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Trump Head to the Middle East as Israel Awaits Hostage Release; Trucks Carrying Humanitarian Aid Moving into Gaza; Trump Declares War is Over Between Hamas and Israel; The Emotional Journey of Returning Home; As Shutdown Drags on Many Military Families Face Added Stress Over Pay; Hostage Release Expected to Start within Hours. Aired 8-9p ET

Aired October 12, 2025 - 20:00   ET

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

[20:00:51]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

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

President Donald Trump declaring the war is over, those are his words, between Israel and Hamas as he heads to Israel tonight. In just a few hours, the 20 remaining living hostages are expected to be freed after over two years in Hamas captivity. The president is expected to meet with families of the hostages and address the Israeli parliament before going on to Egypt for what's being called the signing ceremony for this 20-point ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.

I want to bring in our Nic Robertson, who is there in Egypt.

Nic, that's going to be a really key moment tomorrow. What can we expect?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, this is really interesting. The Egyptians are casting it as a peace summit. They're saying that 20 different world leaders will be here. But interestingly, the two main protagonists in this, Israel and Hamas, will not be at the table, will not be signing something. We think back to sort of the Camp David accords, you know, in past when there's been peace deals between Israelis and Palestinians and leaders have met and there have been handshakes.

None of that this time. This is all about going from phase one, the hostage release that were just about to see the prisoner release, Palestinian prisoners being released, the ceasefire. So you're going to have world leaders here. You're going to have the British prime minister, the French president, the German chancellor, the Italian prime minister, Qatari leaders, Emirati leaders, the king of Jordan is expected to be here. Pakistan will be sending top officials.

Indonesia is going to be expected to be here as well. Canada, Mark Carney, the prime minister there, said that he's coming. Iran, by the way, was invited. They're not going to be here. But these leaders are the ones who are going to be putting their shoulders behind the phase two. President Trump has looked to regional leaders here to be a big part of the humanitarian lift. The rebuilding lift for Gaza, but most importantly, the international stabilization force troops will come from these countries, principally the Arab and Muslim majority countries.

Turkey, again, is -- will be among the nations here expected to be a key contributor on that front as well. And the momentum of phase one, these leaders hope they can harness and harness President Trump's continued focus and interest to deliver on the issues that are going to be important to ensure that the peace can remain, that it will be the political future in Gaza, the military future in Gaza, if you will, and the international stabilization force is going to be core to that, Jessica.

DEAN: Yes, it is going to be so fascinating to see how that all plays out. And as I noted at the top of our show, the president said on Air Force One that he believes that the war is over. Those are his words. We know the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not said exactly that. What has he said about this next phase?

ROBERTSON: Well, it would be a politically -- a political challenge for Prime Minister Netanyahu to say the war is over because that could collapse his coalition and government. Already we know that three members of the government, one of them from his own party, one of them the hard right-wing nationalist member of the Knesset, the minister of Internal -- minister for security, Bezalel Smotrich, rather, Itamar Ben-Gvir, won't attend President Trump's speech inside the Knesset.

And that's indicative of the sort of fragile political coalition that the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu runs in Israel. What he is saying and what the military chiefs are saying in Israel is that the -- that there is an easy way and a hard way for Hamas to do what is required of President Trump's 20-point peace plan that specifically on the disarmament and not being part of the political future. So from Israel's perspective, this is all not done.

[20:05:03]

Hamas needs to follow through on the 20-point plan, which, of course, is what the leaders here, when they get here in Sharm El-Sheikh, will be discussing.

DEAN: And, Nic, you have covered this region for many years. You've been there, of course, extensively over the last two, a little over two years now with this particular war as well. What kind of challenges? I think there's a lot of questions around what happens with Israel and Hamas, Israel and Gaza, as they move forward beyond this. How does that work? What does it look like after the ceasefire agreement is signed?

ROBERTSON: And I think a lot of people would say how it looks really depends on the engagement of President Trump. We look back across history. Jimmy Carter spoke to the Knesset in 1979. Bill Clinton spoke to the Knesset in 1994. George W. Bush spoke to the Knesset in 2008. And even though they were working towards peace in the Middle East and they put a lot of energy into it, they couldn't sort of tie it down.

The issue of what sort of Palestinian leadership there would be, the issue of whether or not Hamas will be able to be forced, if you will, to give up their weapons in any war like this, unless the vanquished is entirely defeated and Hamas doesn't believe that they're defeated and many people in Gaza don't believe that Hamas is militarily defeated, and do see them as a political leadership in Gaza.

That is an absolutely massive challenge. Perhaps the biggest challenge, bringing all that into land. We know that the British -- former British prime minister Tony Blair, who is expected to be take a lead figure on this sort of international peace board that will be making this transition in Gaza, met with the vice president of the Palestinian Authority yesterday, who promised to cooperate and help.

But it is a massive challenge. It is the first time there will be an international stabilization military force going into Gaza. Israel has not allowed that before. It does make a difference, but how quickly it can get and its mandate? Will it be U.N. backed? These are all going to be absolutely key parts of the potential for success here or not. But the consensus is, without President Trump's focus and continued attention, which the leaders coming here in Sharm really hope to encourage and engage, it will be coming from Israel with so much support and gratitude ringing in his ears, and it will be the same again around the table here.

But the focus here will also be to make sure that that gratitude is translated into there's more of this from us support. Thanks if you stay engaged in the job, and I think President Trump's commitment is going to be key.

DEAN: Yes, it's going to be something to watch tomorrow. Nic Robertson is going to be there for us in Egypt.

Thank you so much for your reporting, Nic. We appreciate it.

And we're joined now by CNN global affairs analyst Brett McGurk. He served as a senior adviser to the last four presidents and was the White House coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa under President Biden. He's organized presidential trips to the region and has two decades of experience there.

And, Brett, we should also note you helped put together a previous ceasefire plan that brought back hostages as well. And so here we sit. You and I have talked so many times over the last couple of years or really, you know, since you've been here with us on CNN, and I'm curious what your thoughts are as we head into this evening and we see likely these 20 living remaining hostages coming back home.

BRETT MCGURK, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, Jessica, I have in my mind exactly what's happening right now, probably at this hour. Hostages are being met by their captors. They probably don't know what is happening. I've talked to a lot of hostages that have gone through this. They don't know why they're being woken up. They don't know why they're being taken out of the tunnel. And then eventually, they will be greeted by the ICRC, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and then they will realize they might actually be released.

So that is going on probably about as we speak. We think the actual handoff and transfer will happen five or six hours from now. And then on the Israeli side, there's a whole process for Palestinian prisoners who are being released. That's up. So all of the mechanics right now, as we're on air, kind of behind the scenes, is happening.

And -- but honestly, I'm kind of holding my breath, Jessica. I've been through these. I'm pretty confident this is going to go through as planned tomorrow. But until those hostages are actually out of Gaza and, you know, we used to actually track the vehicles in Gaza when they get in the ICRC vehicle, tracking the vehicle all the way through Gaza until they are finally in Israel and in safe hands, and until that moment, until that moment, you have not succeeded.

So that is what's going to transpire here overnight our time. And I'm hoping when the sun comes up here in the -- on the East Coast in the United States, that we have very good news.

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And I tell you what, if those hostages are coming home after 740 days, I've known a lot of the families, the most emotional imaginable moments. So I'm hopeful, Jessica. But I'm also, you know, I'm holding my breath here. We got to hope that this goes well.

DEAN: I know. Yes. Everyone -- I've talked to several hostage families tonight and others who've taken part in all of this in various ways. And everybody kind of expresses that real hope and optimism. But it is certainly weighted down by this kind of gut, you know, pit in your stomach, kind of, you know, until it's finally done.

MCGURK: That's right.

DEAN: It's delicate at this moment.

MCGURK: Any hostage deal, I've done two Gaza deals. I've done Iran hostage deals. Until the hostages are home and actually in your custody and safe, it's not done. And we don't know the status of these hostages. You know, put a human face on it, Jessica. Evyatar David, he's a hostage. He was 22. Went to the music festival with his friends. He was taken hostage 740 days ago. He's been held in a dark tunnel.

The January deal that we got together, you might recall in February, Hamas -- again, this is the face of Hamas. They took Evyatar in a vehicle to watch his friends being released. And then they took him back into the tunnel. Last month, remember that image of that emaciated hostage digging his own grave in a tunnel? That was Evyatar. So we expect he will come out tomorrow. We understand he's alive, but can you imagine the trauma and what he and all these hostages have been through?

And then there's the families, Jessica, of the hostages who we know have been killed, and their remains are in Gaza. And Hamas is claiming that they don't know where all the remains are. I actually find that dubious. Hamas knows these remains of hostages are very valuable bargaining chips, and we don't know who the remains will be returned. And the families with dead hostages, again, I've gotten to know many of them as well, including two American families, Israeli-American families, you know, they want to be reunited with their loved one, to have closure.

It is so heartbreaking. And on that piece, one concern is that Hamas tries to hold on to some remains to have some, you know, some semblance of leverage going forward because, as Nic said, look, Hamas is going to be Hamas. They are going to try to cling to power. Even in the last 24 hours, the reports out of Gaza in that limited area that they are able to control now under this deal, they are executing Palestinians to try to reassert their control.

So they are a terrorist group. They're going to continue to try to do that. But right now, the next 24 hours, they have an obligation to release these hostages. That's the deal. It seems to be moving forward. And I'm hopeful. But again, with bated breath.

DEAN: And so you mentioned Hamas trying to reassert control. Obviously, the ceasefire deal and moving ahead to the next phase. It's all predicated at them disarming themselves and not -- and releasing power there in Gaza. Obviously, the president is going to pull together, as Nic was just saying, a number of world leaders to try to talk about and think about what comes next for Gaza and the Palestinian people.

How did -- how does the president use his leverage now to make sure Hamas doesn't remain in power?

MCGURK: Well, here's what's happened. And that's why what's so important here is you have a consensus now from all the Arab states, Muslim majority states that calls on Hamas to give up its claim on power in Gaza. Enough is enough. All of Hamas's friends in the region, its main backer, Iran, Hezbollah, the Iraqi militias in Iraq, they have all been basically knocked on their back. So -- and Hamas's leadership, Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Sinwar, and go through the whole list, they've been killed.

So Hamas is really isolated more so than ever before. It's so important now that that consensus remains and that nobody gives Hamas any oxygen to try to reassert itself. Yes, they will try in Gaza. But you know, what's so interesting about this deal, there's a map, and the map is really key. Israeli forces, even after Hamas gives up all the hostages, will retain over a majority of Gaza that will eventually be seated in with an international security force, as Nic said.

But that means Hamas, over half of Gaza, it will not control. And in those areas you can have reconstruction, humanitarian aid. Gazans can get out of the grip of Hamas. This is actually how we kind of broke the back of ISIS in the latter phases of that ISIS campaign, which I was involved in many years ago. You allow people to come in to safety and get away from Hamas, and eventually their claim of authority just begins to wither.

And since they've lost support of the region, they're going to really be isolated and they'll move from military pressure now to political pressure. But this is going to be a long road.

[20:15:02]

This is going to be a long time. I was in the Middle East last week. There's a lot of cautious optimism of where this can go. But this is years ahead, Jessica, let's just be honest. And what Nic said is right. The United States' leadership, the president's leadership. And I really give the president and his team, Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner, what they've done here over the last month is really extraordinary. Yes, it builds on a lot of work that was done in the last administration. I thought we had a good transition and handoff, but now here we are. It's a historic deal, but it will take many months, many years to see this really brought to a -- to a real conclusion.

DEAN: Yes. All right. Brett McGurk, great to have you on, on what's going to be an important 24 hours here. We really appreciate it. Thanks so much.

MCGURK: Thank you, Jessica.

DEAN: Stay with us. We are following the very latest out of Israel and Gaza tonight as we do await the release of those hostages. Plus, President Trump is on his way there to the Middle East as we speak, saying on the plane that the war is over as he prepares to meet with key allies in Egypt. And a human rights attorney walks us through the delicate process of getting those hostages back to their loved ones, what that looks like.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DEAN: The ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas is clearing the way for much more desperately needed humanitarian aid to make its way into Gaza. After months of blockading the borders, Israel now says it's allowing 600 trucks a day into Gaza that are carrying food, medicine, fuel and other basic needs.

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Egypt says about 400 trucks crossed into Gaza today, but getting where they need to go will be a challenge. U.N. satellite imagery showing 77 percent of the roads there in Gaza have been heavily damaged or destroyed.

It has now been more than two years since this war started, when Hamas took 251 people hostage during the October 7th, 2023 attacks on Israel and killed over thousands more. 146 of them have since been returned alive, and the remains of 58 others have been recovered. Now Israel and the world are waiting to see the last remaining 20 living hostages finally brought home in the next few hours.

Also set to be returned on Monday are the remains of 28 hostages thought to have died or been killed by Hamas.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond has more on that 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. 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, and in order for families there to have the closure that they are looking for as well.

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

President Trump left for the Middle East just a short time ago, heading to Israel on board Air Force One. He is set to meet with families of the hostages. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and he'll also address Israel's parliament later tomorrow.

Let's bring in Julia Benbrook from the White House now. Julia, obviously, the president in route as we speak. He also talked

to reporters for about a little over 20 minutes on Air Force One. What are we hearing from him as he prepares to arrive there in Israel?

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, as Jeremy pointed out, this has been a long process, a long wait for so many of these families to get to this ceasefire agreement that many hope will then lead to a permanent end of the conflict. But we did see some momentum over these last few weeks as they work toward this. It hasn't been that long since President Donald Trump hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu here at the White House.

The two sat down for bilateral talks. And then following that, during a joint press conference, Netanyahu expressed support for Trump's 20- point plan to end the war. A few days later, after receiving a deadline and pressure from Trump, Hamas said that it would immediately begin negotiations to release all of the hostages. We're now just hours away from that moment. Hamas and Israel entered in direct talks, and that led to an agreement on phase one of Trump's proposal.

While Trump was on Air Force One speaking with reporters as he heads to the region to mark this moment, he was pressed about what's next, and the reporter asking that question specifically referenced some comments from Netanyahu earlier in the day where he suggested that Israel's military operations were not entirely over.

[20:25:12]

Trump adamantly responded that the war is over. He was also asked about what a rebuild looks like and the future for the region.

I want to play you a couple of minutes of that exchange for some additional context.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: 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.

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

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The international stabilization force, that's part of the --

TRUMP: It's going to be a good strong force.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: When will that go --

TRUMP: I don't think it's going to have a big impact because I don't think -- I think barely 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. Peter?

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: And if this peace -- 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: Well, 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: There is no doubt that this is a big moment, but there are still a lot of questions. When Trump announced the agreement on phase one of his proposal, that announcement did not address some of the key sticking points, including Hamas disarmament, as well as the future governance of Gaza.

Now, this trip to the region came together quickly and it will be a quick trip on the ground. He arrives in Israel, where he will meet with some of the hostage family members and address the Israeli parliament. He'll then travel to Egypt for a signing ceremony and a summit focused on the future, and what security and stability in the region could look like -- Jessica.

DEAN: All right. Julia Benbrook, thank you so much.

After enduring more than two years in captivity, the hostages now just hours away from being released. They will have a long road ahead of them, healing from all this trauma. Next, we're going to talk to a psychologist about that long journey that comes when they return home.

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[20:31:36]

DEAN: Hospitals in Israel are tonight preparing for the arrival of 20 hostages who have been held by Hamas for more than two years now, and they're released now just hours away.

Earlier tonight, I spoke with Jonathan Dekal-Chen. His son Sagui was taken by Hamas on October 7th from Kibbutz Nir Oz, where he was trying to defend his community. His son was released earlier this year as part of the February ceasefire deal.

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JONATHAN DEKAL-CHEN, SON TAKEN HOSTAGE AND RELEASED BY HAMAS: He has said himself on many occasions that he can only begin his healing, he can only really be at peace once all of the hostages are home. So this is an incredibly important stage in his journey beyond his physical wounds that he did sustain. More broadly, Israel as a whole, Israeli society can only begin to heal once everyone is home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: Clinical psychologist Dr. Jeff Gardere joins us now.

Jeff, thanks for being here with us. So knowing all of that and this extreme experience that these men and women have had, how do you approach treating this level of trauma?

JEFF GARDERE, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: Well, first of all, we need to be aware of what they are going to experience. As we heard from Jonathan, there may be what we call some survivor's guilt since these folks will be coming home and others will not make it, only their remains will be brought home. So there's that.

We're going to see severe post-release trauma, Jessica. We're talking about severe anxiety, depression, of course, PTSD with the nightmares, hypervigilance, hyperarousal, flashbacks. All sorts of issues around the PTSD. But what we need to do with them and what they are going to face, of course, as you, aptly said, they will be taken to a hospital there. They will be medically stabilized because of lack of proper hygiene, untreated injuries, infections, malnutrition, and then a psychiatric evaluation hopefully within 24 hours to look at their short and long-term needs.

From there, hopefully they'll be placed in a returnee's wing or private hotel suites near the hospital, where they can be calm and secure and stabilize emotionally. Family reunification as quickly as possible and helping restoring control since they have not had that with this two years plus of captivity. So they'll work with them and letting them make small, manageable decisions such as when -- what they would like to drink, when they would shower so they can get used to this freedom.

And finally, a gradual re-acclimation. These were people, Jessica, who were kept in tunnels and so on, not having fresh air. So you want to make sure that potential sensory overload, such as light, touch and sound, would be taken care of in a very gradual manner. So many, many years of this treatment, including years of therapy.

DEAN: Yes. And there's the hostages themselves, who of course, as you just noted, will be treated in all of those ways. And there's their family, to the family unit is going to go through a lot as well psychologically. GARDERE: Absolutely. And my understanding is that the families will be

taken care of in that they may get their own support groups, their own therapy in dealing with those who have come back alive and those unfortunately who have not.

[20:35:08]

And as well, combining a lot of that treatment for both the hostages and their families at the same time. That's a very important step in bringing them back the hostages into society, but bringing their families, being able to accept in the most positive way possible all of the trauma they have gone through while they're hostages, their family members have been away for such a long time.

DEAN: Yes. And this just isn't a thing you can do in a week, in a month, in six months.

GARDERE: No.

DEAN: It takes time.

GARDERE: Yes. And we're talking about people, you know, who have gone through torture. Some of the hostages who were soldiers, I have heard, I've been told that they have gone through severe torture. So these are folks who are going to need even more time as far as treatment. But we're talking about a lifetime of treatment here because this is something, of course, that has been so extreme, so horrific for everyone involved.

DEAN: Yes. And as a professional that works in this space, you know, what would you say to these family members tonight as they await -- as they await their loved ones again?

GARDERE: Well, as we all know what they're feeling right now is a lot of gratitude, whether their hostage families are coming back alive or remains unfortunately, it is the beginning of some sort of closure, as far as reintegrating those individuals back in their lives. So I would say to the families especially, take your time. Don't push your people who are coming back from this horrific ordeal.

Give them the time, give them the space. But more importantly, let them know that they are loved, that they're appreciated, and that they need to be in a stable environment, not a volatile environment where they're being questioned over and over again, but work with them in their own time, in their own speed, and being able to answer questions as to what it is that they've gone through. And I'm sure that the professionals at the hospital know this fact.

DEAN: Yes. All right. Dr. Jeff Gardere, thank you so much. We appreciate it.

GARDERE: You got it.

DEAN: Coming up, members of the U.S. Military bracing for their first missed paycheck amid this government shutdown that's now going to enter its third week. The solution President Trump has come up with and what's at stake if lawmakers cannot come to an agreement.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:41:12]

DEAN: Today marks the 12th day of the government shutdown, with the impact starting to set in across the U.S. Democrats and Republicans have wasted no time putting the blame on each other.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): A variety of different challenges that we have with respect to this partisan Republican spending bill. But the main one is that we're facing this health care crisis. Open enrollment starts on November 1st. Tens of millions of Americans are receiving notices right now that their premiums, co-pays and deductibles are about to explode.

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): They're trying their best to distract the American people from the simple fact that they've chosen a partisan fight, so that they can prove to their Marxist rising base in the Democrat Party that they're willing to fight Trump and Republicans.

They're eating up the clock in the month of October. They shut the government down October 1st. We had always been counting on using these four weeks in October to finish up those discussions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: One group that may not get paid, members of the military. This weekend President Trump, though, promising that won't happen. He says he will direct Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to use available Pentagon funds to, quote, "pay our troops."

Kathy Roth-Douquet, founder and CEO of Blue Star Families, is joining us now. Blue Star Families is one of the nation's largest nonprofits supporting military families.

Kathy, thank you for being here with us. These men and women who serve our country are still facing a tremendous amount of uncertainty. What are you hearing?

KATHY ROTH-DOUQUET, FOUNDER AND CEO, BLUE STAR FAMILIES: I'm hearing that people are very worried. They're not only worried about their finances but the stress overall is affecting our military because the situation is really crazy.

DEAN: And so what are they telling you?

ROTH-DOUQUET: What we're hearing is that people are already compromised. It's hard to explain how vulnerable a military family is to the larger civilian leadership. We go wherever you tell us to go. We follow any order into harm's way if necessary. We move far from family and friends. Spouses are often not able to work because of the frequent moves because of living remotely. So you're living on one salary even though you're a middle class or working class person. Adding to this vulnerability is now this fear that you may not get

paid. And on top of it, there's a stop move order, which means if families are in the middle of moving, and every year 600,000 military connected families move, if you're in the middle of a move, then you may be very vulnerable as well. This is extremely disruptive to people who are just trying to do the nation's bidding.

DEAN: And I think we all know, you know, no one is getting really, really, really rich serving in the military. They're doing this for the right reasons to support our country, to protect our country, to defend our country. And the president has promised that service members would get, in his words, every last penny. But there are, you know, there are still -- it hasn't happened just yet. How anxious are people about that coming to be?

ROTH-DOUQUET: People are very anxious. And while I am grateful to the president for saying people are not going to miss pay on the 15th, we actually don't have any official notification of that. It has to go through the Defense Finance and Accounting Service. There's no official notification and that covers one week. But we have -- we are worried about much more than one week of food. It also doesn't cover our Coast Guard, who are nose-to-nose with the Chinese off of Guam. They are nose-to-nose with drug traffickers. That's a real mission, too.

It doesn't address the stop move orders. Really, what we need is Congress to come back in session. We need them to pass the Pay Our Troops Act, which is what will really give us confidence. And even more so, we need a budget so that the Department of Defense can do the job that it needs to do, knowing that it's resourced to do it.

DEAN: Yes. And you mentioned the Coast Guard and the Coast Guard families, because it is the only military branch that operates under the Department of Homeland Security.

[20:45:01]

And to your point, it's unclear if they would receive pay from these diverted funds that the president is talking about. They were not paid during a partial government shutdown that happened in 2019. And so what would need to happen to guarantee that they get what they deserve?

ROTH-DOUQUET: We need the Pay Our Troops Act to pass in Congress. It would be terrific if somehow money came on the 15th for the 1.3 million that the president mentioned, who are under DOD. That's only a week. And that does not alleviate stress, and the stress and the concern is just as much of a factor as the actual harm.

What we saw in Blue Star Families' pulse poll is that the threat of this disruption makes people feel like not recommending military service to others. 60 percent are saying this situation makes them less likely to recommend service. And we are the recruiters. The people who serve are the ones who motivate others to serve. And the reason that's happening is because we give up our rights to make decisions by ourselves. We give full faith and allegiance to the civilian leaders who defend

us. And when they can't, at the very minimum make sure that we make our pay so that were not defaulting on loans, having our credit ratings hit, unable to put food on the table at the end of the week, then how can we encourage others to have that kind of trust?

DEAN: Yes, and what you're getting at, too, are potential longer term implications at best.

ROTH-DOUQUET: There are national security -- exactly. I would say that it's a national security harm to not take care of the people who are giving full faith and allegiance to you.

DEAN: And also, too, in addition to that, you noted that it could be harder to entice people to join the military or potentially people get out earlier than maybe they wanted to.

ROTH-DOUQUET: That's right. Well, 30 percent are saying this situation is making them think that they might get out earlier than they want to. So 72 percent are worried about their finances, 60 percent are feeling the stress, and it's having an impact. It's not good for our national security. It's not good for our military and their families.

DEAN: All right. Kathy Roth-Douquet, thank you so much for being with us. We appreciate it.

ROTH-DOUQUET: Thank you.

DEAN: Tonight, stock futures are higher after President Trump seemed to signal there is plenty of time for more negotiating to avoid a trade war with China. Stocks were punished earlier this week by new U.S. tariff threats aimed at China. But today, Trump posted, quote, "It will all be fine." Tensions have been rising between the U.S. and China over products like rare earth minerals used in many gadgets and A.I. chips.

When we come back, our breaking news tonight, the world holding its breath in the final hours before Hamas releases the remaining Israeli hostages. What that handover could look like. That's next.

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[20:51:30]

DEAN: Hours from now the first of 20 Israeli hostages will be released by Hamas. What could that look like? Well, earlier this evening I spoke with international peace negotiator at the Geneva Center for Security Policy, Nomi Bar-Yaacov. She's also a human rights attorney. And here's what she told me.

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DEAN: As we head into what are very delicate hours ahead, we are expecting to see first these 20 remaining hostages to be released early tomorrow. Hamas has agreed it won't display propaganda. It will not have any of these ceremonies like we have seen in some of these previous hostage releases.

What does that say to you and how do you expect tomorrow to proceed?

NOMI BAR-YAACOV, INTERNATIONAL PEACE NEGOTIATOR, GENEVA CENTRE FOR SECURITY POLICY: Thank you, Jessica, for having me.

What this says to me is that some progress has been made in terms of dignity. You know, it's a much more dignified manner to release hostages in a private fashion and not in a public humiliating propaganda manner that was carried out before. Yet it remains to be seen. I would be very surprised if Hamas don't have a few cameras at hand and take some photos. We would just have to wait and see.

But certainly not the same huge, dictated rhetoric that they obliged the hostages to reiterate before being released last time. So definitely it will be very different in this sense. What we're expecting is that there will be two different points at which they will gather the hostages and that there'll be a staggered release in two stages. They will first get the hostages. They've already gotten the hostages together. They're all above ground.

They were all notified a few hours ago that they're going to be released. The families of the hostages are going to wait for the hostages at the meeting point on the Israeli side of the border, at the same military base that had absorbed the previous hostages and the previous two ceasefires. It's called Reim.

So the various stages are that the ICRC is going to get them in about six to eight vehicles from Hamas, the Hamas captives, then they're going to transfer them to the Israeli army because the Israeli army is still present in Gaza. The Israeli army will bring ambulances and medical staff because -- well, all of them are expected to be in very poor condition, some of them in potentially life-threatening conditions. So they need the doctors, SOS, there with them.

They will of course treat those that they have to in the ambulances. They'll carry them across the border. Then the immediate members of the family, so the close family members will be waiting for them from 7:30 a.m. local time in Reim. They will again be debriefed briefly and the medical side is the key issue here as well as they have been tortured both physically and psychologically. They have been starved for a very long time.

That was an order that Yahya Sinwar, the leader-mastermind of Hamas that was assassinated by Israel prior to being assassinated, ordered.

[20:55:02]

So we're expecting to see some pretty harsh scenes. Of course there will be tears of joy, but also horror at the condition. In addition to that, in Hostages Square, they are celebrating all night. There's going to be what they call a white night, a night of celebration and anticipation, but with much anxiety also.

DEAN: Certainly. No, I think that's right. There is a lot of anxiety that kind of hangs over this very delicate moment. Nomi, thank you so much. We really appreciate it.

BAR-YAACOV: My pleasure.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

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

On his way to Israel tonight, President Trump declaring the war between Hamas and Israel is over. And he feels confident that the ceasefire will hold.

Those comments coming as the families of the 20 remaining living hostages are told to expect their release in just a few hours. At about 1:00 a.m. Eastern Time, that will be 8:00 a.m. local time there in Israel.

We are covering this story with our Julia Benbrook at the White House, and international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson, who is in Egypt.

And Nic, you are where President Trump is going to convene a number of world leaders to talk about what comes next in Gaza, what is the next phase of this ceasefire. What are you expecting to see in the coming hours?

ROBERTSON: Yes.