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Medevac Jet With 6 People on Board Crashes in Philadelphia; Hamas Releases 2 Israeli Hostages to Red Cross In Gaza, Awaiting Release of 3rd Hostage. Aired 2-3 am ET

Aired February 01, 2025 - 02:00   ET

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


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[02:00:31]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to all of our viewers watching from around the world. I'm Isabel Rosales.

We're following two breaking stories at this hour. First, for a second time in about 48 hours, a major U.S. city is reeling from a horrific aviation disaster. Several hours ago, a medevac jet with six people on board crashed in Philadelphia. It was caught on video. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar! What the hell! What the hell! What the hell! Oh, my God! Oh, my God! That's a plane, bro! That's a plane! I caught that on camera. Yo! Yo!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROSALES: Stunning scenes there in the city of Brotherly Love. Officials say that the plane plunged shortly after takeoff from a nearby airport before exploding right here into this massive fireball.

The plane's operator says it cannot confirm any survivors. And Philadelphia's mayor says she has no report so far on the number of fatalities. A local hospital said six people were treated after the incident, but it's not clear here where or how they were injured. The plane's passengers were all Mexican nationals, including a child patient and her mother.

Firefighters say the blaze at the crash site is now under control. The incident followed Wednesday's midair collision between a passenger plane and a helicopter in Washington, which left 67 people, 67 people there presumed dead.

All right. We're now looking at live pictures. This is breaking news from Khan Yunis, Gaza, where two of the hostages set to be released today have been handed over by Hamas. Ofer Calderon and Yarden Bibas were just given to representatives of the Red Cross. Expected still to be released is Keith Siegel, an Israeli-American. He is among three hostages. Hamas is scheduled to release here in the coming hours. I'm joined now by CNN Correspondent Jomana Karadsheh from Amman, Jordan.

Jomana, what are you learning?

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Isabel, in the last half hour or so, we are seeing, as you mentioned there, the handover of two of the three Israeli hostages who were set to be released today by Hamas as part of the ceasefire hostage release agreement. As you mentioned there, we saw the release of Ofer Calderon and Yarden Bibas, the father of the two youngest Israeli hostages, handed over to the ICRC, the Red Cross, in Khan Yunis in southern Gaza.

And we are still awaiting the handover of Keith Siegel, a U.S.-Israeli national, to the Red Cross and then onwards to Israeli forces. We understand from the IDF that the ICRC has confirmed that they have Calderon and Yarden with them and that they are on their way to hand them over to Israeli forces who then will move them into Israel.

Now, you know, what we're seeing today, Isabel, is such a contrast to those chaotic scenes that shocked and horrified so many in Israel on Thursday with the release of the hostages where you had the female hostages, Arbel Yehoud, and others, who were forced to walk through these large, chaotic, jeering crowds in Gaza. And that really infuriated Israeli officials who issued a warning.

They initially delayed the release of Palestinian prisoners. Of course, this is what happens. You have the release of Israeli hostages followed by the release of Palestinian prisoners, as per the agreement.

So what happened on Thursday was Israeli officials delayed the release of the Palestinian prisoners. They asked the mediators for assurances that this will not happen again. And yesterday, a warning from Israeli officials saying that unless they see a very different handover today, that they will not go ahead with the opening of the Rafah Border Crossing with Egypt, something that so many are waiting for, something that is set to happen today.

[02:05:19]

This is a lifeline for so many in Gaza who need to get out through that crossing that has been closed since May of 2024, after Israeli forces took over that crossing. They need to get out of there for medical treatment.

So Israel made it clear that unless this hostage handover today, goes smoothly, they don't see those chaotic scenes, that crossing will not open.

So what we are seeing today is a very different scene. The handover taking over, the release of the hostages taking over -- taking place earlier than expected, and a very orderly and brief handover that we have seen today. ROSALES: Yeah. So far a smooth and orderly handover, which, as you mentioned, is critical and conditioned by Israel for the Rafah crossing to reopen.

Let me ask you this, Jomana, and I hate to put you on the spot if you don't know this, but any -- any sort of -- is there any sense of why Keith Siegel, why there's a delay in his release, two out of the three so far have been handed over to the Red Cross, but what's going on with this American Israeli?

KARADSHEH: Well, Isabel, I wouldn't say it's a delay. The handover of Ofer Calderon and Yarden Bibas took place earlier than expected, but you are seeing two different locations, it appears, where these releases are taking place. The first one that we have seen now that has been complete, took place in Khan Yunis in the south. We are seeing a stage set in Gaza City by the coast there, and we expect that this is where Keith Siegel is going to be released.

And, you know, keeping in mind that what we are seeing as well, you know, is a large number of Hamas militants from their Qassam brigades who, you know, appear to have -- are out today, it seems, to try and control the crowds, to try and ensure that there's no repeat of what happened because there is a lot at stake for them today.

ROSALES: And I believe we've seen now four -- correct me if I'm wrong here, four of these hostage releases. How would you characterize the significance of this deal for both Israel and Hamas?

KARADSHEH: Well, after 15 months of this war, we are talking about Israelis who have been held captive for more than 400 days who are now beginning to return home, who are being reunited with their families, of course, under this agreement. During this six-week ceasefire, we're seeing the handover of and the release of these hostages back to Israel, a total of 33 hostages who are expected to be released under this agreement.

I mean, this is a moment so many Israeli hostage families have been fighting for, for so long. They have been pushing their government to find a negotiated way out of this to get their loved back -- their loved ones back. And now this is starting to happen.

And for the Palestinians in Gaza who have endured the unimaginable during those 15 months, you know, you look at the sheer, you know, the numbers of Palestinian casualties with more than 47,000 people who have been killed according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, 18,000 children. You look at what has been left of Gaza.

And I think for so many inside Gaza, they just wanted this war to end. So for so many, this is, I mean, this is something that they have wanted to see for a very long time. And now it is beginning to happen.

And, of course, as you mentioned earlier, the reopening of the Rafah crossing, Isabel, this is a very, very important moment for so many Palestinians who are in desperate need of medical treatment abroad. I mean, we were just hearing that children are in one of the hospitals in the south of Gaza just waiting today for that border to open, for their medical evacuations to begin.

[02:10:04]

And, of course, that all hinges on the handover of the hostages. They are released today going smoothly. No repeat of what was seen a couple of days ago with those shocking and chaotic scenes.

ROSALES: Jomana Karadsheh, thank you so much for explaining that to us and so well said.

Let's go live now to Miri Eisin out of Tel Aviv, Israel. She's a Senior Fellow of the International Institute for Counterterrorism and retired from the Israel Defense Forces.

Miri, thank you so much for joining us. You know, what a stark difference, because we saw those chaotic scenes surrounding the release of Israeli anti-hostages in Gaza last week. That, of course, triggered condemnation from Israel and a delay in the release of the Palestinian prisoners.

Now we hear from Jomana that this is a complete 180. Everything's going smooth and organized. What do you make of that?

MIRI EISIN, ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES (Ret.): The word I didn't hear from Jomana was the word Hamas. My heart goes out to every single Palestinian. Why are there no hospitals? Because that's where Hamas was and that's where they placed themselves. And Hamas are the ones that are trying to pose themselves as the responsible, I would say, not responsible, not authority. These last 484 days, Hamas did this. They could have stopped it at any stage, handed over the snatched hostages.

The people that were released right now were taken from their homes in pajamas on Saturday morning, October 7th. One of them, Yarden Bibas, was taken with his wife that everybody knows her face. She's the ginger-colored-haired woman together with the small little two babies. He's coming back now, and his wife and two babies are still held hostage for 484 days in the Gaza Strip. So this is about --

ROSALES: Let me ask you about that.

EISIN: -- look at Hamas and what they can do.

ROSALES: Let me ask you about the Bibas family. You mentioned their little Kfir, the youngest hostage, that has really become an emblem of the October 7th attacks. Does the fact that the father is getting released ahead of his children and wife raise serious concerns about their fate? And, you know, we've heard -- we saw that hostage video of Yarden, and we saw that Hamas claimed that his family members were killed in an Israeli airstrike, but Israel has not said that they are dead.

EISIN: Hamas has said that all of the hostages, including some that they handed back in the last few days, they claim that all of them were killed by Israel, that it is Israel's fault. Hamas attack took those people and showed the pictures of Shiri Bibas and her children being taken. And I'm saying that in that sense, and the terror on their face, because I don't know. We do not know in Israel. We do know, and this, again, in the 33 that are supposed to be handed over in that first stage of 42 days of this stage of the ceasefire, it's only 33 of them. It was said up front that some are not among the living. I don't know who that is.

And to me, if there's a woman with two little babies, and they've brought back all of the other women until now, and they're starting to hand back now live men, that puts up serious questions about what happened to Shiri Bibas and their children. Can we be clear? Hamas, of course, is going to claim that it was us. Hamas says that it's our fault that they attacked on October 7th. I find it so hard, because I'm sitting on a day like today, and I so want a better future for every single person in the Gaza Strip.

And I want us to call out Hamas, who did the attack, who took the people, who held them for so long. And everybody's blaming us. And I'm looking at that and going, this is a horrible, horrible war. And let's not let Hamas in any way show that they as if won. They could have stopped this a long time ago. They could have told us in truth.

What happened to all the hostages? Again, I'll remind you, they never said what happened to all of our hostages. So this is really a place where my heart breaks, and I don't want to see those pictures, but I'm very, very worried about the rest of the Bibas family.

ROSALES: But, Miri, this is a significant deal. It's progress. I mean, this is still a positive thing, the fact that they've reached this deal. And while it has seen some hostages released, there, of course, are still so many more that you mentioned, as you mentioned, are in captivity. I think 79 people that Hamas and its allies were still holding since October 7th. Given the circumstances of this, how do you assess the likelihood of all these hostages being freed?

EISIN: There's no question to me that Hamas is greatly weakened and degraded. And what they're doing now is exactly what a terror organization does. It wants to show, not its face, of course, they're all unmasked, but it wants to show their as-if control. But that's the control more of what I'm going to call bandits, terrorizers, who can do in a little area a staged show-off. But I do think that they themselves need the end. They need the ceasefire.

[02:15:07]

The ceasefire is not the end of the war, Isabel. I want to remind everybody that Hamas not only fought against us on October 7th. Hezbollah on October 8th fought against us from October 8th. And Hezbollah up north on the Lebanese border sued for a ceasefire at the end of November last week.

The things have changed around the area. But the Yemenite Houthis have still fired against Israel, fired over 300 rockets. So I am hopeful that this will go forward. And I like that you called it hopeful. But it isn't that suddenly now everything is over and all of these different terror groups, like Hamas, like Hezbollah, like the Houthis, for that matter, like the Islamic regime of Iran, have suddenly said, oh, and Israel is allowed to be here. I'm not even saying that they recognize our right to be here. They still call for our annihilation.

ROSALES: Let me ask you this about the role of international mediators such as Qatar, Egypt and the U.S. What do you make of their role in these negotiations and how much of an influence do you think they had in shaping the outcome of this deal?

EISIN: You cannot do this without mediators. Israel does not talk to Hamas. Hamas attacked Israel as an enemy in Israel. We fought against them. And as such, you have to have the mediators. I need that to be clear.

The United States doesn't talk to terrorist groups. Neither does the U.K. Israel does so, as I said, through mediators. There are a lot of different possibilities. Egypt, Qatar, you could say that maybe Turkey could be such a thing. Certainly the United States needs to impact. But United States is also not talking directly to Hamas.

United States is impacting Qatar, impacting Egypt. And in that sense, just think of all the mistakes that can happen along the way. You're the mediator of the mediators. And we don't think of it. It's just when we keep saying about these mediations that the devil is in the details, it's that the mediators want to get to a deal. And they may promise something or say something that is going to be heard by the Hamas in one way, by Israel in a different way. You get to a deal, but it isn't actually something that neither Israel nor Hamas can live up to. And let's not put us on an equal level.

Hamas is a terror organization. They snatched these people. They've held them horrifically. They could have let them go at any stage along the way. Everybody pressures Israel, the sovereign state. And so as you look at that going forward, the mediators are very important. They're the ones who can bring about the deal also in their own way. They can bring about some of the challenges that we've had along the way.

Look at how Israel said about what happened two days ago. Arbel Yehoud, a 28-year-old woman, let out after being 482 days underground by herself in horrific conditions. And we kind of skip over that. She came out into a seething crowd. It was just horrible. And we said something to the mediators. The mediators said something to Hamas. And today we're seeing something different.

So you see it both in the detail level, what you do every single time, but also at the macro level. And I think that we can't do it without the mediators. And we need to realize that the mediators don't always understand each side.

At the end, Egypt and Qatar are not Israeli. Egypt and Qatar are not Palestinian. And in this case it's Hamas, not the Palestinian people. So when we're talking about what this does for the Palestinian people, yes, this is against Hamas. And Hamas are part of the Palestinians. So it's very complex.

ROSALES: Yes, so much more work that needs to be done ahead. And I'm glad to see that the circumstances are so vastly different from the release last week to what we're seeing now. Miri Eisin, thank you so much.

Well, there's more ahead, including the latest on the plane crash in Philadelphia. Stick around.

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[02:23:20]

ROSALES: An air ambulance crashing into a Philadelphia neighborhood. Let's update you on what we know so far. The medevac jet went down in a Philadelphia neighborhood Friday night with six people on board, including a pediatric patient and that child's mother.

Dash cam footage you're seeing right now caught that massive explosion when the twin-engine Learjet 55 hit the ground. So far, the air ambulance company that organized the flight will only say it cannot confirm survivors.

Also, no word on fatalities on the ground, although CNN affiliate KYW reported several injuries. One local hospital told CNN that it treated six patients after the crash and three of them have already been discharged.

Listen to one witness describe what he saw.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was in shock. I'm still in shock. Like, this is insane. Why can this happen? And before that, to be honest, in my mind, I thought, like, what if the rocket would, like -- because I'm from Ukraine, right? And there's war. There's always rockets coming in and stuff like that. And then I see, like, things flying. Like, no way. The war started again? You know, and you say, you never know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROSALES: And CNN has obtained video taken on the ground by a bystander at the moment of the crash. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar! What the hell! What the hell! What the hell! Oh, my God! Oh, my God! That's a plane, bro! That's a plane! I caught that on camera.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[02:25:08]

ROSALES: OK, we go live now to CNN Transportation Analyst Mary Schiavo in Washington. She is the former Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Transportation. So we're speaking to the right woman to take a real analysis, look at this video and try to figure some things out. Of course, the NTSB will be on the ground doing an extensive investigation. Mary, thank you for joining us. When you saw those videos of the plane

going down, what stood out to you?

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN TRANSPORTATION ANALYST: Well, the first thing that, I mean, it's just alarming and shocking, but the plane coming down was coming down literally straight down, almost a vertical descent. I think it was 11,000 feet in a minute. And it's, you know, that was the rate. And it wasn't that high in the sky, but that was the rate of descent. That is an unbelievably fast descent. It is, to use an old saying, literally dropping like a rock.

And that means that that plane was totally uncontrollable and totally out of control. The problem is going to be for the investigators just to figure out why, because as the other pictures show, there is very little left of that aircraft. It is in small pieces.

And, of course, I was very concerned because it was coming down in a highly populated area. This was a Philadelphia neighborhood full of restaurants and cars and townhouses and homes. And so far, you know, we know the fate of the six people on the plane, but the people on the ground have been treated. They're in hospital or whatever, but so far we have heard of no fatalities on the ground, which, if true and holds, is just amazing and unbelievably fortunate.

ROSALES: Yeah, lots of questions still that need to be answered there. The plane began its descent at around 1,600 feet shortly after takeoff. What happens at that elevation?

SCHIAVO: Well, at that elevation, they're still climbing out after takeoff. You know, I've worked many airplane crashes in my years, but very rarely do they come down like that and so soon after takeoff. And I'm not saying this is what happened here, but two of the crashes that I worked on, you know, one had a fuel problem. It was fuel, the wrong fuel was put in, and it lost both engines on takeoff.

And then the other one, you know, had a total loss of control after the cargo load shifted to the back and literally caused the plane to stall and fall out of the sky a lot like this. So, you know, that's just based, you know, that's other accidents I worked, not this one.

But this one could be very hard for the investigators. This was a 1981 plane. Because it's a private plane, it may or may not have any black boxes at all. There may be no reporters on this plane at all because they're not required for private or for what's called on-demand air taxi services.

Now, although it was an air ambulance that falls under a different category of regulation, compounding the problem will be that it was flagged as a foreign carrier. It's a Mexico carrier or Mexico plane, not a U.S. plane. So the law is different. Every nation has its own set of safety laws, aircraft requirements, training requirements. But that does mean that Mexico will be invited to participate in the investigation.

The other thing that was interesting about this plane, although it's an old plane, 1981, it seemed to be quite a workforce. So I looked up its flights on radar, Flightradar24. And this plane had been making about three flights a day.

Now, that's a pretty long flight, you know, 1,500 miles or so. That's a pretty punishing schedule for a plane manufactured in 1981. But, you know, it depends on how you maintain them and it depends on how you take care of them. But still I was surprised to see that plane, a private jet, making that many flights per day.

ROSALES: And we did hear from Shai Gold, the spokesperson for the Jet Rescue Air Ambulance Company, that the plane was well-maintained and in good shape with an experienced crew on board. He told CNN this, quote, "I can tell you that when it comes to safety and maintenance, we're absolutely nuts. We don't save a penny on those things. We invest heavily in maintenance." But, of course, the NTSB is not going to take them at their word. They're going to be looking into all of this.

[02:30:00]

Speaking of the investigation, you mentioned earlier that this plane, this jet may not have a flight recorder. If you're the NTSB, how do you proceed here with an investigation? What are your next steps?

SCHIAVO: Well, records. They are already, without a doubt, gathering the records, maintenance records, you know, flight training records, fueling records. How this plane was fueled and where it was fueled is going to be very important. They're going to be looking at maintenance records.

And they're also going to be looking at who had access to the plane. I mean, that's always important as well. Where was the plane secured? Could anyone have -- you know, had access to the plane that maybe didn't maintain it properly or do something properly?

So already they're grabbing the records and that's very important. They should be taking a fuel sample where it was last fueled. They should -- and they will be doing this standard protocol, but they need to take a fuel sample to make sure the fuel was not fouled. And that can literally cause your, you know, engines to quit. And then it's going to depend upon the skill of the pilots to get that plane to the ground without it stalling. But those fuel samples could be very important or that could be a red herring.

ROSALES: And we know that this process of answering the how and the why takes a while, probably a year from now.

Mary Schiavo, thank you so much for your perspective. It's so important. Appreciate it.

SCHIAVO: Thank you.

ROSALES: Well, Hamas has released two Israeli hostages. An update on our other breaking news story, that's next.

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[02:36:02] ROSALES: All right, a live look now at Gaza City, where we're waiting for Hamas to release an American Israeli man held hostage since the October 7th attacks. Hamas handed over two other hostages to the Red Cross a short time ago.

I'm joined now by CNN Correspondent, Jomana Karadsheh, from Amman, Jordan. Jomana, what can you tell us?

KARADSHEH: Well, Isabel, we can now confirm, according to Israeli authorities, Ofer Calderon, the 52-year-old Israeli hostage, and Yarden Bibas, the father of the youngest Israeli hostages, are back on Israeli soil now. They have arrived at the Re'im military base in southern Israel, where they will be undergoing medical checks and they will be reunited with their families. This after 484 days in captivity.

They are two of the three Israeli male hostages who were set for release today under this agreement. And we saw in the last hour or so, their release taking place, their handover to the Red Cross taking place in Khan Yunis in southern Gaza. And we are seeing preparations right now in Gaza City on the coast there for the handover, we expect, of American Israeli citizen, Keith Siegel. That has not happened yet.

But the release of Bibas and Calderon happened earlier than expected. And what we have seen so far is what the Israeli officials have made very clear they wanted to see today, an orderly handover. They did not want to see a repeat of what happened on Thursday with the release of the female hostages and other hostages on that day where you saw these chaotic scenes that shocked and angered so many in Israel as the hostages were made to walk through these large unruly crowds in Gaza before they were handed over to the Red Cross. And Israeli officials on the day delayed the release of Palestinian prisoners. As you know, Israeli hostages would be released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.

So what they did on the day was they delayed the release of Palestinian prisoners, asking for assurances from the mediators, Qatar and Egypt, that that scene would not be repeated. And we heard the warnings yesterday issued by Israeli officials saying that unless they saw an orderly handover taking place today, no repeat of what they saw on Thursday, that Israel will not open the Rafah Border Crossing with Egypt. Of course, that is something that so many are desperately waiting for.

This is where we're going to begin seeing the medical evacuations of patients from Gaza who are in desperate need of treatment abroad.

So right now, Isabel, what we have seen is the two of the Israeli hostages, Yarden Bibas, the father of the youngest Israeli hostages, Ariel and Kfir Bibas has been handed over, has arrived in Israel along with Ofer Calderon. They are at the Re'im military base in Southern Israel.

They will be undergoing medical checks before being reunited with their families. And everyone now is watching what is happening in Gaza City, waiting for that moment that Keith Siegel would be handed over to the Red Cross and then on to Israeli forces who will then transport him to Israeli territory.

[02:40:07]

Isabel.

ROSALES: Yeah, and the moment that their families have been waiting for, for so long, that reunification with their loved ones.

Jomana Karadsheh, thank you so much. We appreciate it.

Let's go now to Alon Pinkas, he is the former Israeli Consul General in New York. He joins us now from Tel Aviv.

Thank you so much for joining us. Let me first ask you about this earlier release than was anticipated for two out of the three hostages. Do you make anything of that?

ALON PINKAS, FORMER ISRAELI CONSUL GENERAL IN NEW YORK: No, it's good. I think it's probably technical, Isabel. I don't think there's any design or plan behind this. Some were postponed by two, three hours. Some were moved ahead by one or two hours. And so this one, basically the expectation was that it would take place around 10 a.m. Israel time. And it took place between nine and 9:0 a.m. So that's not a big deal.

ROSALES: OK, well, we heard Jomana there reporting about just what a stark difference it was. This release in comparison to what we saw on Thursday, a very chaotic scene we saw last week, that really triggered the ire of Israel and led to a temporary delay in the release of the Palestinian prisoners. Now, we're seeing a very orderly release. What do you think about that?

PINKAS: I think that Hamas and -- well, the problem a few days ago was less with Hamas and more with the Islamic Jihad, which is another terror organization that operates, works parallel to Hamas, but is significantly smaller. That was the big, you know, the mob scenes that you saw that actually endangered the lives of the two hostages, Ms. Arbel Yehoud and Mr. Gadi Moses, who were the -- who had to be walked, protected by Islamic Jihad activists into the Red Cross ambulances. So Israel complained vociferously to the mediators, particularly Qatar and Egypt, and that was taken care of today.

So it just shows you that if they wanted to avoid what we've seen a few days ago, it could be done quite easily. And I hope the next increments, the next batches of releases would be more similar to what we saw today than to what we saw a few days ago. But that, you know, Isabel, we're looking at these releases and we're all very happy and we're all elated, and there's jubilation and an expectation for the next phase, but it's only going to get more problematic. Not the technicalities, not the logistics, but the political dimension of all this is going to get much more tenuous, much more problematic.

ROSALES: How so?

PINKAS: Well, look, on Monday, which is the 16th day, 16, today's the 14th. So on Monday, negotiations on the second phase are scheduled to begin. The second phase includes the continuation of the ceasefire, leading to a permanent ceasefire, and Israeli withdrawal, the next phase is supposed to begin on day 42. The negotiations begin on day 16. And Israel is supposed to begin a withdrawal from 90% or 95, indeed, percent of the Gaza Strip, including two passages that Israel deemed to be of critical importance.

I don't see that happening. You see in the last 12 hours, and I'm sure your correspondents are aware of that, in the last 24 hours, maybe even 12 hours, Isabel, there is a narrative coming out of the Prime Minister's office that there won't be a second phase, that indeed, Hamas is deceiving the mediators, that Hamas has no intention of releasing all the hostages. Therefore, a resumption of the war is inevitable. And I think that's going to be the key issue in Prime Minister Netanyahu's meeting scheduled for this coming Tuesday with President Trump.

ROSALES: So how do you assess the likelihood of all hostages being freed?

PINKAS: You know, I'm afraid to make any assessment here because, look, Mr. Netanyahu has a vested interest in resuming the war. He made contradictory promises to all sides. He promised Trump he's all in on phase two. He promised his right-wing coalition -- extreme right-wing coalition, that the war will resume.

He is confronted by the reality that after 15 months of saying, well, we will demolish, we will eradicate, obliterate, annihilate Hamas, topple Hamas, that hasn't happened. Hamas has been beaten resoundingly militarily, but as you can see in the footage of the hostage release, they're still there. They may be down, but they are not out.

[02:45:10]

And Mr. Netanyahu refused consistently to engage the U.S. This is the previous administration, the Biden administration, in any kind of talks and negotiations on a post-war Gaza framework. So right now, even if this works, even if this works, Isabel, we're looking at a complete political vacuum that Israel will then say, well, look, Hamas has taken over. Of course Hamas has taken over because Israel did nothing to substitute Hamas. Well, of course they're armed because you didn't occupy the entire Gaza Strip.

Now that I'm saying -- not that I'm saying that that was a good idea, but I'm saying in terms of promising and pledging a total victory, that hasn't happened. So Netanyahu wants to avoid all this, not to mention his political problems and the fact that he not once took responsibility for the calamity and debacle of October 7th, 2023. So all this converges into one conclusion. He does not want the second phase. And that's -- that's -- we're going to find out how bad that is in the next few weeks.

ROSALES: Yeah, and there's still a lot of work to be done as you're talking about a precarious work to be done.

Alon Pinkas in Tel Aviv, we thank you for your time.

We are joined live now by Efrat Machikawa, whose uncle, Gadi Moses, was released on Thursday.

Efrat, thank you so much for your time. We really, really appreciate you joining us. First of all, how's your uncle?

EFRAT MACHIKAWA, NIECE IF HOSTAGE GADI MOSES, WHO WAS RELEASED THURSDAY: Thank you. He's relatively okay and he is so relieved, so are us. It was amazing. This is the feeling of relief and joy and reunion that I wish every single family of the 80 now left. We have to make sure it happens until the very last one. Cannot take my smile off my face right now.

ROSALES: Can you describe to our audience what that is like from the perspective of the family when the hostages are being released to the Red Cross and then they cross over into Israeli soil? What is the information that the family members are getting up until that moment where they're reunited?

MACHIKAWA: We were watching the same footage that the world had and it was terrifying. It was like walking through hell for both Arbel, sweet and gentle Arbel and for my uncle Gadi Moses. But once we knew that they're in the hands of the ICRC, we were very relieved, but really we did feel much more secured when we knew that they are in the hands of the IDF and they're on the ground of Israel. And then the kids saw him and then he was moved to the hospital and then we had the privilege of hugging him again and more getting his hug.

ROSALES: What do you make about this deal that was reached by Israel and Hamas, the three hostages that are set to be released today, two now released, and specifically Yarden Bibas' family? We saw his nine- month-old child become a symbol really of this attack, of the hostages, and now he will be reunited with family, but unfortunately we still don't know about his wife and his two children. What do you make of this moment?

MACHIKAWA: You know, there were 29, up to yesterday, 29 people missing from the Nir Oz community, among them the Bibas family and Ofer Calderon that came today. And we really don't know, and it's devastating, it's heartbreaking. So although I do smile, it's a very specific smile. We are very, very worried and we are upset. We have no idea. Those cute little babies and their mom, I have no idea.

And this is why I think it's very important to get the details. We have to get the details and we are grateful to the USA for their part. I think it would not have happened unless your government involvement and the Qataris and Egyptians were very grateful.

And we hope that we will get every single hostage back. And, you know, I still keep a tiny little ray of hope that Shiri and the babies will be back. It's a tragedy. It's really sad.

[02:50:00]

ROSALES: Efrat Machikawa --

MACHIKAWA: And all those who return, I have to tell you that they have a long way of recovery. We hug and we're happy, but there is a long way.

ROSALES: Yeah, the trauma from what they went through, such an extensive captivity.

MACHIKAWA: Terrible.

ROSALES: Efrat Machikawa, still, I am glad to see the smile on your face and I'm glad to hear that your uncle is doing better.

MACHIKAWA: OK.

ROSALES: We appreciate your time. Thank you so much.

There's more ahead after a short break, please stay with us.

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ROSALES: Welcome back. An update now on the two breaking news stories we've been following. First, the crash of a medevac flied into a Philadelphia neighborhood Friday night. It went down about 40 seconds after takeoff, carrying a crew of four plus a pediatric patient and that child's mother.

[02:55:06]

The company that organized air ambulance said they could not confirm any survivors. So far, there's also been no confirmation of fatalities on the ground, but one local hospital told CNN that it treated six patients after the crash and three of them have already been discharged. Officials say multiple buildings and cars were also affected.

A live look now at Gaza City, where we're waiting for Hamas to release an American Israeli man held hostage since the October 7th attacks. Hamas handed two other hostages to the Red Cross a short time ago and CNN has confirmed that they are on Israeli soil. At any moment, Hamas is expected to release Keith Siegel, an Israeli American.

Stay with CNN for the latest.

And thank you for joining us. I'm Isabel Rosales. CNN's coverage continues with Kim Brunhuber after a quick break.

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