>> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. >> welcome back to cnn news central. we're following two breaking stories happening right now. prime minister benjamin netanyahu just spoke after a major hostage deal was finalized between israel and hamas. we're also following a developing story out of new york state. two are dead and the fbi is on the scene after a vehicle exploded at the u.s./canada border crossing near niagara falls. sources say a car carrying two male occupants exploded on its way to a secondary search location at the checkpoint at the rainbow bridge. we know president biden is receiving updates and the white house is in touch with canadian officials. we'll bring you the latest from upstate new york. first, we want to listen to prime minister netanyahu who is speaking for the first time since the deal was announced. >> translator: and the hostages, since the beginning of the war i cannot stop thinking about them and the members -- i met you. i heard from you what is going on with you, what you're going through. the continuous nightmare. knowing and the worry has no limits. when i meet with you, you -- the focus on your loved ones. and me and my friends look at every single photo. these photos are -- we operate to bring home everyone. when i say everyone, i mean everyone . we will bring back the hostages and ensure that gaza will not be a threat anymore. we will act to create conditions -- the framework are efforts -- >> all right, so there you hear the prime minister of israel, benjamin netanyahu, making his point, that he's not going to rest until all the israeli hostages have been returned safe and sound to israel. he's insisting that the war, the effort to try to destroy hamas in gaza, will continue. all this happening just hours before this exchange is about to unfold. the first of several israeli hostages we're told are about to be released. we'll watch that very closely. see how israel is going to deal with that. how these hostages will be coming back to israel and all of that. that's supposed to happen in the coming hours. but, boris, we're also watching this major story coming out of niagara falls, new york. this incident that has occurred aboard the -- on top of the rainbow bridge separating the united states and canada. i know you're getting more information. you're watching these breaking developments as well. >> yeah, wolf. i think the world is on heightened alert right now given the story you're covering in the middle east and obviously as we approach the thanksgiving holiday, many travelers are hitting the road and taking to the skies to be with their loved ones. so as this is unfolding, we're trying to get the latest details to find out whether this was something nefarious. that's why we want to bring in john miller who has been covering this story. your latest reporting is that security footage from the crossing appears to show a vehicle on a local road in the united states at one point hitting a dramatic rate of speed, something close to 80 miles per hour before approaching the crossing, and then becoming airborne as it hit a curb and exploding on impact. what's the latest you're hearing from your sources that have reviewed that footage. >> they're trying to determine what it all means. when you look at the car in the footage, you see it passing all the other cars at the high rate of speed. you see it engages with the curb and then goes flying over a barrier, crosses to the other side of the highway and then upon impact, literally disintegrates while exploding in a ball of flames and black smoke. this is the high-energy impact of a car traveling at a high rate of speed that is airborne and flying at a high rate of speed with great force which facts on the ground. that is the kind of thing that you don't really need an explosive device to get a spontaneous combustion on a high-energy impact with a full tank of gas. it also explains, boris, a lot of the early confusion and that's why we always say in this reporting, the information is preliminary because the first story usually does change. they believed it was coming from the canadian side towards the united states because it ended up on the other side of the road in the secondary search area which would have been the direction you would be going when you were headed to the united states. it wasn't clear until they saw the video, it had actually started on a local road in niagara falls where it jumped the divider. so it's not even clear that the car intended to leave the country, and that brings up the possibilities. do we have an incident of a driver under the influence? is it a driver with a medical issue? is it a driver who decided to commit suicide? is it a driver who had an untended acceleration and lost control of the car? those are all going to be questions. and the fbi's joint terrorism task force, the atf, the canadians authorities, they're all at the scene trying to literally put the pieces back together in terms of this vehicle where it impacted. but try and identify who is the operator of the vehicle? who is the person who is with them? what's their background and what can they learn from their travels today. before this incident, what was going on in their life from friends and family? that is the main focus right now, who is the person at the wheel, and what can that tell us? >> john, please stand by. i do want to just point out that we were looking at new images of the scene at the crossing. these were the closest images that we've seen to this point of what john was just describing and you see flames and smoke there, clearly a very serious crash and explosion. we do want to play some sound for you as well because the canadian prime minister spoke about the incident in the last hour. here he is. >> a lot of questions. we're following up to try to get as many answers as rapidly as possible. we're in close contact with u.s. officials and will continue to work closely with them. we will continue to be engaged. we will provide updates. updates i can give right now is there are four border crossings that are right now closed. rainbow bridge, whirlpool bring, queenston bridge. additional measures are being contemplated at all border crossings across the country. we are taking this seriously and i will have to excuse myself to get further updates. >> we should also point out that the president, joe biden, who is traveling to nantucket for the thanksgiving holiday has been briefed on the situation. we understand that top-level officials in both the united states and canada are going over all the latest details as they try to sort out exactly what happened at the rainbow bridge. i want to discuss with former deputy director of national intelligence. when you look at the details that we're getting about this incident, what stands out to you? >> well, i think that the way that john miller is really approaching this and andrew mccabe is exactly the right way. i used to be in charge of new analyst training at cia and one of the things we teach new analysts is to not just go to your assumptions right away but to really piece through the facts at hand slowly and methodically and try to ignore the pressure to come to an answer because usually that first answer that your brain will lead you to is going to be incorrect. so there are a lot of assumptions going in because we're really thinking about the testimony last week by fbi director wray talking about this incredibly heightened state of alert that we are now in. and those are really real things. but these things, you know, may not and it looks increasing like not connected. >> we also have a retired fbi agent with us. robert, your read of the situation based on the details that you've heard? >> right now with john miller's input that they have a video of the vehicle going is huge. they blow up cars all the time and due to iraq and afghanistan, our knowledge of vibds is immense. they're going to look at this video and even from the video, they're going to be able to start looking where that explosion was actually initiated. was it high explosives? you can tell by some of how the debris is thrown out of an explosion, at the rate of speed, was it high, was it low? they're going to have local teams with technical stuff. even if it's not safe, they can send robots down to take samplings. all of this sufficient is going to go into different bomb techs. they're going to send it down to quantico where the national guys are at and they're going to start looking for it and start analyzing those videos. we used to study them all the time when we did explosive work and the start of it and how the explosion goes and how the vehicle comes apart, like i said, they do that all the time and they can literally just take the video and start looking at it and come up to a better determination. >> so, robert, to that point, what would the time line be here to get a definitive answer as to whether this was terrorism? >> they're not going to come off with a definitive answer because even if it wasn't a high-explosive initiation of the vehicle, it could be something that had some type of terrorism background. but what they're going to be looking at is how this vehicle exploded, they're going to come back and say was there high explosives in it? what was created by it? and walk that backwards. they're going to interview the family members. was there something going on in the family members that were killed that were in the vehicle that would indicate something else? but i think the biggest thing, if they can determine, hey, that was a high-explosive initiated vehicle, then it's going to ramp it up a little bit. if they really determine that it's not looking that way, i think you can start looking at other things coming in, probably have ntsb coming in because they deal with vehicle explosions all the time and bring those experts in and start looking at that scene with the jttf. >> beth, back to you. you mentioned the heightened state of alert that we're currently in given everything that's been happening in the world and the warnings that we've gotten from top u.s. officials about the potential for some kind of nefarious activity. it's obviously a very challenging window of time that officials are also working. and given that tomorrow is the thanksgiving holiday and some two-plus million people are going to be traveling, it's a very sensitive time for soft targets specifically, right? >> exactly. i mean, this is definitely what we're seeing across the militant world from aq to i.s.i.s., to hamas, to hezbollah is messaging that's going out that is trying to inspire americans and anyone else to take violent action, particularly against jews. and so -- and i think that as director wray said, this is not a time for panic, but it is a time for vigilance. and so, you know, i would just encourage everybody to, you know -- i mean, i hate to take us back to 9/11, but we need to pay attention to stray backpack and is where you are in your surroundings and to take extra precautions. these threats are at a heightened state that we haven't seen for decades. >> beth, please stand by. i want to go to arlette saenz who is traveling with president biden in nantucket, massachusetts, traveling for the thanksgiving holiday. arlette, the president has been briefed on what's happened at the rainbow bridge near niagara falls, what's the latest you're hearing from the white house? >> reporter: the latest that we've heard is that president biden has been briefed. the white house saying he was briefed on the vehicle explosion at rainbow bridge, but beyond that, the white house has not shared any other details about what they believe this incident might have involved. now, the president in addition to being briefed by his team, the white house has noted that there's law enforcement on the ground investigating this. that includes the atf and fbi and there has always been communication between white house officials and senior canadian officials as well, that's according to one administration official that i had spoken with. at the same time, transportation secretary pete buttigieg, he himself said he's also been briefed and is also in touch with their counterparts. the president has been updated, but it's clear that it's a situation that is fluid and they're still gathering information on. and it comes as president biden is here in nantucket, massachusetts, where he's spending the holiday with family. it's not a vacation. it's a working trip for president biden. he stays in contact with his team back at the white house. just this afternoon the president has been balancing another situation, holding calls with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu as that hostage negotiation, the potential hostage release is expected to come in the coming hours. president biden right now is balancing those two things, discussing both these potential hostage release that could be coming in the next day, as well as getting these latest updates on the incident that's occurred at the rainbow bridge. >> arlette, thank you so much for the update. our breaking news coverage is going to continue on the incident at the u.s./canada border in just moments. don't go anywhere. we're continuing to follow the breaking news from the rainbow bridge at the u.s./canada border crossing. right now the fbi is investigating a vehicle that exploded there at a security checkpoint. officials confirm that two people inside that car are deceased. you're looking at images we received a short time ago very close up of the scene. vehicle parts scattered throughout that border crossing. we have new information about something that's happening at the buffalo airport which is not far from niagara falls. let's go to pete muntean who is live for us at reagan national. what are you learning about the buffalo airport? >> reporter: we're hearing things change by the moment both locally, near the incident site and nationally. we heard from the faa that the buffalo niagara falls international airport is now closed to all international arriving and departing flights. this just crossed from the faa. no time when they posted this about when this would expire. we have also heard from transportation secretary pete buttigieg. he's been briefed about this, he says, also spoken with his canadian counterpart about this dynamic situation. we're learning that also at the buffalo airport from the transportation authority which runs it that cars coming into the airport are being screened as well as the passengers who are going through security and so they're trying to get the word out for passengers leaving the airport today on a huge holiday travel day to try and factor in some extra time because of that. the tsa says it's already in a heightened state of security posture because of this and the tsa and the department of homeland security say they are coordinating with local and federal counterparts to try and make sure that this situation as it unfolds, they can change things quickly as needed. they say there are things that have gone into place that you can see, like dogs at the airport, we have also heard of things in some cases that you cannot see. and so there are many things changing here by the moment when it comes to transportation because this was at a border crossing. this did involve transportation and now we are learning that the airports are potentially a factor here as well and that is something coming from the faa in which they say that the international arrivals and departures are being halted at the buffalo airport. pretty significant because it's 20 miles from the blast site and it is significant because it's on the canadian border. presumably, a lot of international flights come in and out there. 2 million passengers a year at the airport. 5,000 flights a month and this is a huge time for thanksgiving travel. they were expecting about 2.7 million people according to the tsa at airports across the country today, boris. >> pete muntean, thank you so much for that update. we want to go to josh campbell now. josh, you're a former fbi special agent. i'm wondering when you hear the news that the buffalo airport has been shut down this way, is it your impression that this is potentially because of some information that the faa has received or simply out of an abundance of caution. >> it's unclear. we obviously know after major incidents, other entities will take note, will see increased patrols, oftentimes at different locations. particularly in an area where you talk about transportation, as pete was just mentioning this incident taking place at a bridge. but i think authorities -- the onus is on them to provide information if they shut down something because there's obviously a concern about public confidence here. as we were discussing earlier, boris, based on this incident itself, and i'll note that there's a lot that we still don't know. there's a lot that investigators are doing behind the scenes, this doesn't fit the typical profile of past terrorist attacks that we've seen. i worked a lot of terrorism cases. you have extremists that, you know -- this is grim, but their goal is to cause as much loss of life as they can. just looking at the incident location here, this wouldn't be a typical place where that would be accomplished. one thing that also really stands out to me here is the idea that you have two individuals that are in the vehicle. we know that extremists, if that's what this was, which i don't see that -- i don't see that being the case right now, they would want to maximum the harm that they could cause and you don't do that by putting two people in the same vehicle. they would presumably want to conduct an attack with different locations. and so all that taken together, you know, really tells me that it's far too soon to make that determination. one thing, obviously, that authorities want to determine is whether there was any type of incendiary device in that vehicle. bomb technicians from the fbi and the atf would be on scene conducting those tests trying to determine if there's any type of match. that would change this dynamic completely. barring that information, it just does not have the typical terrorists of terrorist incidents that we've seen. final point i'll make -- and this is something that beth was mentioning earlier -- it's easy to get tunnel vision on these incidents and you look at what happened, obviously this is concerning, but they'll be looking at the bigger picture. what are the characteristics, who those individuals are, what their past is like, and whether there was any type of medical history in the past as well. all that would be key. because they're deceased, authorities can't interview them. a lot of work to be done to rule out what this was here. >> still very early in this process. josh campbell, thanks so much for the perspective. we're going to take a quick break. but we're covering multiple breaking news stories not the least is which the explosion at the u.s. border crossing with canada at the rainbow bridge near niagara falls. the very latest when we come back. the power goes out and we still have wifi to do our homework. and that's a good thing? great in my book! who are you? no power? no problem. introducing storm-ready wifi. now you can stay reliably connected through power outages with unlimited cellular data and up to 4 hours of battery back-up to keep you online. only from xfinity. home of the xfinity 10g network. we are continuing to track the breaking news out of buffalo -- or near buffalo, new york. the u.s./canada border, the rainbow bridge where a vehicle has exploded and its two inhabitants were killed. we're going to focus now on breaking news from the middle east. major breaking news about the hostages that are being held by hamas and other groups in gaza. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu just told reporters in his first public address since the announcement of the israeli/hamas deal that the red cross will be allowed to visit the hostages being held in gaza, including those that are not a part of the deal of the 50 hostages that are initially set to be returned as part of this four to five-day cease fiber do -- or rather pause in fighting. let's go now to oren lieberman. this is a major development because information on these hostages has been very difficult to come by and having the red cross access some of them could be useful in getting more details. >> reporter: it wasn't just very difficult to get information about the hostages, it was virtually impossible because the red cross wasn't able to visit them up until this point. this was one of the questions prime minister benjamin netanyahu's office said the red cross would be able to visit the hostages that weren't released. there was a question whether that met that the other hostages that weren't released on the first day or all of the nearly 240 hostages that hamas is holding in gaza. that part was unclear. so netanyahu in a press conference that is still ongoing -- or at least was just a few minutes ago, read specifically from the agreement and the language he used made it clear from what he was reading that the red cross will visit all of the hostages who remain in gaza. he talked a bit about the deliberation process, the negotiations process that got to this point, and improving the terms of the deal. as we've reported throughout the day, it is 50 israeli hostages in exchange for 150 palestinian prisoners, women and children here. and then that could be extended past the initial four or five days for every ten hostages that are released. there will be one more day of a pause in the fighting. netanyahu also repeatedly emphasized that regardless of how long that pause is, this is still a war. it's been a war since october 7th. according to netanyahu and other members of the war cabinet who spoke in this press conference, that war will continue until they defeat hamas. they made it clear that is the goal here and they say they will pursue that goal when this pause ends. they also talked about, again, the difficulties in negotiations, improving the terms to get to this point. netanyahu said he spoke president joe biden a short time before the press conference. he says biden was an sbintegral part of this process and helped improve the terms of this deal. and then netanyahu took a few questions. he was asked about the north. he was asked about hezbollah in the north where we've seen a tremendous amount of fighting there. he said they have committed to pausing the fighting. he said the focus is on gaza right now and they'll deal with what happens in the north as they need to. so it's clear here that things are moving forward. we are now getting to the 12-hour point for that pause in fighting takes effect. it's worth noting that neither netanyahu nor other members offered specific details about how this would play out. all of those, boris, we have learned from other sources, be they u.s. sources, so the israeli public here is waiting to hear from their leaders how this plays out and, of course, waiting to see it play out, boris. >> yeah, this agreement is set to kick in at 10:00 a.m. local time where you are in israel, 3:00 a.m. eastern here in the united states. did we get any indication from the prime minister as to what the protocol would be if this agreement were to be breached if hamas or any of the other players in that area were to resume hostilities? >> reporter: that's an interesting question. he was asked that directly. what happens if a soldier who is in gaza is shot during this pause? does that result in a violation of the pause and does the whole deal fall apart? he didn't give a specific answer to that effectively saying that israel knows how to respond and manage the situation. he pointed out that all of the security bodies and security apparatuses in israel had supported the deal. it doesn't look like he will draw a specific red line and say this is the point where the deal falls apart. it is clear that this is important not only to the country but also to the war cabinet and to netanyahu to see to it that this moves forward here. >> yeah, a lot of optimism not only in israel but from the united states that this deal with hold and potentially expand beyond that four or five-day agreement. oren lieberman, thank you so much. our breaking news coverage continues in just a moment. stay with cnn. welcome back to cnn news central. we are continuing to track the breaking news at the u.s./canada border near niagara falls at the rainbow bridge there. the fbi investigating a vehicle explosion. we have some new video we want to share with you that appears to have been taken from a structure not far from the scene. and you see the flames there. our reporting indicates that a vehicle was on the u.s. side of the border driving through a local road when at one point, it quickly accelerated, according to cnn's john miller, hitting speeds of roughly 80 miles per hour before heading toward that border crossing, hitting a curb, coming airborne and exploding on impact at an area for secondary screening at that border crossing. officials are on the ground right now trying to determine exactly what happened. as we take a look at images close up at the scene where you see vehicle parts and smoke and flames at that site. we want to go to brynn gingras for the very latest. what you learning about what happened, at what stage of the investigation are we in? >> yeah, i mean, those pictures are so good. it gives all of us a sense of what investigators on the ground are really dealing with. that was an intense explosion that is there at the sight as they try to figure out, try to answer exactly what happened. as you're seeing this video from, you know, someone that's not too far in the building, investigators are using, as you can imagine, all the cameras in that surrounding area to get different views of what led up to this. and still at this point, there's just a lot of questions. i'm being told by a source that they're actually using drones at this point as sort of a tool to sort of get an overview of that area, try to get closer to the vehicle and try to answer some of the questions as to what happened. as you mentioned, our colleague, john miller, his sources telling us that a vehicle on the u.s. side of that crossing was approaching that check point area. it accelerated to a high rate of speed, hit a curb and then actually went airborne crashing causing that explosion into a secondary search area at that rainbow bridge crossing. and as you mentioned also, boris, the fbi is on the ground, the atf, the joint terrorism task force. this is all hands on deck with federal authorities trying to determine exactly what happened. was this sinister in nature? was this a medical emergency? these are all the questions that they are quickly trying to answer. though right now it's a response as well. we're hearing that all four border crossings are shut down. we heard from pete muntean that international flights in and out of buffalo airport there are not happening. we're also learning there's an increase in security at the airports in that area and just that area in general. evan perez reporting that's the case in d.c. we're learning in new york city, the nypd is sending support to the buffalo area from its law enforcement perspective and i can tell you in just about an hour and 15 minutes, we're going to hear from the commissioner of the nypd about security taken in response to the parade. but i can imagine he's going to talk about this and the heightened security that is now impacting not only new york state but new york city. certainly, a lot of questions still need to be answered as to exactly what happened there at that check point, boris. >> brynn gingras, thank you so much for the update. we want to dig deeper now with someone who represents this le area, a local leader. senator, thank you so much for being with us. what have you learned about the incident at the rainbow bridge? can you share any details with us? >> thank you, boris. i certainly can share some details that i know whether or not it is different from what has been reported. i'm not sure. but i spoken to governor hochul, i've spoken to niagara falls mayor, i've spoken with the county sheriff as well as congressman brian higgins office and other local leaders, i would urge certainly caution, clearly we don't know yet -- i mean, all the hallmarks are there to get people concerned, right, to -- you have a border crossing the day before a very busy american holiday, a holiday weekend, and you have a vehicle exploding. so it's easy for folks to jump to -- or to come to a conclusion. that may well be the ultimate result of the investigation. but from everything i can tell, i've even heard some conflicting -- initially, the vehicle was coming into the u.s. now we know the vehicle was coming from the united states. so i don't think we know enough yet about what the intention was, who these individuals were. i have no doubt between the federal agencies and our state police and parks police and niagara falls police and the county sheriff's office, they will get to the bottom of who these individuals were and from there hopefully we can ascertain what the intent was or what the target was or what the goal of this was, whether it was something sinister or something else. but my thoughts go out to the cbp folks. we have two deaths in the car and we have the cbp, my understanding is that the cbp officer has been taken to the hospital with secondary injuries. i'm not going to say they're not series, but i don't know that they're life-threatening. the fact that no one else was injured or killed at this point is a minor miracle and certainly something to be grateful for. >> we certainly hope those folks are okay. just from hearing sort of your read on the situation, senator, it does not sound like there's an ongoing threat or potentially secondary threats, is that a fair assessment? is that the indication that you've gotten from law enforcement? >> i have certainly not heard that there is. i do know that the last several hours, anyways, that was what they were trying to sort of guard against and make sure was not the case. that this -- the natural reaction is to close all the ports of entry, close all the bridges and make sure that there is not -- this is not part of something larger. certainly here in new york state and across the country, we are, you know, too familiar with coordinated multiple-pronged terror attacks, going back to 9/11. so obviously they're going to take all the precautions. it's a -- it's a travel weekend, right? it's thanksgiving weekend. people are going to be on the move whether it's by plane, whether it's over a crossing to canada, or whether it's on just a major thoroughfare across new york state. and so i think all -- all of that has to come into play and i'm sure they are making sure that there are no ongoing threats or active threats. to my knowledge, there is nothing at this moment that would indicate a larger ongoing threat other than whatever -- whatever threats or chatter that our intel agencies are currently monitoring. i'm not aware of an ongoing threat, which is a good thing. but if someone is traveling, certainly if you're trying to get to canada, it's not going to happen. i would say it's not going to happen today for sure. if you live in western new york. if you're going to the airport, you're going to endure probably some lengthier security measures or wait times to get into the airport. but it's all out of precaution given what we've seen happen this morning. >> robert ortt, please keep us posted if you hear any additional information. i hate that we cross paths this way, but i hope you have a happy thanksgiving and thank you so much for your time. our breaking news coverage continues in a moment. stay with us. when people don't know what is going on, of course. that is why i'm down here, to tell you exactly what is i've seen. this is -- i don't know what happened. all i know is that vehicle was 10, 15 feet in the air before it hit the building. and probably right by that -- somewhere around that light. it just -- it's just hard to believe. it is just -- i have no reason to make anything up, or anything. it is a miracle i'm doing this in front of all of these cameras. of course, i was in that years ago but that is another story. anything else i could answer? >> [ inaudible question ]. >> i don't know. it got to the border and there is an overhead thing and by that time the vehicle starts to come down and it went underneath it. it had to have because it would have taken that out. and then it kind of disappeared out of range a little bit, but i know it just beyond that, it hit one of the things where the security officers are. and just, i'm just thanking god for answered prayer that none of the border patrol guys -- one fella i heard was injured. i'm only here to let you know the facts of what really happened. what i saw. >> thank you. >> we're glad you're okay and you're safe -- >> yes, i'm 8,000 porter road -- >> that is an eyewitness to the incident at the rainbow bridge u.s.-canada border crossing. that man describing a vehicle crashing into that border crossing going 10 to 15 feet into the air before coming down and blowing up, reduced to rubble and flames. as we take a look at video we just got a few moments ago from someone not far from that scene. i want to discuss this and more breaking news from the middle east with democratic congressman from indiana, a member of house intelligence committee, andre carson. thank you for being with us. right off the bat, have you been briefed on this incident, is there anything information you could brief? >> we're still waiting for information. ranking member himes is getting information and will get information as this investigation progresses. and we're still waiting, the situation is very fluid. we don't want to speck late at this point. we know there was a briefcase found but the briefcase did not have explosives in it. but as a senior member of the house intelligence committee, i take border security very seriously and i'm a former law enforcement officer, i worked in counter-terrorism and for the department of homeland security and i'm spoken out repeatedly about the threat of domestic terrorism. but we don't know enough to make any judgments at this point. >> yeah, congressman, i understand that. and i don't want you to speculate. but we originally were scheduled to talk about what is happening in the middle east, this agreement betweeni israel and hamas and all of those developments have the world on heightened alert. we don't know if this was a terror attack or not. but when you see an incident like this, the state of the world as it is right now, and the timing of this going into thanksgiving with so many people on the road, so many people traveling, a lot of soft targets out there, you have to be concerned for the security of americans. >> i'm always concerned about the security of americans. it is -- the issue of domestic terrorism is one issue that i've lost sleep over begin the sensitivity of the times, given the frustration -- and anti-semitism and the palestinian israeli question and the focus on gauzeza and the destruction to men and women and children and the images repeatedly of children, what we don't want is for nonstate actors and for people who are unwell to use this as an opportunity to make some kind of political statement which sets us further back, unfortunately. >> congressman, let's pivot to this deal that has been struck between israel and hamas. and some of the other players in the region. you have been critical, i think it is fair to say, of the way that the biden administration has handled some of what we've seen unfold in gaza since october 7th. i'm wondering what you make of this deal, is it significant to you that a large part of it includes significant aid going into gaza? >> well, i think it is an important first step, as well as a pause. it is a huge relief to the 50 hostages and their families who will be reunited. and look, i and some of my colleagues, we've been pushing for a cease-fire from the beginning of this situation and that is a great sign of our momentum. and it's working. and it's de-escalation that will save lives and bringing hostages home is critically important and not more violence. but there are still hostages that need to be reunited with families and there have been 13,000 palestinians die and we've had israelis die and almost half of those, more than half have been children. this violence has created a growing, devastating humanitarian crisis in gaza and it must stop. >> congressman, i think that the counter argument from certain israeli officials is that we wouldn't be in this situation were it not for hamas. and just looking at the contours of the deal, it seems like hamas' plan worked and they're getting a lot of what they wanted. palestinian prisoners, aid going into gaza, is that not a fair statement? >> i'm sorry, you broke up. >> congressman, we only have about 30 seconds but i'm wondering, hamas carrying out the terror attacks and does it not seem to you that their plan worked? >> well, i think there were a series of events leading up to this. of course, i condemn the acts that happened on october 7th. but the antagonistic strategy that came from the israeli government throughout this, the expansion of settlements and the mistreatment of palestinians in the ground in the west bank, in gaza, have certainly created a