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Hostage Release Expected To Start Within Hours; Trump Declares "War Is Over" Between Israel And Hamas; One Father's Enduring Hope; Trump Heads To Middle East As Israel Awaits Hostage Release; Government Shutdown About To Enter Third Week; No One Found Alive As Painstaking Blast Investigation Begins. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired October 12, 2025 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:02:46]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jessica Dean here in New York.

And breaking this hour en route to Tel Aviv President Trump declaring the war is over between Israel and Hamas. Those comments coming a short time ago, as he answered reporter questions on board Air Force One.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, has not gone so far as to say the war is over. In your view, is the war between Israel and Hamas over?

TRUMP: The war is over. The war is over. OK. Do you understand that?

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Mr. President, is the ceasefire going to hold? Are you confident the ceasefire will hold?

TRUMP: Say again?

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Are you confident that the ceasefire is going to hold?

TRUMP: I think so. I think it's going to hold. I think people are -- a lot of reasons why it's going to hold, but I think people are tired of it. It's been -- it's been centuries. OK? Not just recent. It's been centuries. I think people are tired of it. Yes. The ceasefire is going to hold.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: President Trump is set to arrive in Israel shortly after the remaining 20 living hostages taken by Hamas over two years ago -- by Hamas are finally released from captivity.

And CNN's Jeremy Diamond has more now from Tel Aviv. JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, the families of the

Israeli hostages have been told to anticipate that their loved ones will be released by Hamas tomorrow morning. They have now been told to arrive to prepare for their release at 8:00 a.m. local time. That is the latest information that the hostage families have been given, according to a source familiar with the matter.

We still don't know the exact timing that this release will take place and things are indeed quite fluid. They could change, of course, in the coming hours. But we do know that 20 living hostages are expected to be released. We've been told by the Israeli military that this could happen from several different locations, potentially inside of the Gaza Strip, but they will all go to this Reim military base just on the outskirts of the Gaza Strip, where the families of those hostages will be waiting for them, and where we will see those first embraces that have taken more than two years to become a reality.

From there, they will go to hospitals here in the Tel Aviv area, several hospitals that are prepared for their arrival to prepare to surround these hostages with physical care as well as mental health care, and they will likely remain in those hospitals for at least several days, potentially even several weeks.

[19:05:13]

This is a process that Israel has gone through before, but they have never seen on the same day, at the same time, 20 living hostages released. And so this will be something altogether quite different. And we also do not yet know what the condition of those hostages will be after two years of captivity.

The bodies of some of those 28 deceased hostages also expected to be released later in the day on Monday. The timing of that still very much uncertain as well. And as all of this is happening, we will also later see the release -- we expect to see the release of Palestinian prisoners, 250 of whom are serving life sentences in Israeli prisons, and then 1700 Palestinians who were detained inside the Gaza Strip. Most of those detained without charge or trial who will be returned to their families in Gaza. And you can expect to see reunions there as well.

Meanwhile, the ceasefire seems to be holding so far inside of the Gaza Strip. We're beginning to see this surge of humanitarian aid that is happening there. And also Palestinians beginning to sift through the rubble of Israeli airstrikes, finding the bodies of those who have been stuck under the rubble, an indication, of course, that this will take weeks, months, perhaps even years in order to get the full death toll inside of Gaza, in order for families there to have the closure that they are looking for as well.

DEAN: All right, Jeremy Diamond, thank you for that reporting.

Let's bring in CNN political and global affairs analyst and Axios correspondent Barak Ravid.

Barak, good evening. Thanks for being here. We are on the precipice of what is a really momentous moment in this over two -- two-year long war. What are you hearing tonight as we prepare for this final hostage release?

BARAK RAVID, CNN POLITICAL AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: I think the most interesting thing to me is that President Trump shortly after leaving Washington en route the Middle East, made it clear to everybody in the region, both Israel and Hamas, that if it's up to him, this war is over and he will not accept any party violating this deal. I think that's the main message at the moment that President Trump wants to send to people in the region nine hours before he lands there.

DEAN: Yes, it was really interesting. And he said it with such confidence, and also that he believes that cease fire will hold.

And so to that point, Barak, when the president, especially President Trump, says that, how much weight does that carry with everyone?

RAVID: I think it carries a lot of weight. If it didn't carry weight, then we wouldn't have this deal. This deal is -- a lot of it is Donald Trump getting personally involved, putting all of his weight into this deal and getting it. And I think one of the reasons President Trump decided to go and say very clearly that this war is over is because domestically in Israel, Prime Minister Netanyahu is trying to portray as if this could be only a timeout and that the war could be resumed if Hamas does not agree to demilitarize or disarm.

I think President Trump made it clear that it's not the case. So I think that's at least one of the key issues here that it's not that President Trump just said it because he wants the war to be over. He said it because there are some people who at least publicly are or for, you know, for domestic political reasons are trying to portray it as if the war is only -- has only stopped for a while and could resume very soon.

DEAN: And another key piece to this, of course, is what happens now in Gaza and to the Palestinian people. There are millions of Palestinians without a home. They desperately need aid, which is now started going back into Gaza.

You've reported that the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, will attend this summit in Egypt tomorrow that's going to be hosted by the president to try to bring together a lot of parties to talk about the future. It's worth noting Abbas was denied a visa by the U.S. State Department in August to come to the U.N. General Assembly here. So this is -- that's kind of the context.

How important is the president's role in putting all of these pieces together? And again, what do you make of Abbas being there tomorrow?

RAVID: About Abbas being there, I think it shows that President Sisi of Egypt, who's hosting this -- who's the host of this conference, and many other Arab leaders want Abbas to be there.

[19:10:02] And part of this whole day-after plan, this post-war situation in Gaza, part of it goes back to basics and basics are that one of the main reasons that we got to October 7th is because the Netanyahu government, for years, for almost 15 years had a policy of weakening the Palestinian Authority and strengthening Hamas. It ended with October 7th, and many Arab countries are saying this is one of the lessons and we shouldn't do it again. Therefore, the Palestinian Authority, like it, hate it, it is still better than Hamas therefore we need them to be part of the solution and not part of the problem. And I think this is why Abbas is there.

Trump's message to all the leaders tomorrow at this conference will be twofold. First, I need your money in order to start this reconstruction project in Gaza that will cost billions and billions of dollars. And the U.S. is not going to do it alone. I'm not even sure the U.S. is going to put any money into it. I think the U.S. wants the Gulf countries to put money, the European countries to put money. So this would be one message Trump is going to have tomorrow.

The other message is that those countries need to be part of the, you know, of guaranteeing politically that this deal will hold and guaranteeing this on the ground with what's called the ISF, this international stabilization force that will -- that is supposed to enter Gaza in the next few weeks or months, enable the IDF to withdraw from the remaining parts of Gaza and be this security force that, A, demilitarizes Gaza from Hamas and works as a peacekeeping force to prevent this war from resuming.

DEAN: Yes, that is going to be such a key piece of all of this as we look ahead.

Barak Ravid, thank you so much. We appreciate it.

RAVID: Thank you, Jessica.

DEAN: As hostage families anxiously await the return of their loved ones, we are talking with one father who is still holding out hope he will see his son soon even though Israel's military has said they believe he's dead. More on that when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:17:09]

DEAN: It has been over two long years for Israelis whose loved ones were taken hostage on October 7th, and now those reunions are hours away. Tonight, 48 hostages still being held in Gaza. All but one of them were taken on October 7th, 20 of those hostages are believed to still be alive.

Among those thought to be deceased, according to the IDF, is Itay Chen. He is a U.S.-Israeli citizen who was serving in the Israeli military on the Gaza border on October 7th, and I spoke with his father, Ruby, earlier tonight.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) DEAN: Ruby, thank you so much for being here with us tonight. It's really -- it's nice to have you here with us on what I must imagine is a night where you have a lot of feelings and thoughts. How are you feeling tonight?

RUBY CHEN, FATHER OF U.S.-ISRAELI HOSTAGE ITAY CHEN: Yes, it's 777 days since October 7th. It's a mixed bag of emotions. There's excitement for those that will be able to hug their loved ones tomorrow. Anticipation, maybe for a new beginning for the state of Israel. Ending this war. And there's also the anxiety aspect for those that are not sure that they will be able to receive their loved ones, as the deal that was orchestrated by the president speaks of the 20 living hostages. That there are sanctions if they are not returned, meaning that there are Palestinian prisoners that are subject to being released if those 20 do not come out.

But when it comes to the deceased hostages, you know, there's a bit of anxiety because there's not -- it's the best effort type of deal and there are some that we feel will not come back tomorrow or this week.

DEAN: And I know the IDF believes that your son Itay is dead, but that you and your family, of course, hold out hope that maybe he will come back alive. How does that feel particularly for you?

CHEN: So even when we were notified in March 24th that most likely Itay did not survive October 7th, we were never provided with any physical evidence. And Hamas to this date have not provided any type of acknowledgment that, A, he is in that position. What is physical status is which is the lowest type of psychological warfare than any terrorist organization could do. So in our book, he's still a hostage. And that hasn't changed.

[19:20:01]

And the urgency to get him out as well as the others is the same because there's this window of opportunity that exists with this international task force that has been created to find those that are not coming out this week. So that is the mechanism that has the responsibility to put all the pieces of information together and be able to find those that are not found because each day that passes by will just make it much more difficult to find those that got lost.

DEAN: Yes. And I know, look, I've seen you when I've been in Washington, D.C. I've seen you here in New York. You have been talking with elected officials in the U.S. You've been talking with people in the private sector in the U.S. You have done everything, gone to the ends of the earth to make sure that your son comes home to you, and that the people who can help facilitate that know about him and know what you want and what you are hoping for.

You're going to meet with President Trump tomorrow. What do you hope he understands? What is the message you're still trying to get across to them?

CHEN: Yes. The fact that, you know, I'm a New Yorker and a U.S. citizen, as well as my son, I hope that that makes a difference. And the administration would be advocating as it should, to return U.S. citizens from captivity, as this administration has demonstrated from the beginning of its term, putting a priority on returning U.S. hostages. It's just last week we had a U.S. citizen come back from Afghanistan that was held by the Taliban. So I hope that the president -- the members that are still two U.S. citizens, two New Yorkers that are still in captivity and the administration should focus on those two as that is the way that the president has behaved until now when it comes to U.S. citizens being held against their will.

DEAN: Do you have hope for that tonight?

CHEN: You know, hope is a way of life. You know, there's no other way to think about it. We hope the next 24 hours provides clarity for us that has been missing for two years. You know, it's -- it never goes away, Jessica, the doubt if you're not able to receive your loved one back and know for sure what happened to him and that that always exists. Maybe he saw a doctor. Maybe someone took care of him.

We understand that that, you know, probability is low, but it always exists. That's why the urgency to allow us to be whole again, allow us to end this very tragic chapter of our lives and enable us to begin a new chapter, which will be much different, that we will start processing and starting to put the pieces together to enable us and our family to continue forward.

DEAN: Yes. And of course, I mean, you're his father. Of course you hold out hope until you know for absolute sure. Tell us about Itay. He's 19.

CHEN: Yes, he's, you know, fun-loving kid. He is the middle sibling. So he has an elder and younger sibling. So he is the connector inside of the family. He is the more rebellious. One of the two always wanted to check his boundaries. I joke that he -- his favorite passion was actually checking his boundaries with me all the time. And he would then say, Dad, why are you wasting energy? I'm going to go to mom.

Mom is going to say yes anyway, which would typically be the case. And as a proud New Yorker, my eldest became a Knicks fan like myself. But Itay, you know, wanting to be different, became a Celtics fan. And, you know, just thinking about an alternative universe. You know, we would be sitting on the couch playing 2K and speaking about the Knicks versus the Celtics, and who has a better chance of winning the division.

And that's what we're missing. And we hope that, you know, tomorrow as stated, you know, will allow us to know exactly what happened to him. And hopefully we will remove the doubt that we have and be able to move forward.

DEAN: I wish that for you as well. Very, very much.

Ruby Chen, thank you so much for being here. We really appreciate it.

CHEN: God bless. Thank you, Jessica.

(END VIDEOTAPE) DEAN: Right now, President Trump is on his way to Israel as he prepares to meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu and the families of those hostages being released. What he's saying about the trip and the situation in the Middle East, if the ceasefire will hold, when we come back.

[19:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DEAN: President Trump is on his way to Israel aboard Air Force One as we speak. In just a few hours 20 remaining living hostages are scheduled to be freed by Hamas as part of the ceasefire agreement proposed by Trump and approved by both Israel and Hamas. The president is set to meet with families of the hostages and to address Israel's parliament later tomorrow.

Let's bring in Julia Benbrook, live from the White House now.

Julia, obviously, the president very involved with all of this, his administration playing a key role as well. What are you hearing from them as he heads to Israel tonight?

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jessica, it has been a long process to get to this ceasefire agreement that so many hope will lead to a permanent end to the conflict.

[19:32:24]

But we did see a lot of momentum over just these last few weeks. It hasn't been that long since Trump hosted Netanyahu here at the White House. The two sat down for bilateral talks, and then during a joint press conference, Netanyahu endorsed Trump's 20-point plan to end the war.

Just a few days later, after receiving a deadline and pressure from Trump, Hamas said that it would immediately start negotiations to release all of the hostages. We're just now hours away from that happening.

Israel and Hamas started indirect talks, which led to an agreement on phase one of Trump's proposal. As Trump spoke with reporters on Air Force One as he now heads to the region, he was pressed on what's next? And the reporter asking the question specifically referenced some comments from Netanyahu earlier in the day where he suggested that Israel's military operation was not entirely over.

Trump was also asked about what a rebuild in the area would look like. I want to play you a couple of minutes of those exchanges.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: The war is over, okay. Do you understand that?

REPORTER: Mr. President, is the ceasefire going to hold? Are you confident the ceasefire will hold? Are you confident that the ceasefire is going to hold?

TRUMP: I think so. I think it's going to hold. I think people are -- a lot of reasons why it's going to hold, but I think people are tired of it. It's been its been centuries, okay. Not just recent. It's been centuries. I think people are tired of it, yes. The ceasefire is going to hold.

REPORTER: Mr. President, what does Gaza look like a year from now?

REPORTER: The international stabilization force, as part of a strong force.

TRUMP: I don't think it's going to have a big impact, because I don't think -- I think clearly we're going to have to use it. I think people are going to behave. Everybody knows their place. It's going to be great for everybody. It's going to be great for the surrounding countries. Arab, Muslim, all of them. It's going to be great for Israel. Everybody is happy and I think it's going to stay that way.

REPORTER: And if this, if the ceasefire does hold, how long until we get to the part of the 20-point peace plan where developers can go in and make Gaza the Riviera of the Middle East?

TRUMP: I don't know about the Riviera for a while, because you take a look at what you have. You have to get people taken care of first. But it's going to start really, essentially immediately. I mean, they're going to have to start by removing a lot of the structures that you see that are down to the ground. I mean, it's a very -- it's blasted -- this is like a demolition site.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BENBROOK: While this is a big moment and there is a lot of gratitude for Trump's diplomatic efforts coming in from leaders around the world as well as people just there on the ground, eagerly awaiting the return of those hostages.

There are still questions about how this will look going forward. When Trump announced this agreement to phase one of his proposal, it did not address some of the key sticking points, including Hamas disarmament and the future governance of Gaza.

This trip for Trump came together quickly, and it will be a quick one. We expect him to arrive there in Israel. He's going to meet with some of the family members of the hostages. We don't know exactly which families he will be meeting with at this time.

He'll also address the Israeli Parliament, then he'll travel on to Egypt, and that is where we will see a signing ceremony, as well as a summit expected to include leaders from about 20 different countries. And the focus there is going to be the future of Gaza and what this looks like going forward -- Jessica.

DEAN: Certainly, all right, Julia Benbrook at the White House, thank you for that. As President Trump makes his way to the Middle East, frustration back in Washington, where Julia is, reaching a boiling point as the government shutdown nears its third week. There are now cracks within party ranks and growing public impatience. We're going to talk about all of that. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:38:42]

DEAN: The government shutdown is on track to extend now into its third week, still no end in sight. The Congressional stalemate over the Government's budget has started to impact federal workers paychecks. And on Friday, the Trump administration sent out a wave of layoff notices to many federal employees, saying these are mass firings. Vice-President J.D. Vance had this warning today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.D. VANCE (R), VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: The longer this goes on, the deeper the cuts are going to be. And, Maria, to be clear, some of these cuts are going to be painful. This is not a situation that we relish. This is not something that were looking forward to. But the Democrats have dealt us a pretty difficult set of cards. We're trying to do the best that we can with the shutdown situation that Chuck Schumer has left us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: Let's break this down with my political panel, CNN political commentator and Democratic strategist Maria Cardona, and Republican strategist and vice-president of both public affairs group Pete Seat. Good to see both of you on a Sunday evening. Pete, yes, good to see you.

So, Pete, let's start with you. We're about to enter week three, and I think we can sum it up as both sides saying it's that guy's fault and that's kind of where we are.

PETE SEAT, STRATEGIST AND VICE-PRESIDENT, PUBLIC AFFAIRS GROUP: That's exactly where we are. Because both sides are listening to their base, and their base agrees that it's the other guy's fault.

So, let me take my side of this, which is in the end, I do believe that public opinion will side with Republicans on this episode, and that is because Republicans and only Republicans are calling for the passage of a clean, Continuing Resolution with no policy riders, no cuts to spending, and no increases to clean, continuing resolution with no policy riders, no cuts to spending, and no increases to spending.

Democrats think they have the upper hand because of the "popularity" of extending temporary Obamacare subsidies, which, if the Affordable Care Act was affordable, we wouldn't need in the first place.

But while it is true that they have a majority opinion on that popularity, it's also true that polling shows Americans don't want that extension to come at the expense of shutting down the government, which Democrats continue to allow to happen by not helping get that 60-vote threshold in the U.S. Senate to keep the government open.

[19:40:55]

DEAN: Maria, I would assume you have a little bit of a different take, but what do you say to this idea that Democrats could come back and just vote for a clean C.R.? They've done that many times in the past. Why not just do that and then deal with these with the health care subsidies?

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: The problem with that misguided argument, Jessica, is that it is not a clean C.R., what they are calling a clean C.R. includes the cuts, the drastic cuts that were made when Republicans passed the big horrible bill and they know very well that Democrats do not agree with that. And in fact, Americans in general did not agree with that big, horrible bill. It is one of the least popular pieces of legislation, I think, in the history of the United States, which then goes to another unpopular position, and that is the position that Republicans are taking now.

Look, Americans aren't stupid. They understand that Republicans control everything -- The White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives. We are in a shutdown because Republicans want there to be a shutdown. And when J.D. Vance says what he just said, what you just played, again, he's gaslighting the American people, the cuts, the furloughs, the firings that they are engaged in right now of federal workers are by choice. They are choosing to fire Americans.

They are choosing to put Americans out of work the same way they chose to cut and to rip health care from 17 million Americans in that big, horrible bill, the same way they are choosing not to extend the Obamacare subsidies for millions of Americans, including many, many in red states, which is why you see people like Marjorie Taylor Greene, who, as you know, Democrats hardly ever agree with telling Republicans that their position is stupid and that they have to come back and negotiate an extension of these subsidies so that Americans are not hit with 300 percent increases in their health care bills and that's starting to happen now.

So let's get to the table. Democrats are here in D.C., Mike Johnson has said, no, we don't need our people to come to D.C., which again, shows you which party has the priority about getting this done now.

DEAN: Pete, what about these layoffs? Because and I think, you know, they've been calling administration threatened these in their words, mass firings. The President has said specifically he wants to target what he views as Democrat. That's what he calls them, Democrat agencies, even though agencies are just part of the government. But these really deep cuts using this opportunity to do that. Do you agree with that tactic? Do you think that's appropriate?

SEAT: Well, many of these reductions in force, these layoffs across the executive branch were included in the Trump administration's proposed budget in February. So, while Democrats are acting shocked and surprised because they think it plays well on television, this was already made public months ago. This should be no surprise. This is partly why Donald Trump was elected, because this idea that just because a federal job exists, that it should be preserved until the end of time is flawed.

We have massive debt in this country, and we have to tackle that debt. And there are a lot of jobs that are duplicative across the federal government. I don't want indiscriminate cuts. I want to make sure that they're targeted and they're smart. And I think in this case, they have been unlike DOGE, which was just coming in and slicing and dicing left and right and they weren't really thinking through it very much.

But I think these are very thoughtful and they're doing what the American people asked them to do.

And one last point, Jessica, about Republicans controlling the House and the Senate and the Presidency. Democrats continue to act like there's not a 60 vote threshold in the United States Senate. There are 53 Republicans assume that Rand Paul probably won't vote for the C.R., because he doesn't vote for pretty much anything these days. So, you're looking at eight Democrats who need to come to their senses and do what they did 13 times when Joe Biden was president, and that's pass a clean C.R.

DEAN: So, Maria, how long -- go ahead, yes, go ahead.

[19:45:22]

CARDONA: Two quick things. First of all, Pete, if the furloughs and the firings were being done in a smart way, they wouldn't have had to rehire 700 CDC employees just now that they fired on Friday because they realized that these people were working on life and death, disease control for Americans, and, frankly, for the world. So, again, stupidity is all over the place in the Republican agenda here when it comes to these firings.

Secondly, yes, you do need 60 votes and you know what happens when you need 60 votes? You know what happens when you actually know that you need the other party to help you pass whatever you want, you actually invite them to the negotiating table. That has not been something that Republicans have ever done.

In fact, it was Leader Jeffries and Leader Schumer, the ones that had to ask for the meeting with the President and with Mike Johnson, because they understand that they have to come to an agreement in a bipartisan manner because it's their job.

It's Republicans who are refusing to do the job that the American people hired them for. And that's why you are seeing poll after poll after poll saying that Republicans are losing this fight from a political standpoint and that majorities of Americans blame Republicans for the current shutdown.

DEAN: Pete, what do you say to that?

SEAT: Again, in the end, I think public opinion will side with Republicans because they are the only ones who are doing their job. Obviously, Maria and I look at this differently. The House of Representatives passed a clean, Continuing Resolution. All Democrats have to do is get on board with that full stop, not try and extract from the American people $1.5 trillion in additional spending.

And again, this Obamacare subsidy issue, it will be taken care of, a lot of Republicans have said that, but this is not the time to hold our country hostage over legislation that was passed, not with a single Republican vote. Every time those temporary subsidies were passed, there was never a Republican vote.

This is a problem of the Democrat's own creation, and they're trying to sucker Republicans into fixing their mess.

DEAN: Maria, I'll give you the last word.

CARDONA: The ones that are here in Washington, Pete, are ready to negotiate. Republicans are nowhere to be found and these subsidies and the health care that Republicans are trying to rip from Americans, that's why your polls are tanking.

DEAN: All right, Pete Seat and Maria Cardona, we do have to leave it there. But I do appreciate both of you on a Sunday evening. Good to see you both.

CARDONA: Thank you, Jessica.

SEAT: Thank you.

DEAN: Thanks.

After two years, over two years, really, in captivity, 20 hostages held by Hamas are now just hours away from reuniting with their families and their loved ones. And moving this war one step closer to its conclusion. We're going to take you back to the Middle East, when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:53:06]

DEAN: Right now, crews are working through debris from Friday's deadly blast at a Tennessee explosive plant. Investigators saying recovery efforts will be slow but thorough.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. BILL LEE (R-TN): Right now, there is, there's still a live scene. They're still investigating explosives that may be on the site that need to be detonated, that need to be recovered. So, that is happening.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: The explosion killed 16 people. The investigation into the cause is expected to take several weeks. Let's bring in CNN's Isabel Rosales, who's joining us with more. What is the latest on all of this -- Isabel.

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jessica, I think the big takeaway here is just how gruelingly slow this process is for authorities, something that they certainly don't want to put out there. But it's the reality of the fact that they're slowed down because there's live ordnance out there. This is an explosion, a munitions plant, and they're having to methodically go foot by foot, over half a square mile of a site here -- of an explosion site and really leave no stone unturned.

And when they're encountering live ordnances they're having to make the decision of whether to recover that or to blow it up. The Sheriff of Humphreys County is calling it -- moving it at a snail's pace. Here's what else they said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody was here working and they were going at a very slow and methodical way, one step at a time to identify if there was explosive material that had been kicked out from the initial blast, and they are working to remove that from the site so we can continue our operations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROSALES: And Jessica, just about an hour or so ago, I spoke with the family of Letitia Mayes, her father, Ernest Mayes, who says despite the Sheriff saying that all families, all 16 families have received confirmation of their loved ones being killed, his family has never gotten that official confirmation. They're holding on to hope, they said until they get that official confirmation.

[19:55:03]

But really, they are confused, they're distraught, they're angry. They have accountability questions. Questions about what precautions were taken here, especially in light of another incident that happened here back in 2014, where one worker died. This was an explosion and four other workers were injured. That building at that time was operated under a different company but he wants to know what was done to keep these employees safe.

I also spoke to the roommate of Letitia Mayes, who says that she dreaded going into work if it meant working in that building, saying she wanted nothing to do with that particular building.

We're trying to piece this together, hoping to get more. And obviously the cause of this explosion that the sheriff warns will take patience, he says, will take days, if not weeks to come to that cause -- Jessica.

DEAN: All right. Isabel Rosales for us live in Tennessee. Thank you so much for that. Still ahead, we're going to take you live to Egypt, where President Trump and leaders from 20 other countries are set to meet tomorrow to address the crucial question of what comes next for Gaza.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)