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Inside Politics

Three Freed Hostages Now Back In Israel; Tomorrow: Trump To Be Inaugurated For Second Term; Trump Plans To Issue A Series Of Jan. 6 Pardons Tomorrow. Aired 11a-12p ET

Aired January 19, 2025 - 11:00   ET

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


[11:00:30]

FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks to all of you for being part of the show. Next up, "INSIDE POLITICS."

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

MANU RAJU, CNN HOST: And good morning. Welcome to special edition of INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY. I'm Manu Raju.

We were just listening to President Biden address the nation about the news out of Israel this morning. Three Israeli hostages are now in the custody of the Israeli military and are back in Israel. They are being driven to awaiting IDF helicopters for transfer to the hospital. They were just handed over from the Red Cross after a ceasefire in Gaza took effect overnight.

Israeli officials says the Red Cross had indicated all three hostages are in good condition after initial medical exam.

Moments ago, Biden spoke about today's hostage release and laid out a timeline from when other hostages would be released over the next several days, including two Israel-American citizens.

I want to bring in CNN's Jim Sciutto in Tel Aviv and Jeremy Diamond near the Gaza Strip. Jeremy, you're near the border right now. What are you seeing on the ground?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, Manu, as you said, the Israeli military now confirming that these three hostages are indeed in the hands of the Israeli military. They have crossed into Israel.

And we're told that, in about an hour's time, they will be arriving where we are right now, and that is the Re'im military base in Southern Israel.

Right behind me, you may be able to make out the silhouette of two military helicopters. Those helicopters will indeed take those three hostages, newly released hostages, to a hospital in Central Israel.

We also understand that this is the location where the mothers of the three hostages, the mothers of Romi, of Doron, and of Emily, will indeed meet them here to be able to embrace their daughters for the first time after 15-plus agonizing months during which they have been held in captivity, during which time their mothers have ceaselessly advocated for their release in order to get to this very moment.

I have spoken several times with the mothers of Simona and Romi Gonen in particular, and I can just attest to the extent to which they have been dealing in agony with this moment, and yet through that agony, speaking ceaselessly to reporters, to any public officials who would listen to them in order to try and get their daughters home free.

And now it appears that finally, they are experiencing their first taste of freedom. And especially for Romi Gonen, it truly is a full circle moment. This right here, the Re'im area, is right where that Nova Music Festival was held, where Romi was taken hostage by Hamas, and also now where she is going to experience some of her first moments of freedom being reunited with her mother as well.

So just a remarkable moment right now, Manu. And as we have been experiencing a series of remarkable moments throughout the day, inside of Gaza, where a population that has been dealing with a war that has been unending and unrelenting and merciless over the course of the last 15 months has finally come to a pause. And people are finally experiencing a taste of momentary, at least safety, in Gaza, as we have been seeing people celebrating in the streets, doctors and medics who have gone through unspeakable trauma celebrating that moment.

And we have also, of course, seen the hundreds of aid trucks beginning to move into Gaza. We expect that there will be some 600 trucks per day entering the Gaza Strip in over the course of this six-week ceasefire, bringing much-needed relief for those people as well. Manu.

RAJU: Yes. Jeremy Diamond, near the border with Gaza on this ray of hope after many, many brutal and grueling, devastating months. Thank you.

And let's bring in Jim Sciutto from Tel Aviv. So, Jim, what has been the reaction from Israel and its neighbors about this deal?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, inside Israel, there has been great expectation, and I think you could safely say impatience for a deal that would release some or all the hostages for 470 days going back to October 7th.

And I think that at that moment in the wake of those horrible attacks when so many of us were here covering it, I doubt that many Israelis expected it would take this long for a hostage agreement to come to be.

And remember, the outlines of this agreement, this three-phase deal beginning with three dozen or so hostages and then followed along the way with further steps, the outlines of this deal were on the table back in May of last year as outlined by President Biden.

[11:05:10]

And it's only in the final hours, really, of his administration, with a big push from incoming Trump administration officials, that now we are seeing the faces of the first three Israelis now to find their freedom since that initial group that was released just a couple of months after the start of the war.

So this has been a long time coming with a great deal of frustration particularly from hostage families and even some blame assigned to the Israeli prime minister. I was speaking to the father of one of the hostages still held in Gaza, one of the seven Americans earlier today, and he assigned as others have, he assigned blame to the Israeli prime minister for not sufficiently prioritizing the life and health and freedom of the hostages along the way.

So in the midst of the hope we're seeing here and now three mothers being reunited with their three daughters, we're seeing some impatience for further progress. This is going to be a highly choreographed deal going forward over the course of six weeks.

Every week, a small handful of Israeli hostages will be released with the intention of then if they get through the first phase of the deal, a second phase where more would be released and that ceasefire would turn into a permanent end of hostilities. But there are a lot of roadblocks and pitfalls between now and then.

I should note another step that has been taken just in the last hour, Manu, is that Red Cross vehicles have now arrived at the Ofer Prison in the West Bank where the 95 Palestinian prisoners will be released. The first tranche of Palestinian prisoners to be released as part of this deal.

Eventually, they will number in the many hundreds. So each step along the way, an important one providing some relief for the many who have suffered on both sides of the Gaza border since October 7th, but each one as well with its own challenge. And we'll, of course, continue to watch from here and have hope that the further stages of this deal come to be.

RAJU: Yes. Jim Sciutto, live from Tel Aviv. Thank you for that report.

And let's bring it here in the room with my panel of experts. CNN's Kim Dozier. David Sanger from "The New York Times." "The New Yorker's" Susan Glasser. And "Punchbowl News'" John Bresnahan. Nice to see you, guys.

Interesting what Joe Biden just said here in these remarks. He said that the teams, both his team and the Trump team, he said have work spoke work, each work with one voice. That was his word. He called for persistence in the way forward.

What have you heard about behind the scenes how this came together, this deal with the Biden teams and the Trump teams in these final weeks?

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, when the president- elect and the president met and gave their teams an opportunity to work together, permission, they have been working hand in glove with Trump's incoming Middle East advisor delivering some of the hammer- type remarks to Netanyahu to signal Trump really does want this done before he takes office because he wants to build on the Abraham Accords the last time. He wants an expanded peace deal and that can't happen while you have images of Gaza being hammered on Arab television screens.

RAJU: And what about you, David? You know, there's obviously, going to be this battle in Washington to take credit for this.

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Sure.

RAJU: It always happens. But did -- could this have happened if this were -- you know, if Kamala Harris won? Would it have been the same situation? Or is it -- or is it the fact that Trump won, did that make a difference here in the end?

SANGER: Oh, I think it definitely made a difference. Look, this is, as you heard from Jim, essentially the plan that President Biden laid out at the end of May. So then the question is, why didn't it happen between the end of May and now?

And I think as Kim pointed out, when the president-elect said, this has got to happen now, it was a signal to Netanyahu that he was not going to allow him to basically kick it into Trump's term and hope that Trump would not force him to go do this.

Because it's no great secret that Prime Minister Netanyahu was not super enthused about this. He needs to keep a sort of constant level of conflict underway in order to keep his government together and keep himself in the office.

Now, this was one unbelievably joyous moment. Remember, we last saw hostages released until this morning was November of 2023. So it has been, you know, 14, 15 months. And nobody had expected that it was going to take that long to get more.

God willing, we will have all 33, although we're already being warned some of those are probably not alive. And so there'll be some heartbreak built into this. But the really hard part for President Trump and his team is going to be this next phase.

[11:10:12]

RAJU: Yes. That's what I want to ask. Just to step back about what the deal is, to remind our viewers what's in this ceasefire deal. Now, it's a ceasefire. It's Israel military that's going to begin withdrawing from population centers. Palestinians are expected to be able to return to Gaza where aid is already beginning to flow back into the region. Much needed aid.

Hamas and its allies are going to release 33 hostages and then Israel to release about a thousand Palestinian. Prisoners, three today of those 33 hostages. There are going to be three going to be released each week.

But there's still 77 or so more hostages that Hamas has. Some living, some may have died. That -- there's still a lot of questions about how we that ultimately is secured, the release of the rest of those hostages.

SUSAN GLASSER, STAFF WRITER, THE NEW YORKER: Absolutely. And I think that's where the politics of this kick in. David alluded to this.

But for Prime Minister Netanyahu, there's a reason that you hear this described by him and his allies, not as the end of the war, but as a hostage deal, essentially as a ceasefire, because there are two right- wing parties that could leave his governing coalition at any moment and bring down the Israeli government.

So, first of all, Netanyahu has his own right-wing flank. Then he's got to figure out how to deal with the incoming Trump administration. You saw on the front end Trump willing to exert pressure to get to this first phase of the hostage deal.

But there are some important decision points, I think, for both Trump and Netanyahu over the course of the next six weeks. First of all, what the Israeli government really wants is also to pursue a much more aggressive policy toward Iran and its nuclear program in the wake of the collapse of the Syrian government.

The very successful Israeli operation against Hezbollah. This is a moment many Israelis believe to, you know, knock out other security threats against Israel. Will they be able to enlist Trump with that? Or does he want the broader goal of Mideast peacemaking? Can he bring the Saudis in?

I would point out that we are, in many ways, we haven't advanced very much from the immediate aftermath of October 7th when it comes to the question of who's going to govern in Gaza if the war is actually over. What is it that Israel is willing to permit as far as future security arrangements?

RAJU: And just to tell our viewers what you're watching on the screen, they're actually hostages. There's video of the hostages being released, being secured in the Red Cross vans, those Red Cross vans ultimately delivering those hostages safely, putting in the hands of the Israeli government.

Their medical examinations said that they're -- that they're doing OK. We'll see how they're doing. Obviously, they've been through a lot of trauma, in captivity over the past many months.

Susan mentioned an interesting thing about the Netanyahu-Trump relationship. And they've been close, much closer than Biden and Harris, or if she were the president.

But this is going to be tested as we get into phase two and phase three, as Trump wants this to end. But Netanyahu has his own internal politics to deal with.

JOHN BRESNAHAN, PUNCHBOWL NEWS CO-FOUNDER: He has a lot of problems, as Susan mentioned. And there's going to be rebuilding Gaza. And what is the American role? And would we -- would we help with that at all? Or would Western powers help at all if Hamas is still in charge of Gaza, which is going to be a huge issue? And will Trump confront Iran, as the Israel wants to do, in a way he did in his first term? I mean, he validated the -- withdrew from the nuclear accord that Obama had signed. He wanted maximum pressure on Iran. So that'll be a -- that'll be a huge issue.

What you've already seen from the Hill too is warnings. If the Palestinians, if Hamas doesn't live up to this ceasefire deal, there will be real repercussions. They're really pressuring -- the Republicans on the Hill are pressuring Trump to say, look, if they don't live up to this deal, we want, you know -- we're going to -- we want you to act and we want the Israelis to act.

So there's like -- this is a huge moment. We'll have to see, you know, how far which party where they're going.

RAJU: Yes. No question about it. All right. Everyone stand by. We're continuing our coverage on the news of the Middle East.

And coming up, we're just hours away from Trump's return to power. We'll break down what to expect on day one.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:15:54]

RAJU: We're currently to follow the breaking news out of the Middle East where three Israeli hostages are now back in Israel. Brand-new video here of mothers of the hostages together watching the release.

And I have an official from the IDF joining me live shortly to give us the very latest.

But first, we are now just over 24 hours away from when Donald Trump takes the oath of office and becomes the 47th president of the United States.

Today, the president-elect is heading to an Arlington National Cemetery for a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, ahead of a victory rally in Downtown D.C.

Tomorrow, Trump will attend a service at St. John's Episcopal Church and then go to the White House for tea with the Bidens.

And before being sworn in at noon inside the Capitol, the first indoor inauguration in four decades, due to the extreme cold in Washington.

Now my panel is back. And we actually have some news about some of the first steps on day one. Not a surprise because Donald Trump has actually been saying that he would pardon the January 6th rioters. What we don't know is the extent of the pardon.

Our colleague, Alayna Treene, reporting this morning, the extent of the initial pardons is still unclear. However, one of the sources described them as enough to be seen as delivering on his long held promise. How is this going to go over?

[11:20:06]

BRESNAHAN: Well, I think, are we going to see violent offenders or non-violent offenders? Look - -

RAJU: There's a fine line between violent --

BRESNAHAN: You were there on January 6th, I was there.

RAJU: Yes.

BRESNAHAN: There were some people who were caught up in the moment and entered the building. There were some people who assaulted police officers, seriously injured them.

RAJU: Vandalized.

BRESNAHAN: Hundreds of police officers would have hurt or killed members of Congress or senators if they got them. Those people I think it's a harder case for Trump to make. But he had promised he was going to do this and he will do it.

So, you know, we'll have to see how far he goes and how far he thinks he can push it. But there's what 150 or 200 who are in jail or were convicted of serious crimes. And I think those would be, it would be a difficult message to be, if you're going to, you know, be a law and order president and come in and do somebody assaulted U.S. Capitol police officers and hurt them and tried to kill them.

RAJU: And this is not going through -- and typically pardons go through some sort of review process.

GLASSER: Well, not only has it not gone through, you know, any kind of process since the administration, you know, isn't in office yet. But I would point out that this is happening on Inauguration Day literally at the scene of the crime. And they have --

BRESNAHAN: Where these Capitol police officers will be pardoning by Trump --

GLASSER: That's what I'm saying. He is going to be pardoning people while taking the oath of office in the exact place where the crimes occurred.

And it's just a reminder that, you know, in some ways, we're overwhelmed by the amount of you know sort of head exploding stories. This one, you know, would be enough to provide fodder you know for weeks worth of coverage in any other situation, except that there are so many other day one pledges, Manu.

RAJU: Yes.

GLASSER: And,you know, all of which would also, many of which would also explode long-held rules, laws, and norms of the country.

RAJU: And that Trump is planning a series of executive actions on day one. He is -- a lot of it is about immigration. But just some of the promises that he's made. He's talked about launching this mass deportation operation. We'll see exactly when that could happen. Maybe as soon as tomorrow, maybe later this week.

He made a bunch of other pledges that probably are not going to take shape right away, including ending birthright citizenship.

Imposing tariffs, that's a big question as well. But immigration is obviously going to be front and center. Jim Jordan was on with the "STATE OF THE UNION" with Dana Bash earlier, suggested that there was going to be efforts to try to close the border, to try to reinstate the Remain in Mexico policy.

But the mass deportation issue is something that we promise on the campaign trail, but there's still a lot of questions about how that will play out.

SANGER: Certainly will. And they're going to start in Chicago. They've made pretty clear. That won't be the only place, but certainly will be the first focus of their attention. I don't think that there's sort of, you know, any mystery about why they are starting in a -- in a state like Illinois and certainly a city like Chicago.

The second, I think, remarkable part of this is, if you do this as a mass operation, how do you separate out right away who are the hardened criminals which is the ones that he said he's got to send back and who are not and that will be a big element of it.

You're going to see other executive orders as well. Just this morning, he said he's going to issue his executive order on TikTok tomorrow.

We have also heard that he's going to be issuing executive orders that deal with a range of other, you know, promises he's made along the way, some of which are maybe of dubious legality.

You mentioned before that he wanted to end birthright citizenship. Well, it's in the Constitution.

RAJU: Yes.

SANGER: It's not at all clear you can do that by executive order.

RAJU: Right.

SANGER: But he will take this first week to push the boundaries.

RAJU: And we're going to talk about TikTok a little bit later. And Trump did put out a statement -- later. I'm just saying that he would try to figure out a way to keep TikTok -- to prevent it from going dark.

Let's talk about tomorrow, the event tomorrow, the first time that's going to be indoors, since Ronald Reagan back in 1985, that's going to be brutally cold here in Washington, which is the reason why they moved it indoors, scrambled to move it indoors.

You've covered a lot of inaugurations. What are you going to be watching for tomorrow? And what are you going to be watching about Trump's message? And, you know, in 2017, he had a message that was pretty dark to the country.

DOZIER: Yes.

RAJU: What are you watching tomorrow?

DOZIER: Well, I have to say, first of all, having covered Obama's 2009 inauguration in the snow, in Arctic gear, and still frozen solid by midday, I'm glad for everyone attending that they've moved it indoors.

RAJU: Especially for all of our colleagues, cameramen, law enforcement. Oh, yes.

DOZIER: Yes, because they've got to be out at 2:00 A.M.

RAJU: Yes.

DOZIER: But I will be looking for the tone. Is it going to be the dark tone of a lot of his campaign, the fear mongering? Allies are watching that to see, is he going to be embracing working together? Or is he going to be sending that America first signal that you guys are in the way and you better do what we say? Or there will be some sort of unspecified hell to pay?

[11:25:14]

Which Trump's negotiators say -- from the last administration would tell me, look, that sort of madman point of view is helpful for us because when we go behind closed doors, we can say, look, you got to try to work with us because nobody knows what he might do. So everyone will be studying what he says tomorrow.

RAJU: Yes. And, look, Trump has had really one consistent message throughout his whole political career, which has been pretty dark. I mean, work for him politically. Work for him politically.

BRESNAHAN: Only I can save things.

RAJU: Yes, right, right. So, what are you -- what are you watching for him?

BRESNAHAN: I will see that. I want to see what the Democrats, how they react to it. I want to see, you know, if Trump is already, you know --

RAJU: If the Democrats show up.

BRESNAHAN: If the Democrats show up, which we'll see the leadership will be there, but we don't expect a lot of rank and file members. There'll be some. But, you know, I do think it will be, you know, they're already talking about, you know, Trump's age, they're talking about this is the golden age. OK. Which is fascinating we've gone from hell to golden age --

RAJU: Right. Right.

BRESNAHAN: -- in one day, so.

But I do think we'll see, you know, how far does he push and what will democratic reaction be. Well, you know, Democrats are already there on their back foot. They took a beating on Election Day.

And, you know, we'll have to see, you know, how far does he extend an olive branch at all to Democrats?

RAJU: Yes.

BRESNAHAN: And he didn't in 2017, will he do it now? Will he -- will he change his tone? There's no reason for us to believe Trump will do that. He's not even done it since --

RAJU: Yes.

BRESNAHAN: Or before. So will he do it now?

RAJU: Yes. Maybe we'll see what he says about what happened in the Middle East today. Maybe he'll give some credit to Joe Biden. We'll see. You never know.

(CROSSTALK)

You are an optimist.

BRESNAHAN: None of this is (INAUDIBLE).

SANGER: But probably a little less carnage is my guess.

RAJU: Yes. Well, we'll see. Maybe so.

All right. We're continuing to bring you the latest from the Middle East. There were, of course, three Israeli hostages who were just released. And I'm speaking to an official from the IDF after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:31:31]

RAJU: All right, we're continuing to follow the latest development from the Middle East as three Israeli hostages are now back in Israel. These three Israeli women are the first group to be released. Thirty- three hostages in total are included in this first phase of the deal.

Joining me now with the latest, Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner from the IDF. Colonel Lerner, thank you so much for joining me this -- this -- on this very important day. Can you just tell us and our viewers what the latest is on the hostages, the state of their condition, and the status?

LT. COL. PETER LERNER, RETIRED IDF SPOKESMAN: Absolutely, Manu, I can say that this is a very, very interesting time. I would say emotional, because we have reunited the three hostages with their families. They're undergoing initial medical checks just to see their condition, and they will be transferred to a further medical examination later on.

It's been a very, very emotional day here in Israel, a roller coaster of emotions, as you can imagine, but something we are very, very happy that we are finally able to bring back the three hostages in anticipation for 30 more.

RAJU: So, yeah, there are 30 more after today, three each week, we are expecting. Is there any idea, Colonel, about how many of those are alive at this point?

LERNER: So I'm going to be very cautious in what I say, but we know that the majority of them are alive. We are aware that some of them perhaps are deceased, but this is the challenge that we face throughout the course of this conflict of this war. Hamas are playing their games and they have indeed committed to transferring 33 of the hostages.

As I said, most of them we believe are alive based on what we know. But there is indeed, of course, that concern that there are some that are deceased.

RAJU: Most are alive. Do you know anything about the conditions of the ones who are still alive?

LERNER: So I think we need to be focused on the three today. We will be checking the three girls that were brought home after almost 15 months now and back to their home, back to Israel. We will be checking their medical situation, medical condition in order to determine what actually happens now.

And indeed, I mean, the understanding that is that many of the hostages have been held in horrendous conditions and under underground, underfed. And that's -- that's basically the concern that we are at -- at the moment. We will be pursuing and looking forward and indeed talking to the three hostages that have been caught, come home in order to try and learn from their situation to understand and try and relate to the situation of the others.

RAJU: Colonel, as part of this deal, of course, the Palestinian prisoners that are being held by Israel are being released. And you're doing this also on a weekly basis. How many Palestinian prisoners are you expected to release next week?

LERNER: So today, I think we're beginning with around 90 terrorists and that will be released in exchange for three civilians, three innocent women. And this is the framework that has been agreed upon between the government and the negotiators and the mediators. And I think this is something that we will see advance.

Indeed, it's over a thousand terrorists that that in total will be will be released in the framework of this agreement. And this is where we have valued the lives of our hostages. And that is why we are putting so much effort in order to bring them home.

[11:35:15] RAJU: Can I just ask you about some of the criticism that has happened within the Israeli government about this deal? There was three Israeli ministers resigned in opposition to this deal. They said this agreement constitutes a, quote, "surrender to Hamas."

What is your response to that? And also, what is your level of confidence that this agreement will actually hold and eventually this war will ultimately end?

LERNER: So with regard to the second part of your question, I think if we saw anything this morning, that Hamas did not abide to the law -- to the letter of -- of the framework that had been agreed upon. And this means obviously means that we are concerned and we weren't certain when they would be released later today, as they were released and who would be released exactly despite what they said. So, of course, you're dealing with the terrorist organizations.

Everything they do is in order to try and bolster their public image. So they are trying to exert immense pain on Israel and Israeli society, as they have been doing since the 7th of October. With regard to your first question, I'd say this. I have the privilege of wearing a military uniform. So I'd rather not delve into politics at this stage.

RAJU: OK. All right. Fair enough. Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner. Thank you so much for sharing it with your perspective and all the details on this very historic day. Appreciate your time.

LERNER: Thank you, Manu.

RAJU: And my panel is back. What is your reaction here? He said that most of the 33 are alive, but he also had some choice for us for Hamas.

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: He did. And he outpoints the problem. This is so fragile. The delay this morning was one thing that could have derailed the return at each step along the way. It could get derailed. And there's no real hammer to force everyone into phase two negotiations when they consider one of the most contentious subjects, who's going to rule Gaza.

This morning, you had both Israeli officials and Trump's national incoming national security adviser, Representative Mike Waltz, saying Hamas cannot be allowed to stay in power. But there's no clear alternative to Hamas. And as we saw in the photo, in the video footage of the hostages being released in Gaza, all of those guys in green turbans, Hamas.

DAVID SANGER, NEW YORK TIMES WHITE HOUSE & NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: So Hamas loses leverage every time it releases a hostage. And it knows that. And so at this point, you know, they don't lose much leverage. But when you get down to those last hostages, they're going to recognize that, in fact, Mike Waltz said, there's no way Hamas is going to run the place. The Israelis have said that. When they've turned over the last of the hostages, and of course they are without their original leadership, they're going to have a very hard time surviving. And that's going to be the critical issue for them. And that's why this process gets harder in the outer stages.

RAJU: And that's really what he was suggesting, that we'll see if this is suggesting that there's major hurdles ahead.

SUSAN GLASSER, THE NEW YORKER STAFF WRITER: Well, that's right. So we've talked about the politics before. But I think what this conversation underscores is the extent to which it's not just the politics. But first of all, Israel's war aim, as articulated by Prime Minister Netanyahu, was the elimination of Hamas, both as a governing entity in Gaza, but more militarily. Hamas has not been eliminated militarily. That was evident from those images that we've seen this morning. So that's number one, is that Israel has not achieved the war aim that its prime minister set out in the complete elimination of Hamas.

Number two, in order to get to a permanent ceasefire, you need to have an arrangement for who is going to govern in Gaza. That means that if it's not going to be Israel directly, which would be unacceptable, of course, not only to the Palestinians, but to Israel's neighbors, you might need to bring in resources from the Gulf states.

Well, they're going to, in effect, then be party to these very complicated negotiations, as well as Israel, as well as the Palestinians, and as well as the United States. So you're talking about as complex of a negotiation as I've ever heard of, and with the prospect of war and the guns starting at any moment.

RAJU: Yeah. Let's hope the war does not start again. Stand by, there's just a lot of breaking news we're digging into coming out of Israel. More after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:44:10]

RAJU: All right, we continue to follow breaking news in the Middle East where three Israeli hostages are now back in Israel. Brand new video shows the family of the hostages together watching the release. And they were just handed over by Hamas as part of a ceasefire hostage deal.

CNN's Bianna Golodryga is outside Sheba Hospital near Tel Aviv. So, Brianna, tell us what you're seeing.

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN SENIOR GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, Manu, what we will be seeing in about an hour or so is the arrival of these three hostages, Romin Gonen, Emily Damari, and Doron Steinbrecher. We actually won't see them physically, but we will get a sense of the presence here, the increased presence, as they are transported here later this evening. They will be cordoned off.

I visited one of the six hospitals that had been set up to welcome these hostages once they had arrived in Israel. They cordoned off entire wings. They've made a clear point. They've learned their lesson from the last ceasefire hostage exchange in 2023.

[11:45:10]

They're not allowing cameras. They're not allowing families to really be flooding the television monitors and getting out here to talk to the public because they've learned that allowing cameras, they're not allowing families to really be flooding the television monitors and getting out here to talk to the public because they've learned that privacy is key for the families of the hostages that are currently released and those hostages that remain in Gaza. It's very difficult for the families last time to witness other hostages reuniting with their families when they, of course, had yet to do so. We understand that these three hostages are now reunited with their families.

They will be going under brief medical evaluations by IDF medical staff before they are eventually transported here later this evening. We expect within the next hour or so to this hospital behind me. It is a massive hospital. They are well-equipped. They've been waiting for months, Manu, for the arrival for this day, as has the entire country. The start of the release of these hostages, the first phase where we're expected to see 33, now 30 more have yet to be released, and we will be covering it all, Manu. Thank you.

RAJU: And, Bianna, we're seeing this video of all these Israelis out in the streets celebrating this news. What are you seeing in terms of the reaction on the ground? What are you hearing from people as you're talking about this major development today?

GOLODRYGA: Yeah, we were just in Hostage Square before we arrived here at the hospital. We've been spending each night in Hostage Square, and the mood was subdued, a bit somber. We were actually quite surprised given the news of a cease-fire hostage deal earlier last week.

Today was the first glimmer of hope, I will say. I saw smiles. I saw tears. I saw people telling me that this is the first time they've really been able to breathe in the last 15 months just knowing, seeing these images on a jumbo screen there of the hostages as they were reunited, as they were released to the IDF, and just knowing that their families are going through so much joy right now, finally being able to reunite with them. So mixed emotions here, for sure. There are 97 hostages in total, so now there are three less that are in Gaza, and the hope is that once this Phase 1 is completed, the remainder of the hostages will all come home as well.

RAJU: Yeah, we'll see how that plays out in the weeks ahead. Bianna Golodryga, live from us in Israel. Thank you so much.

And my panel is back. You know, we've been talking a lot about the Israeli hostages. What about the Palestinian prisoners that are being released? We do know from what I heard from the IDF spokesperson, he talked about he called these Palestinian terrorists. He was very obviously in a much different language than what we're seeing. Who are these? How do they make the decision on who to release, and why is it so, it seems, if you just look at the numbers, pretty lopsided, the ratio of three to 97 or so per week, right?

DOZIER: And that's standard for these kind of exchanges in the past. Some of those being released have been serving multiple life sentences for being convicted of murder in Israeli courts. The families who lost loved ones to those crimes got an opportunity to appeal to the high court, but the high court chose not to stop this transfer.

The Israeli security establishment has warned already that because of the release of some of these Palestinian prisoners, some will go to the West Bank, some to Gaza. Some are so dangerous they're going back to Turkey or Qatar, that there is an increased risk of violence across the country because of it, so they are bracing for that.

But the good news part of this whole exchange is that something like 600 trucks of aid a day are supposed to go into Palestinian territory, into Gaza, much-needed aid for people who've been spending a cold, damp winter in tents outside.

RAJU: And that's what Democrats have been calling for, the aid to Gaza, a lot. That's been, what, has fractured.

JOHN BRESNAHAN, PUNCHBOWL NEWS CO-FOUNDER: Into the bombing, yeah.

RAJU: And that has what fractured the coalition really all last year, is that there was not enough aid to Gaza. They were pressing upon the Israeli government to do more, and the Biden administration to do more to ensure aid is delivered to people who desperately need it.

BRESNAHAN: I mean, we saw unbelievable circumstances over the last year, 15 months. You know, the United States trying to build a pier to deliver aid. The United States parachuting aid into Gaza. I mean, unbelievable circumstances.

What to me is the, like, what's the next step for U.S.-Israel relations? It would be different than, of course, Trump there than it would be of Biden or Harris. But we've never seen a crisis like we've had in U.S.-Israel relations. There's probably been never less support in the United States for Israel, especially our younger people, and the rise of anti-Semitism and the backlash. So I do think we'll have to see where will Democrats come out.

[11:50:03]

I mean, the Republican Party is lockstep behind Trump on Israel. They are the most loyal, you know, they can be, but we'll have to see where Democrats go.

RAJU: I mean, taking a step back, I mean, the president raises a good question. What does it mean for the future of the region? I mean, obviously, we have to see how this plays out. This is just the very beginning of this, but let's say the war ends in the coming months. How do you see it?

GLASSER: I mean, look, do you think that Hamas has disappeared? We saw that they're very much still around today. In one prisoner exchange a number of years ago, one of the people who was released for the Israeli hostage, Gilad Shalit, was Yahya Sinwar, who then went on to become the leader of Hamas.

RAJU: Very quickly. SANGER: What's changed here is not Hamas as much, although they

obviously are -- are diminished. What's changed is the region, right? Hezbollah has been destroyed. Syria is no longer run by Assad. Hamas is diminished, and that's what creates the opportunity here, and that Iran no longer has that octopus-like hold over the entire region. That's Trump's opportunity.

RAJU: All right, we'll see if he takes that opportunity, and we're staying on top of the breaking news in the Middle East, more after a quick break.

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[11:55:40]

RAJU: All right, stay with CNN with more of the breaking news out of the Middle East. Dana Bash and -- up next here at The Union with Jake Tapper and Dana Bash. Dana speaks to two hostage families and more out of the Middle East.

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