Return to Transcripts main page

CNN This Morning

9:00 A.M. ET, Hamas Expected to Free Some Hostages; Israel Official Says, 39 Palestinians to be Released Today. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired November 24, 2023 - 07:00   ET

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

M.J. LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Over Gaza.

[07:00:00]

So, whether that affects the ability to keep a better track of these American hostages potentially coming out, that is a really, really good question, Poppy.

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, and such an interesting point as well.

M.J., I appreciate it. Thank you.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: And CNN This Morning continues right now.

Good morning, everyone. We begin with significant breaking news right now. A temporary truce is underway in Gaza and Hamas is expected to start releasing hostages just two hours from now. A Palestinian official says we will see children and women freed today at 9:00 A.M. Eastern Time. That is when Hamas is set to start releasing the first 13 hostages.

HILL: The Israeli military says it is ready and prepared to receive those hostages. Among the details we're learning, we're told each helicopter with the hostages will have a medical team, full medical team on board. And the hostages who've been released will also be given noise-canceling headphones for a more peaceful, quieter ride on that flight.

It has been roughly now seven hours since fighting was paused in Gaza. It does appear that this truce is holding.

HARLOW: The column of Israeli tanks and armored vehicles was seen heading away from the Gaza Strip. Drone video shows families walking in the streets of Khan Younis, that is in Southern Gaza, this morning after this truce officially began. You can see the destruction from the airstrikes around them.

HILL: Now, part of this hostage deal of course is allowing desperately needed humanitarian aid into Gaza. That is also underway. This morning, our teams have seen lines of trucks crossing at that Rafah crossing in from Egypt. And an Egyptian official says some 200 trucks packed with food, water and medicine will be entering daily for the first time since the start of the war. HARLOW: But right now, it is an agonizing wait for families of hostages who do not know if their loved ones will be among the 50 women and children set to be released under this deal. President Biden says he has his fingers crossed that the youngest American hostage, Abigail Idan, will be among those released today. Today is her fourth birthday.

We have team coverage this morning from Doha to the West Bank and the Gaza border following all of these fast-moving developments.

Let's go to our Becky Anderson. She joins us live from Doha. Becky?

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: This is fragile. There is absolutely no trust between these two parties, Israel and Hamas. I'm told that very specifically by the mediation team who worked these talks from here in Qatar. It is fragile and, therefore, the team here baked in very specific obligations for both sides every single day to ensure that they can keep to this deal.

What are those obligations today? Well, the first is that these 13 hostages, and Israelis now know who those are, women and children, will be released by Hamas into the arms of the ICRC, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent.

They will then be taken through Gaza and into Israel by whichever route seems most appropriate. And that really depends on where these hostages are being held. They may not all be being held, of course, in the same place.

Once-- as we understand it, once the Israelis have seen that those hostages have been released, then they will begin to release 39 prisoners, women and mostly young men under the age of 18 Palestinian prisoners from a jail or a number of jails in or close to Haifa. They will be taken to Ramallah. So, those are the first obligations.

The second obligation today and every day of this pause is that there is no hostilities either on-- or there are no hostilities either on the ground or through surveillance drones or drones being flown in the air very specifically around the period of time that these hostages are released. And they are expected to be released around about the same time every day. Today, that will be around or after 9:00 A.M. Eastern Time, 4:00 P.M. in the afternoon there in Gaza.

And the third is, of course, ensuring that this border crossing at Rafah is open for at least 200 trucks worth of supplies coming through into Gaza, which is so badly needed.

So, let's get more information now and what we understand to be the fine detail here. Let's get to Jeremy Diamond. He is near the Israel- Gaza border.

And, Jeremy, help us understand the context of where you are in relation to the hostage release.

[07:05:00] JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Becky, our understanding is that these 13 hostages today will be brought to various crossing points to be able to cross into Israel. One of those points is near where we are standing right now, and that is the Kerem Shalom crossing, which is just over my shoulder here.

This is one of the main crossing points between Israel and Gaza. It also has a point between Israel and Egypt as well. And this is where we know that a lot of aid has been checked in order to be able to go into Egypt. And it is also where two hostages, the Ranand (ph) family, where they were brought into Israel by Gal Hirsch, who is Benjamin Netanyahu's special representative for hostage affairs. He went and got them at this very crossing, which is just over my shoulder here. And so this is certainly one of the potential points where some of these 13 hostages could be brought to.

Our understanding is that there is an agreement and understanding between the Israelis and Hamas mediated by Qatar, where there are several different potential crossing points where these hostages could be brought to, depending on where their location is in the Gaza Strip. As you mentioned, Becky, Hamas is first expected to deliver those hostages to the Red Cross, and then it will be the Red Cross that brings them to these various crossing points.

Now, once they get to these crossing points, our understanding is that if the hostages are children under 12, they will be met by their families, either at or very near to those crossings. If they are over 12, our understanding is that they will be taken directly to hospitals in Israel. They may also stop at an air force base nearby.

What we do know is that the Israeli military has been preparing for this scenario in a number of ways. They have been preparing helicopters to fly these hostages to this air force base and also to hospitals across Israel. Our understanding is that there are five different hospitals in Israel that are prepared to receive these hostages and also where they will meet their families.

Of course, beyond that, there are other preparations, psychological preparations, financially that will be provided to these hostages and to their families. So, this is really a whole of government effort that we are watching begin to play out right now, and part of that effort could certainly play out right over my shoulder here at the Kerem Shalom crossing.

ANDERSON: Jeremy Diamond on the ground for us, Jeremy, thank you.

Let's bring in Clarissa Ward, CNN's Chief International Correspondent, who joins us from Schneider Children's Hospital in Petah Tikva, where child hostages, Clarissa, as I understand it, may arrive after their release. What are you being told there?

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So, Becky, basically, if everything goes according to plan, and as you know we've heard and been discussing there are many different moving parts to this, but this hospital behind me is where these children and their mothers will be brought if they are not very seriously injured or have a serious medical condition. If they have a very serious medical condition, they will be taken to the Soroka Hospital more likely. But if they are in reasonable shape, this is where they will be brought.

We have been talking to the staff here. They are extremely tense. They are cautiously optimistic and hopeful. They told us they have not been sleeping very much because, naturally, there are so many preparations to make to ensure that their return is as smooth as possible.

Now, I think the most sensitive moment when you talk about the various nodes of this operation to release the hostages is just after they are released from the Red Cross to the IDF, they cross in to Israel. We have seen the IDF has put out some images, including ones that you have been showing of the helicopters with the noise canceling headphones. We have also seen images of teddy bears being put at an undisclosed location.

That most likely is some kind of an IDF base where the children and their mothers will be asked questions to confirm their identity, to confirm what kind of shape they are in medically. And the Israeli Ministry of Welfare has given to the IDF very specific guidelines, a comprehensive list for how to act and behave with these children given the trauma that they have been through.

They talk specifically about one issue I want to read out from the guidelines. Children will ask questions, such as where is mom, where is daddy. Soldiers should not answer these questions even if they know the answers. Any questions should be answered along the lines of, sweetheart, I am sorry, I don't know. My job is to bring you to Israel to a safe place where people you know will be waiting for you and will answer all of your questions.

That obviously, Becky, is because many of these children are now orphans, some of their parents and family members and even siblings were murdered in the October 7th attacks and they may not be aware yet as to who they have lost, who is still alive.

[07:10:04]

So, soldiers really being given a lot of guidelines as to how to make them feel better, how not to re-traumatize them. Another guideline they've been given is don't pick the children up without asking for their permission.

But, again, just underscoring, in a few hours, potentially, some of those children and the mothers that they may have been released with will end up here at the Schneider Medical Center. This is the preeminent children's hospital in Israel, and staff very much looking forward and hoping to see them here and in good shape in the coming hours, Becky.

ANDERSON: Clarissa Ward, thank you.

Poppy, Erica, it's so important to remember that we talk about these schedules, this scheduled release around about 9:00 A.M. Eastern Time, 4:00 P.M. local time. And that is why Clarissa and I are talking about this being in a couple of hours' time. But let's be quite clear about this. I mean, you know, this is not sort of-- we're not working in normal conditions here. So, it could be much later than 9:00. We know that it's just going to be at some point afterwards.

At this point, there is an operations room now up and running here in Doha, in Qatar, with members of the ICRC and with members of the mediation team. Remember, it was Qatar who is at the heart of this really, you know, incredibly tough negotiation. And they have basically got phones set up. They are monitoring this truce and the subsequent hostage releases every second of the way to ensure or certainly try and ensure that there is no slippage.

I started this by saying this is incredibly fragile. No trust on either side of this. So, it's clear that many things could go awry at this point. But there is an agreement. There is a process in place. And at this point, the hope is certainly for those families of hostages who are on the ground who will now know who these 13 are today. There will be some sense that this tragedy, this trauma that they've been going through might at least get some closure at some point in the next hours.

Back to you.

HILL: It is such an important point, just how delicate each moment is as we move forward here and especially in this very first release of Hostages, hopefully the first of many.

Becky, I appreciate it. Thank you.

Hundreds of families, as we have been talking about, anxiously awaiting not just their return but word on their loved ones. We're going to speak with one family of a hostage waiting for some of that news just ahead.

HARLOW: And our team near Gaza did hear fighting right up until this pause began, but it is quiet right now.

Our live coverage of the truce between Israel and Hamas continues straight after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:15:00]

HARLOW: And we are standing by for the first wave of hostages set to be released from Hamas in Gaza. This is part of this temporary truce deal. We know that 13 women and children are among the first who expected to be freed, although it's just unclear who they are at this moment.

HILL: The families of the more than 230 hostages, of course, have been anxiously waiting to see if their loved ones are coming home since this deal was approved late on Tuesday. Among those families, Amichai Shdaimah and Corey Shdaimah. Amichai's 84-year-old stepmother is believed to have been kidnapped by Hamas on October 7th. We appreciate you being with us this morning.

At this point, what do you know?

AMICHAI SHDAIMAH, 84-YEAR-OLD STEPMOTHER HELD HOSTAGE BY HAMAS: We know, unfortunately, she's not going to be part of the 13 who it is today. But we hope that she'll be in the future.

HILL: Amichai, but I can only imagine what that must have been like for you to hear. What is it like sitting with that knowledge this morning as you wait and hope that perhaps tomorrow?

A. SHDAIMAH: It is disappointing, but any hostages to release, it's a good news, it's good for the family, good for everybody. So, we are maintaining optimistic and we are hopeful that she'll be released. But as I say, anybody out of there, it's good news.

HARLOW: We're seeing these beautiful pictures of her, obviously. She has 7 children, 20 grandchildren, 8 great-grandchildren. So, all of you together as a family waiting for her.

Corey, can I ask you, how did you find out that she would not be among those released today?

COREY SHDAIMAH, 84-YEAR-OLD STEPMOTHER HELD HOSTAGE BY HAMAS: Well, we know that the families whose family members will be released were notified. And so our understanding is if we are not notified, that we are not in that group. But that's really the way that we know.

But like Amichai said, there's a lot of pain, there's a lot of suffering. And so the alleviation of that for any families gives us hope, and we would be glad for them.

HILL: There's been a lot of back and forth on whether the Red Cross -- when and how the Red Cross will be allowed in to see some of the hostages. Have you heard anything further on that? I imagine that you're hoping for that news as well, Amichai.

A. SHDAIMAH: We hope that's part of the deal, the Red Cross will be able to visit whoever is not released. And so we -- of course, we hope that she'll be released. But if she's not, we hope to hear her condition, that she gets medication, what her condition. So, I think I hope we were, for everybody involved, that it will be a very, very important part of the deal that the people who are not released get information, or the families get information about the fate or the condition and the health of the people who are not released at this point.

[07:20:15]

HARLOW: And Corey, you have described Ditza as the rock of your family, the glue of your family. Can you just tell us a bit about her?

C. SHDAIMAH: Yes. Well, Ditza is also a social worker who retired at the age of 80. And so that kind of characterized. I've also said that she's a person who has an open heart and open hands to receive everyone who kind of is lucky enough to come in her ambit. And she's very dear to us and to the whole family.

She welcomes everybody. She is a caring person. You know, she's also very strong. She has a no-nonsense streak as well. And just as the pictures show her feeding everybody with the chicken soup, she also feeds with her warmth and her love.

I've always said -- yes, yes.

HARLOW: Go ahead, finish.

C. SHDAIMAH: She's an example for me for -- I was going to say I've always said she's -- I actually told her this. So, you know, she's an example for me of how family should be. You know, we love everyone who they are, how they are, and everyone is welcome. And we are waiting to welcome her back.

HILL: She sounds like a wonderful woman, a really wonderful woman. And we look forward to the news of you all being reunited.

Amichai and Corey Shdaima, thank you for being with us this morning.

HARLOW: I can't wait to see that reunion.

So, right now, we want to tell you about fuel and aid trucks. Look at those images. So, they are entering Gaza. They are loaded with desperately needed humanitarian aid and supplies. We've got more on that report ahead.

HILL: A total of 39 Palestinian prisoners, we've learned, are set to be released today as part of this four day truce agreement.

Stay with us. Our coverage continues of this critical day.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:25:00]

ANDERSON: Well, in about an hour-and-a-half from now, the first 13 Hamas-held hostages are supposed to be released out of Hamas' hands into the arms of the ICRC and out of Gaza.

This comes as Israeli officials tell CNN a total of 39 Palestinian prisoners are set to be released today as part of this four-day truce agreement. They will be taken from two jails in Northern Israel and driven to a prison south of Ramallah.

CNN's Nada Bashir joins us from Beitunya in the West Bank. And, Nada, what more are we learning at this point?

NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER: Look, Becky, this is a process that has been the focus of negotiations for weeks. Now, as you mentioned, we will see those 39 prisoners departing, being transported from those two jails southeast of Eastern Jerusalem. But then, of course, they will be moving here to the Ofer Prison, which is just in the distance behind us. And there is quite a crowd that has already gathered waiting to see this process unfold, waiting to hear the names of those who have been released. As we know, there will be 39 released today as part of that deal. But, of course, as we have heard repeatedly now from the Israeli military and government, those 39 will not be released until we have that confirmation of the safe evacuation of at least 13 hostages who are set to be released from Hamas captivity today.

Now, of course, once they are brought to this Ofer Prison, they will undergo checks, according to the authorities, by the Red Cross. They will be held there until that confirmation is received at the safety of those 13 hostages. And then they will reach this Beitunya crossing behind me, where they will be released and allowed to return to their home.

So, of course, as we know, there are some 39 people expected to be released today. That is amongst 150 who are set to be released over the course of this four-day truce, if indeed the terms of that truce are upheld for the next four days.

We did see earlier in the week a list of 300 Palestinians currently held in Israeli custody who may well be amongst those released, but still no clarity on exactly who is set to be released. As we know, many of those who were listed in that initial release of 300 names are young men between the ages of 16 and 18, not charged with serious offenses. And, of course, there are women and children amongst those in the list.

Again, no clarity on who is set to be released. But, again, this is being seen as a welcome step for many in the Palestinian community, particularly here in the occupied West Bank, but this is just a small fraction of the more than 8,000 Palestinians currently held in custody, in Israeli custody, including more than 3,000 currently held under administrative detention, which means no clear charges have been laid out. There is no ongoing legal process. And, according to Amnesty International, that is a process that could go on indefinitely. So, of course, a small fraction of that total figure.

And we have been speaking to some of those families and friends waiting to see if their loved ones will be amongst the 39 released today. Many have told us that they will not be celebrating their release. While they are hopeful that their loved ones will be freed today, this has come at a heavy cost. They are, of course, referencing the lives lost in Gaza in this exchange. They see this as, of course, a terrible situation that they are faced with. And while they are welcoming the release of some Palestinian prisoners, particularly here in the occupied West Bank, they are, of course, still mourning the lives of Palestinians lost in Gaza.

ANDERSON: Nada, this hostage deal, the exchange of hostages held by Hamas for the release of these prisoners, these Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails, alongside the increase in humanitarian aid also baked into what is this.