOSTER: Now, where aid trucks have been lining up near the Rafah crossing in Egypt waiting to get into Gaza, as we enter what may be the final day of a temporary truce between Israel and Hamas.

Plus, we'll hear from an aid worker living in Gaza. What life has been like during the temporary ceasefire and what the Palestinians are hoping for and fearful of after the truce ends.

Later, massive antiwar demonstrations were held in major cities including New York, where a key bridge was shut down on one of the busiest travel days of the year.

[04:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: At least 120 trucks carrying aid into Gaza on Sunday, according to the Egyptian Government and the Palestinian Red Crescent says, 100 of those trucks delivered food water relief items, first aid supplies and medicine to Gaza City and the northern areas to thousands of people in desperate need. CNN's Larry Madowo is in Cairo with the very latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: After aid to northern Gaza almost derailed the entire temporary truce on Saturday, with Hamas dissatisfied with the amount coming in. More trucks were getting into northern Gaza on Sunday. The Palestinian Red Crescent, confirming Sunday evening that at least 100 trucks had come into the territory. They are bringing in relief supplies, emergency medicines, food, water. That's badly needed there. And Monday being the last day of this temporary truce we already saw on Sunday evening, trucks lining up again in the Rafah border crossing in Egypt, hoping to get in.

And the understanding here is that it's a difficult process to try and clear this aid coming into Gaza. Because it goes to an Israeli checkpoint and then goes into Gaza and then gets unloaded and reloaded into trucks to distribute them across the Gaza Strip.

[04:20:03] The needs are overwhelming and all across the Strip, according to the UN Relief and Works Agency there. People need cooking gas, people need fuel, people need food, people need water. And in some parts the risk of dehydration, of diseases breaking out are becoming very real.

But also, this temporary pause in fighting has allowed for some return to normalcy, especially in southern Gaza. People going to the market, picking up some supplies. And in the midst of this extraordinary circumstances, some bit of regular everyday life.

UM IHAB, GAZA RESIDENT (through translator): For 47 days of war, we were living in fear. Our kids were terrified. This was the first time we went out. We were afraid to go out because of the missiles and the air strikes. But since the first day of the ceasefire, we have been able to go out to buy our needs safely.

MADOWO: Monday will be a crucial day to see if this truce will be extended or not. Aid organizations, the UN, everybody working in the Strip want this to be extended for a much longer period. The UN Relief and Works Agency says they'll need at least 200 trucks going in every day for two months just to meet the need for that. And if it ends on Monday, a lot of people will be back to suffering greatly.

Larry Madowo, CNN, Cairo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Earlier, CNN's Alex Marquardt spoke with Yousef Hammash, an aid worker with the Norwegian Refugee Council who lives in Gaza with his family. They discuss what life has been like in Gaza 3 days into the temporary ceasefire and why he feels the international community needs to do more to help find a permanent solution to the crisis there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

YOUSEF HAMMASH, NORWEGIAN REFUGEE COUNCIL: To reach out for my relatives, who some of them were injured during the bombardment. Now we are going to the winter. And the winter has arrived, and people are not really prepared for that. Because I'm from the northern part of Gaza and when I fled to southern part, I fled without anything. So, I use it also as an opportunity to go and at least find proper clothes for my children as the weather is going to be upon us and we have nothing.

I had a roof to cover my head, but a lot of people, thousands of people, doesn't have that option. People are -- we never see -- seeing homeless people in Gaza in our lives. Now it's a really common to see people sleeping in the streets and people just looking for any place and consider it as a shelter without any means of protection.

And with this -- with this weather is going to be really, really hard and them to cook with. I work for a humanitarian organization. And if you combine us all as a humanitarian organization, international organization, UN agencies and international organization, we cannot cover the need for the people in the cells. In these four days are not enough. It's an impossible mission that we can cover the need. All the aid that get in, it did change something. But in terms of comparing to the need unfortunately is not covering the scale of need that we have. That it is changing something. But you cannot -- it's not tangible. You cannot feel it because the amount of need is massive.

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: And so. It sounds like everyone is just hoping that these exchanges just continue, so you can drag out this moment of quiet as long as possible, but at the same time, there's a recognition that at some point the violence will start again.

HAMMASH: People are really hoping that this will get longer and longer, so with every day they extend it and this humanitarian pause, people can breathe more. But also, we know that it will be limited. If they didn't reach a permanent ceasefire and reach an agreement somehow between all the parties, that's the responsibility for the international community and world leaders to maintain a solution for this chaos that's happening in Gaza. And people are - all of people can is hope, just all what they can do is keep hoping.

MARQUARDT: How is your family doing?

HAMMASH: We have survived than most. We all what we are looking for is to survive. I hope I can provide everything for my children or my family, but unfortunately that even if you have the financial capacity and you have money to afford buying things, you cannot find it. I have two children, Ada is five years old, and Ahmad 2 1/2 and they witness several wars, and my daughter can understand the difference between a missile and a tank shell while she's five years old. We became experts. Our children became experts on wars.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Well, Hamas says the world leaders and the international community must be held responsibility responsible for the bombardment of Gaza over the last seven weeks and is calling on them to intervene and quote, stop this madness.

[04:25:03]

Well, up next. Some families of released Israeli hostages are waiting to be reunited with their loved ones. We'll hear from them just ahead.

And new details about the suspect who allegedly shot three Palestinian college students in Vermont during a Thanksgiving holiday. Just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: At the end of a four-day temporary ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is approaching amid discussions of a public or possible extension. Sources tell CNN that on Sunday Israel's War Cabinet discussed the possibility of prolonging the pause in fighting. Something Hamas says it wants as well. Now the third exchange of hostages and prisoners was conducted on

Sunday, 17 hostages held by Hamas were freed, including a four-year- old American Israeli dual citizen.

Later in the day, Israel released 39 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, all male teenagers.

For some Israeli families, and nightmare that began more than seven weeks ago has finally come to an end. CNN's Matthew Chance has more from Tel Aviv.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They arrived by helicopter to the safety of an Israeli Children's Hospital near Tel Aviv. Their 51-day nightmare as hostages in Gaza, at an end. Just hours earlier, they were released.