welcome to "cnn this morning." it's sunday, november 26. >> thanks for joining us this morning. >> we are continuing coverage of the truce between israel and gaza and a third group of hostages scheduled for release this morning. we are hearing from an israeli official that an american citizen, one american citizen will be among the captives freed. 13 israelis, 4 thai nationals were released, after a delay threatened to undermine the exchange. >> the hostages and missing families forum list 174 israeli hostages in custody, that includes 27 children. the youngest, just ten months old. the group does not have information on possible foreign hostages. the deal also called for the release of 39 palestinian prisoners and detainees. earlier, hamas stalled on releasing the hostages in a dispute over which palestinians the israelis were willing to release. aid groups say 187 trucks made it into gaza saturday with food, water, fuel, and medical supplies. that's a small fraction of what they need. 61 of those trucks reached heavily damaged northern gaza. that's the most in one day since the war began. >> cnn is covering developments from all angles. we will start with kaitlan collins. you have new details about those being released today. what do you know? >> if all goes according to plan -- that is a big if here -- we are expecting an american to be on the list set of hostages expected to be released in a matter of hours from now. on day one, it was 4:00 p.m. local we started to see movement with the exchange of the hostages. yesterday, it was delayed further. weisraeli official that an american is on the list. that's when they start making phone calls to the families that have loved ones on the list. of course, we know the u.s. is involved in that as well. we did hear from president biden's national security advisor jake sullivan who did confirm that there is expected to be an american on that list. he offer the same caveat we did, which is until the hostages are actually exchanged, until they have been handed over from hamas to the red cross in gaza, take ton egypt and on to israel, nothing is official. nothing speaks more to that than what we saw yoesterday which wa a delay in the hostages happening in the middle of the night over disputes over how much aid was going into gaza and other discussions that we are learning more about, what was happening behind the scenes, why there was a delay. jeremy diamond is tracking this. you have new reporting on what else was happening behind the scenes in addition to the dispute over how much aid was going into gaza, which palestinian prisoners were being released. what else are you learning? >> reporter: that's right. there were a number of issues that arose yesterday that delayed this exchange of hostages, this release of hostages from hamas custody. as we have been reporting, the aid components was one of the primary reasons for why hamas delayed the release for so long. there was another behind the scenes fight that you and i are now also reporting on. that is the fact that israeli officials had been expecting that any child who was taken captive with their mother would be released with that mother as well. yet, when they received that list the night before of the number of hostages and the names of the hostages set to be released yesterday, the mother of one child was not included on that list. she's a 13-year-old who was taken captive on october 7th with her mother. when israeli officials received that list, it did not include her mother. that list to a behind the scenes push we're told, according to two israeli officials, to push to get her included on the list, included in the release of hostages late last night. ultimately, she was released without her mother. israeli officials do not have firm information about her whereabouts, about her condition. that just shows how limited israeli officials' window into the condition of many of the hostages still is, indeed. for today's release, we don't yet have a ton of information about exactly when and where that release will take place. we are once again positioned at the crossing where over the last two days we have watched as these hostages have come through this crossing, made their first steps on israeli soil at that crossing, after nearly 50 days of captivity. tonight, we expect there will be another release of hostages. we don't have full confirmation on how many that will be. we know that israeli officials are taking this day by day. they recognize how sensitive, how fragile this deal with hamas is to secure the release of the hostages. yesterday, certainly proved that to be true. as we arrive on day three of this very fragile truce between israel and hamas, hopefully, day three of another release of hostages, officials are also starting to turn their attention to what happens after the fourth day. as we know, there has been a four-day pause established to secure the release of 50 israeli civilian hostages. now the question is, will hamas carry forward with the next phase of this deal, which could include the release of ten civilian hostages in exchange for an additional day of pause? of course, more palestinian prisoners released from israeli prisons at a three to one ratio. that's the major question now. there are active negotiations about that point going forward. >> yeah. seems like officials want to make sure day three goes off without a hitch before looking to what happens then. jeremy diamond, where we have seen a lot of action as this hostage release has gotten underway, we will continue to check back in with you. we are tracking the third aspect of this truce between israel and hamas. that's the surge in humanitarian aid going into gaza where it's so desperately needed. hu humanitarian officials say despite this, that they have delivered the largest aid convoy into northern gaza where we have seen most of the destruction since october 7. i know this is a long, lengthy process. we heard complaints from hamas officials yesterday that it wasn't happening quick enough. can you walk us through what actually happens to get this aid not just through the rafah crossing, not just into gaza, but to northern gaza as well? >> reporter: right. that's the bone of contention that we saw delay the release of the hostages yesterday. we have seen today for the third day, a large number of trucks going across the rafah border crossing into gaza. that does not mean it's immediately available for aid agencies to distribute. what happens after it crosses from the egyptian sign, there's a checkpoint, after it crosses over it in rafah, it goes over to an israeli checkpoint where they verify what's coming in. that takes a while. it goes back to gaza where it is unloaded from these trucks that come from egypt and reloaded on to trucks that will take them to distribute across the strip. that can take a while. it can take several hours, sometimes several days. for instance, even though a larger number is going in, it is not coming out as fast into the strip. once it is cleared and loaded into these trucks to distribute across the gaza strip, it's a journey. one truck driver told us yesterday, it's like a mission impossible. the road is damaged. it's not easy to travel. on saturday, 61 trucks made it to northern gaza. that was the largest humanitarian convoy to make it there. it was carrying relief supplies, medicine, first aid material, food. the u.n. is warning that there's no food there. there's no water. the situation is dangerous in gaza. the situation is especially dire in northern gaza. >> translator: we need 200 aid trucks a day continuously for two months at least to meet the needs. we need even more fuel so we can operate the services and sectors we support, like water, sewage, hospitals, bakeries and other services and communications. the aid going in at the moment is a drop in the ocean of humanitarian needs. >> reporter: the u.n. relief agency saying they need 200 trucks going in every day for 20 days just to make this happen. that sounds like a lot. keep in mind, before october 7, before this conflict, almost 500 trucks were coming into gaza every day. that almost came down to a complete stop, to a trickle in the 50 days of the conflict. if the temporary truce allowed for the aid trucks -- this is badly needed and it's well received. there's a lot more. that's why so many aid agencies want this to be extended so the 1.7 million people displaced can find food, water, cooking gas, fuel, some semblance of normalcy. >> it raises questions of what happens when this truce does come to an end and that aid is not going in at the pace it is now. a major question for officials here. we will continue to check on that. thank you, larry. we will watch the aid today, given it was a sticking point yesterday. we are following this story from nantucket where the president is on his thanksgiving vacation but paying attention to what is happening, especially now that we learned and i believe gotten confirmation that's there's expected to be an american, for the first time since this temporary truce began, on today's list of hostages to be released. >> reporter: moments ago, jake sullivan said in an interview that an american citizen is expected to be among the hostages being released from gaza today. this confirms your reporting from earlier as an israel source told you it was expected an american hostage is on that list. it comes as the white house has been working trying to ensure the release of at least three american citizens, two women, and that 4-year-old abigail. sullivan was asked whether it was abigail was the hostage. he said they could not confirm it. they have a sense of which american, but they want to wait until this unfolds in the coming hours as the hostages are expected to be released from gaza. the white house has been hopeful that americans will be part of the release in the coming days, even as there were no american citizens included in the initial releases that occurred on friday and saturday. president biden is here in nantucket at this moment. he will be heading back to the white house later today wechlt can see if we hear from him on this matter. the efforts to get these american hostages as well as the larger group out have been going on around the clock. officials working in touch with their qatari, egyptian and israeli counterparts as the negotiations have been underway. president biden has been engaged. we will see what more we have to learn in the coming hours as the u.s. is expecting that at least one american citizen will be released as part of the hostage group coming out of gaza today. >> waiting to see once that exchange gets underway. something we are expecting to happen, begin to happen shortly. thank you for that. there are conflicts over aid and which palestinian hostages were released. hamas complaining that they were not released in order of seniority how long they had been in prisons here in israel, which they said was part of the terms of the agreement with israel. that is what triggered a delay in the hostage swap last night, in addition to what you heard from jeremy diamond. israel officials wanting to know why the mother of one hostage was not on the list. we know sides were clashing in the negotiations. it underscored how friagile the truce is. we saw other sides getting involved. i want to bring in christopher o'leary, the former director of hostage recovery for the u.s. government. let me get your first reaction to this breaking news, now that we have a u.s. official confirming our reporting that an american is expected to be on this list today. we know there are three americans who could be eligible to be released as a part of the group of 50 women and children. we don't yet know if it will be all three of them. what do you make of that? >> i'm very happy to hear that an american is finally getting on the list. i'm not surprised. there was concern hamas would hold the americans longer because they are worth more. just remember, they are using these hostages as currency and that's all. americans are worth more than some of the other hostages. there was concern. they did release two americans a couple of weeks ago. the reports, if they turn out to be true, of another american today, are very hopeful. >> yeah. given your expertise in these areas, what we saw yesterday play out where we were waiting, waiting, waiting, officials believed the exchange had started and you heard hamas put out a statement saying they were delaying it because they claimed that enough aid watt not getting into gaza at the pace that they wanted it to get in there. how common in a situation where nothing is common -- how common is a dispute like that at the last minute? >> it's very common. hamas is a terrorist organization. unfortunately, they hold all the cards. whether any of that was true doesn't matter. they can use disinformation and misinformation and propaganda to keep the power and manipulate the situation. i fully expect them to continue to do it. this is not an uncomfortable divorce. this is a terrorist organization. in israel, they have hatred for each other that goes back decades. both sides have culpability in it. go back to 2004, israel struck and killed a founder of hamas and their religious leader while he was returning home from prayer in his wheelchair. hamas' hatred goes way back. they will do anything to drag this out. the other thing is, everybody wants this hostage deal and this truce to extend as long as possible. israel's side, that makes no side. you cannot just close your eyes and hope the boogie man will go away. hamas will use this, will survive as long as they can using these hostages. they will strike israel again if they get the opportunity. >> i think that's a really crucial point. there seems to be -- from being here on the ground, there seems to be a disconnect in what the rest of the word is predicting is going to happen and what israeli officials are saying. they say maybe a slight extension to this. it's not going to go on for very long. they are very committed to going back and to restoring that military operation on pause for the time being in gaza. it doesn't seem like there's a lot of argument about that here in israel, despite others hoping that it will cause this temporary truce to come to a more permanent cease-fire. i think the question is, if israel does do as it is planning to, to return to that military campaign, what does it mean for the rest of the hostages who are not women and children? there's a lot of young men who are in gaza. there's a lot of elderly men there. we saw some of the elderly women getting released. their husbands are being held. what happens to them? >> i think, first of all, despite the fact that israel had a catastrophic failure of intelligence that allowed october 7 to happen, they are an extremely capable intelligence professionals across the board. i know they are continuing to collect information and intelligence, even while this cease-fire -- this truce is happening. they are trying to locate all of the other hostages. there are parallel lines of effort being developed for recovery options for the other hostages. you highlight a good point. we have americans -- don alexander graduated high school here in new jersey just last spring and then joined the idf. recovering that american is going to require something other than a negotiated exchange likely. they are developing information for hostage rescue operations, when feasible. debriefing all of these hostages, even the children as they come out, is going to glean information that is going to help shape up the picture and illuminate the captor network and hopefully develop some opportunities for recovery down the road. >> yeah. the prime minister said that's one of his war goals, to get all of the hostages home. i think it's something every family is hoping for. christopher o'leary, thank you for your time today. check out "inside politics." wolf blitzer sat down with the israeli president. that's an interview you want to watch. it's 11:00 a.m. eastern here on cnn. it's day three of the four-day truce between israel and hamas. the question is, what happens at the end of day four? we will speak to a military expert in a moment. it's day three of the temporary truce between israel and hamas. israeli officials expect more hostages to be released. we learned one of the hostages is expected to be an american citizen. >> we have reason to believe that one of the americans will be released today. but until we see her out safely from gaza in the hands of the authorities and ultimately in the hands of her family, then we won't be certain. but we have reason to believe there will be one released today. >> that was u.s. national security advisor jake sullivan on nbc this morning. this is general wesley clark, cnn military analyst. good to have you. i want to start, before i ask a question, we have gotten an update from israeli officials on the number of hostages they believe are still being held by hamas. that is 201. they know that this is inconsistent with the number that has happened before. the numbers, as you know and our viewers can understand, fluctuate based on information coming in. israel believes there are 201 hostages taken october 7 who are still in gaza. let me ask you about the strategy moving forward and what the military is gaining and losing during this period. the surveillance drones for a period are not flying over gaza. they are not bombing the tunnels as they have been for seven weeks. at the end of this truce, is it a net gain or loss as it relates to the mission of ending hamas? they will lose potentially some intelligence but gain some from the hostages. what do you see we get at the end of this from the israeli perspective? >> i think from the military perspective in israel, it's a net loss. military in israel is going to look at this as, first, hamas is -- has been dedicated to the destruction of israel. they proved they are willing to go very far along this. they are considered an existential threat. if israel military looked to the north and they see hezbollah and they ask themselves, if hamas survives this, what will it say to hezbollah? what can hezbollah do on the north to israel if they decide to follow the same tactics? there's a lot riding on this. the israeli military has got to listen to political authorities. there's a lot of political pressure coming from washington and also from the israeli public, get those hostages free. then we will worry about what happens next. hamas knows this. hamas is playing it like a fiddle. they release hostages. they are prepared to squeeze if they don't get exactly what they want. they want more food, they want more fuel. they ultimately want global opinion and israeli opinion to halt the israeli military operations. hamas then emerges victorious. they are a hero in the islamic world, or at least in the palestinian view. this then gives them a major victory. israel maybe gets its people back, maybe not all of them. israel shudders thinking, what's going to happen next, especially if iran gets a nuclear weapon? >> if you think this truce is a net loss for the idf, let me ask you, do you think president biden is wrong in his suggestion that this truce should be extended at the end of the four days? >> i think president biden is walking a narrow line. on the one hand, our military and the israeli military know what needs to be done with hamas. but it is ugly. it's causing civilian casualties. there's no way to go after hamas without inflicting a certain amount of casualties on civilians who are not hamas. this puts a lot of pressure on the united states. we have got other global objectives. we're not solely dedicated to israel. we have to worry about our relations with our allies, in the region, and our longer objective, longer-term was to get the saudis, the kuwaitis and others aligned with israel so we could end this issue. we have the longer term to think about. it's a tough position for the president. gotta get the american hostages out, try to prevail on the israelis to limit the damage to civilians. ultimately, the israelis have to decide, are they going after the destruction of hamas at all costs, or do they have to balance this with their relationship with the west and especially with the united states? >> is the destruction of hamas an achievable goal? the political and military angle of it may end, but the ideology, will it come back? thank you for being with us. still ahead, not a dry eye in the room. that's how some israeli officials are describing the hostages being reunited with their families. more on that next. for many ifamilies in israe, the last several days have brought some of the first moments of joy since october 7. anxious families being reunited with their loved ones part of the hostage release on day one and day two. a third group is expected to be released today by hamas. we are told that list includes at least one american on it. still a question of whether or not the other two the white house believes should be on the list will be on it today or tomorrow. oren lieberman is tracking this since hostage square. remarkable that's a place where you are or here in tel aviv. i think one thing we have seen from a lot of the families that have had this horrible string that has bonded them together is as they have been watching the moments, even for those whose loved ones have not come home, who are still being held hostage, they have had this remarkable sense of selflessness, joy for families who are getting loved ones back. >> reporter: you are right. we just spoke with a cousin of the family of the 10-month-old, the youngest israeli hostage. even he used the word joy when we asked about the videos he has seen and so many about the other hostages being released. he said it's an extended family. a large and very close extended family. even as he waits -- all he can do is wait at this point tfor hs family to be released, he feels joy for the other releases. that he says for now is the important part, even as they wait in anguishing hours and days for any sort of news about their own family here. it's worth looking at the videos of the reunions. we have seen several over the past few days from families who wanted to share a bit of their joy, a bit of what they felt with the world. this is the father with his reunion with his 9-year-old. he went as far as to go to times square and put her picture up calling on her release. she had her 9th birthday in captivity. they will now celebrate the birthday together. such a joyous moment there. the idf released video of a 9-year-old in a helicopter as he came out. that was incredible video. it give u.s. a view into the mindset of a newly released hostage. it also shows the length they went to to make them as comfortable as comfortable. we expect there are more joyous reunions. even if they are difficult for the families who are still waiting. >> yeah. just remarkable to see these moments where they are finally being reunited with their families after such a long 51 days. more families are waiting to hopefully have the same experience. we will continue to check in at hostage square. his son is being held hostage. as his wife is weeks away from expecting their third child. i spoke to one dad about what he is going through right now as his son is still being held. that interview just ahead. on day three of this temporary truce between israel and hamas, we are watching families reunited with their loved ones who have been freed by hamas. there remains scores of families awaiting word on the fate of their loved ones or knowing they are not likely to be in this group of what is expected to be 50 women and children. people whose family members were not included in the deal and understand they likely won't be at this time. i spoke to one of those families. jonathan is a father and hebrew professor in the u.s. his 35-year-old son was kidnapped by hamas. he is not someone who is being considered for this deal. he is the father of two children. his wife is two weeks away from having their third. can you tell me how you are feeling, how you process this to see what obviously what must be a bittersweet moment for you? >> well, honestly, it's joyous. it's joyous. yesterday, 12 of the 13 hostages that were released were kids and young moms and elderly. these are my extended family. not blood relations. because of the fact that we are a small, very tight community. today with the release of more hostages, sort of the same profile, different community, i couldn't be happier for them, honestly. i don't know if this is the start of something bigger and longer. for right now, i couldn't be happier for those families. we won't stop until all 240 are home and safe with their families, including, of course, my son. >> youhave you heard anything f the israeli or u.s. government? >> no. unfortunately, we are in an especially challenging boat, with many others, from other communities. from the morning of october 7, 9:30 to be exact in the morning, that was the last time we heard from him. we have heard nothing else. he did not turn up, or he was not identified in any of the horrific video clips that hamas posted on their social media sites. we have had no more information from any source, israeli, american, or otherwise. >> i know it's difficult. there's not a lot of news. this deal is for women and children. we have spoken to a lot of families who they have young sons like you. they are -- it's hard to wrap their heads around what the prospects are here. i know, he has two young children. he has a third due to be born any day now. how is his family doing? >> how is his family doing? his girls miss him. his wife misses him. but they are strong. they are doing their best to keep themselves together. certainly, his wife to take care of the girls. and they are waiting, like we all are. hoping, waiting for him to come b back. for life to go on in whatever way it will. what more can i say about how they are? >> i would only add to that, it's heartbreaking when they ask questions that we cannot answer, his girls. it's also heartbreaking in a similar way, they ask, why can't they go home? when can they go home? it's impossible to tell them that their home was burnt to the ground and that we not only can they not get their dad back right away, but also the home they have known their entire lives was destroyed by terrorists and looters a month and a half ago. it has been agonizing to stand there in front of or children and other children and have no good answers to any of their totally legitimate questions. >> i wouldn't know where to start with those questions. when is his wife due to have the third child? >> maybe two weeks. >> a week to two weeks. i would rather be doing anything else in the world right now. but my son and 230 other israelis are being held captive in a living hell. it's my job and other people's jobs to -- despite the pain, alongside the pain and the fear, to do everything that we can to make sure that the world, through media like you and governments in israel and the states and partnering countries, to keep this prioritized. i keep going because i visualize a day -- i hope tomorrow, but i don't know when that day will be, when his two little girls leap into his arms. that's what they are waiting for. that's what we are all waiting for. >> want to say thanks again to jonathan and his wife for taking the time to sit down and talk with us about something that is understandably immensely difficult for them to talk about. as we continue to watch day three of this truce play out, we could be just moments away from the first exchange of the third group of hostages. of course, this is coming as you have seen multiple other countries involved in helping mediate the issues that have arisen during this, qatar, egypt, all of them involved, including a call president biden placed. we will have more after a quick break. russia's ministry of defense said it thwarted at least 20 ukrainian drone attacks. >> it comes after ukraine's capital was bombarded by a wave of russian drone attacks saturday, according to military officials there. >> reporter: in the early hours of saturday morning, loud explosions could be heard all over kyiv. as the capital's air defense systems worked in overdrive. just after 2:30 a.m., an unprecedented swarm of drones began to attack kyiv from multiple directions, terrorizing its more than 3 million residents. 75 drones were launched by russia. authorities say 74 were shot down. debris from one of the downed drones hit this kindergarten in the city suburbs. meters away, hundreds of residential apartments. shattered windows, a sign of how close the war had come. too close for this woman and her two young daughters. >> translator: we heard a huge explosion. we thought our house was going to be destroyed. >> reporter: they are used to the air raid sirens and explosions of the air defense systems working overtime. nothing quite like this. for more than six hours, there was drones targeting the capital. this behind me is the result of one of the drones shot down. inside the kindergarten, one of the teachers is distraught. all my life i worked here. look at the destruction, she cries. everything is okay, we will clean this up, don't worry. thank god everyone is alive. this 5-year-old looks through the fence at a playground she would frequent every day. >> translator: that's my kindergarten. i had music and dancing classes in this building. i feel sad the drone came and destroyed my school. >> reporter: her mother in tears, thinking this was supposed to be a safe place for her only child. >> translator: it's very painful to see this. >> reporter: residents this kyiv and across the country have been expecting this. russia has spent months stockpiling weapons, specifically aimed at targeting ukraine's energy infrastructure as the temperatures plunge. with winter now here, these people know this is just the beginning. >> translator: we have gotten used to this, but i don't want to get used to it. president biden and first lady jill biden will be in atlanta to attend a tribute service for former first lady rosalynn carter on tuesday. >> her funeral will take place in the carter's hometown of plains, georgia, on wednesday. >> reporter: the annual christmas tree lighting here in plains, georgia, taking on a special significance this year in the wake of former first lady r rosalynn carter's passing. the carters would light the christmas tree here in this tiny town. when we speak to residents here in a period of mourning and reflection, they tell us that they are remembering rosalynn as a person that embodied a spirit of service. >> rosalynn was very, very personable. she was genuine in everything that she did and said. there's no other first lady that i can come to think in recent times, or past times, of something that had the eloquence that she did. >> reporter: rosalynn and former president carter's son addressed residents here, thanks them for their support and alluding to the many remembrances to come, which includes a wreath laying ceremony followed by a memorial service in atlanta on tuesday. president biden and other dignitaries expected to attend that event tuesday. wednesday, she will return to her final resting place here in this town of plains, where her funeral service will be held at her home church. >> thank you. 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