>> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. >> today on "inside politics," a major development out of the middle east. qatar just announced an agreement to extend the israel/hamas truce for another two days. we're still waiting to hear from the israeli government. it is also unclear when the hostages who were expected to be released today will make it out of gaza. so far, 58 hostages have been freed. that includes 40 israelis, some of whom are dual nationals, 17 thai citizens, and one citizen from the philippines. cnn is all over the region covering this fast-moving story, including my colleague wolf blitzer who is in tel aviv. i am so glad that you're joining us for the hour here. this agreement is a very big deal. >> it certainly is. another two days, that means that more hostages will be released, allowed to leave gaza, go through egypt, presumably, and show up in israel. for israel, that's important news. for hamas, it's an additional two days where there won't be any fresh air strikes or ground assaults by the israelis. so they'll have some time to regroup. that's what they want. they also want more humanitarian aid coming into gaza so there's another at least two days where all of these trucks will be bringing humanitarian supplies, food, water, medicine, all sorts of other things into gaza. that's important. and another two days of this agreement, dana, will allow israel to release more palestinian prisoners and detainees. hamas wants that as well. there are some important developments and we're watching all of this closely. as you correctly point out, we're waiting to hear directly from the israeli government to confirm that another two days of this pause will go forward. >> okay, wolf, stand by. we're going to go right now to mj lee at the white house. mj, you were part of the reporting team to break this news. what are you hearing about the details of this extended truce? >> yeah, the extension of this four-day truce by two additional days has just been announced. and actually, a white house official is now confirming as well that the truce is being extended by an additional two days. dana, just keep in mind the original parameters of the original deal, it was a four-day pause in fighting for the release of 50 women and children hostages in exchange for palestinian prisoners, being released by the israelis as well as humanitarian aid flowing into gaza. the understanding, though, was always that there could be an extension of this four-day truce if hamas was able to release additional hostages. ten hostages would buy hamas an additional one day in pause in fighting, but also israeli and u.s. officials had always believed too that there were more than 50 women and children hostages. as many as potentially about several dozen more hostages, so the fact that this truce is being announced seems to indicate that there is an understanding that hamas would be able to turn over additional women and children hostages in the coming days. of course, we know that one thing that hamas has insisted is that they needed this pause in fighting to be in place in order to actually gather up information about the hostages to physically locate some of these hostages which our understanding is that hamas doesn't have a full picture of where some of these hostages are located. >> okay. mj, thank you so much for that reporting. i really appreciate it. and now i want to talk about what happened -- more about what happened with this agreement. it was announced by qatar and it was announced just a couple of minutes ago. at this point, israel, as we've been told, has not yet mentioned anything about it. hopefully our next guest will be able to. he's the senior adviser to prime minister netanyahu. thank you so much, mark, for being here. can you tell us the details as you understand it inside the israeli government of this extended truce. >> so i think we have to say the following, before we talk about extending the deal, we have to implement the current deal and we're waiting for the last batch of hostages, of women and children who are supposed to be released this evening, and until a israeli soil, we can say that the four-day agreement for the 50 hostages has been implemented. having said that, my prime minister spoke publicly last night and he was -- his remarks were reported on cnn. he said that we are open to the extension of this humanitarian pause for -- as your reporter said quite correctly -- for every ten hostages released, we're willing to give an extension of another day. if hamas will release israeli hostages as agreed, we will extend. that's the bottom line. >> so that means if it's going to be extended for two more days, i understand what you're saying about what's going to happen today and i'll get to that in a minute, but just staying on this deal that was just announced inside qatar and the white house is confirming, if it is one day -- one more day of a truce for every ten hostages, if it's two days, presumably, that means hamas has agreed to 20 additional hostages after today? >> that's correct. once again, the parameters were set. these were negotiated with the help of president biden and we thank him for putting his effort and his office behind these arrangement. we wouldn't have -- i don't think we would have reached the deal without his input. yes, it was agreed. every extra day we get ten hostages. and we'll stand by that. >> were they -- so far they have only been women and children, and those were the parameters of this initial deal. what about the extension? will men be included there? >> my understanding is that there's still enough women and children in gaza held by hamas that can fill that -- for the next 20. hamas is responsible for all the hostages. they are, unfortunately, but they are the government there in gaza. they control the situation on the ground. the cessation of fighting has given them the opportunity to find every last hostage. and we're expecting tonight to see the final group of women and children and hopefully in the coming days we'll see more. >> can you just expand on what you just said, how you started in this interview talking about the current situation. what is the holdup? what is the sticking point when it comes to the group of women and children expected to be released today? >> as you know, this is the fourth and final release in the framework of the four days. but as you know, i think it was only last night that they actually got out on time. on the first day and the second day there were delays, last-minute crisis. there were all sorts of problems and the truth is, we have to remember who we're dealing with. we're dealing with a terrorist organization, hamas, and it's always like pulling teeth. i mean it's difficult. it's never easy. and that's why i urge, let's wait to see what happens tonight. that we see our people -- the released hostages safely on israeli soil. i mean, last night, we had 13 israeli women and children released. the youngest was that 4-year-old american israeli, abigail edan, right? she was kidnapped when she was 3. so you have to ask, what sort of people kidnap 3-year-olds? and i think that tells you everything everybody to know about hamas and explains why it's so difficult. these people are ruthless. if they think there's an advantage in them for perpetuating the suffering of these innocent civilians and their families in israel, they will do so if they think it's in their interest. >> she was 3 and her parents were also -- according to president biden -- murdered brutally right in front of her on october 7th. so i completely take your point. having said that, the -- they are the organization that you have to deal with. because they are the ones who have these women and children. so given that reality, that unfortunate reality that you are dealing with, what is the status as far as you know of those who are supposed to come out today? >> so, once again, we have received some good signals, but until they are on israeli soil, it's not done. we can't celebrate. it's the same for the families who have been waiting for these people for over 50 days now. once again, once they are on israeli soil, we can say it has been done. but we've got to be cautious. with hamas, you've got to be cautious. you need nerves of steel when you're dealing with these sort of people. >> mark, i want to ask about one of the sticking points over the weekend which was that there was a child released without her mother. the child was released and the mother was not. what is your understanding at this point as to why that is, particularly now since officials have been able to speak with the daughter about the last time she saw her mother. can you give any more information about that? >> i can only say the following, dana. to release a young child without a parent, that is the most inhumane thing to release a daughter and for the mother to stay in captivity. once again, that is another manifestation of what we're dealing with. these people are heartless. these people are depraved. these people lack any sense of common decency. and that is our enemy. when the fighting against hamas is resumed, i want people to remember that israel is fighting a ruthless and despicable terrorist organization. when we defeat them, it won't just be good for israel, our people deserve to live in safety and security, it's not to fear terrorists crossing the border in the middle of the night and butchering their children, but the people of gaza also deserve better. hamas has been ruling gaza for 16 years. what have they brought the people of gaza? suffering, pain and poverty. everyone in this region will be better off without hamas. >> just -- if i may, you described the unfortunate human situation here -- terrible -- barbaric human situation. but what about the why? are you concerned that her mother and others have been separated from hamas and are now in captivity by other groups inside gaza? >> look, from israel's perspective, hamas can't subcontract out any responsibility. they are responsible. and the reason for the pause was not to give any excuses because, you know, if they were -- if israel continued attacker, they could say we couldn't get out of the bunker. they've had four days of pause. they're the guys that control the gauze strip, unfortunately, it soon won't be the case. but at the moment they are in charge and they are responsible for all the hostages. >> mark, thank you for your time. appreciate it. >> thanks for having me. and, wolf, i want to bring you back in now. your reaction knowing not only mark regev, but knowing the situation as well as you do to the news there. he confirmed this deal. but at the end he talked about when the military operation resumes. not if. when. >> the israeli defense ministry, the idf, the israeli political leadership, the war cabinet, they are all basically on the same page saying that after they obviously want to get all the israeli hostages, all the hostages out of gaza, back to israel, that's obviously a top priority, if not the top priority. they're also saying that even after that, they're going to continue their struggle against hamas. they don't want hamas to be in charge of gaza because they fear that what happened on october 7th could happen again. they're going to continue to go after hamas and resume their military activity, whether air strikes or ground assault. they're making it abundantly clear that is not going to stop. it's stopping as long as this temporary truce, a pause, they're not calling it a cease-fire, as long as this is going on, they're going to pause and the israel action against hamas. but they're making it abundantly clear that it's not going to pause forever. they're going to go after hamas and that is significant. >> absolutely. thank you. and just to underscore the news from mark regev, two additional days which will mean 20 additional hostages. and they will only be women and children. they are not yet talking about releasing the male hostages inside gaza. assuming that the hostages actually come out today, which has not yet happened. wolf, stand by. coming up, we are going to be talking more about what will happen today as we get more information about this extended truce. stay with us. welcome back. i'm wolf blitzer in tel aviv. >> i'm dana bash in washington. i went to get to the white house where john kirby is talking to reporters. let's listen. >> president-elect will be coming to washington, d.c., largely to meet with the imf and the world bank over -- over their fiscal and economic issues. while he's here in town, he'll have a chance to meet with some national security council folks, including jake sullivan. no plans to meet with the president. the president will be on travel in the middle of the week. >> thank you. >> reporter: on the remaining americans who are being held, do you have any more clarity on whether they're being held by hamas or other terrorist groups? >> no. >> reporter: all along you've been very clear about concerns that a broader cease-fire would only benefit hamas. sullivan was clear saying that hamas has been able to gain some benefit from this. how concerned are you that the longer this truce lasts that hamas will benefit and how do you weigh that? >> it's a risk. you have to expect a group like hamas which clearly doesn't abide by laws of war would try to take advantage of the pause in the fighting for their own benefit. we're watching that closely. but -- i don't want to speak for the israelis, but this is a calculated risk that we're willing to take in order to get the hostages out. it's a balance. once the pauses are over, they will go right back at military operations. >> reporter: restocking, resupplying, what is that benefit? >> i would say that any pause in the fighting could benefit your enemy in terms of time to refit, to rest your fighters to rearm them, reequip them. you know, a pause in the fighting can be seen as a benefit, but, again, i want to stress, this was always part of the calculus that hamas might try to benefit from it. so too have the israeli people benefitted by the return of their loved ones and hostages. so too have the american people benefitted now with little abigail back with her family. so, again, it's a balance. and i won't speak for the israeli defense forces. but when they have -- when these pauses are over, they have made it clear that they're going to continue to target hamas leadership. >> reporter: how many americans are being held hostage and do you have proof of life? >> we think the number is -- less than ten. probably in the neighborhood of, you know, about eight to nine. but we don't necessarily have firm, solid information on each and every one of them. >> why haven't the two american women who are with abigail, what happened with them? why haven't they been released? >> well, we certainly hope that we'll see them in hopefully today. if not today, certainly over the next couple of days. we want to see them back with their families where they belong as well. the lists are developed by hamas and then, of course, there's the israelis developed their list of palestinian prisoners that they're going to release. we're not involved in the specific drafting of the lists and the determination on hamas' side of who's going to come out on any given day. obviously, we want to see the two american women released as soon as possible. >> and with the truce being extended two days, what happens now? you want to get three days next or a permanent truce? what is the -- >> like i said in my opening statement, we're grateful that we have an extra two days to work with. that will result in the release of 20 more individuals, women and children. as i said right at the top, we would like to see even that extension extended further until all the hostages are released. that's really the goal here. get all the hostages home with their families where they belong. however long that could take. >> reporter: thank you. just a follow-up on the question about -- you mentioned that most of the meetings will be with the imf. who will he be meeting at the white house, the embassy and what are the expectations of the white house for this meeting? >> i already answered that question. he'll have a chance to meet with jake sullivan and potentially other folks here. we'll have to see how that shakes out. the president won't -- >> you've been listening to john kirby, national security council spokesman at the white house, confirming as we heard from mark earlier on this program that there will be an additional 20 hostages released who are now inside gaza as a result of this extended two-day pause. also saying that they still don't know exactly how many americans are still inside gauze. they believe at the white house it's 8 and 9 but not entirely sure. we're going to take a quick break. ahead we're going to speak with an israeli woman whose aunt and cousins were released by hamas this weekend, but she still have several other fafamily m member being held hostage inside gauze. you want to be able to provide your child with the tools or resources they need. with reliable internet at home, through the internet essentials program, the world opened up. fellas, fellas. that's how my son was able to find the hidden genius project. we wanted to give y'all the necessary skills to compete with the future. kevin's now part of this next generation of young people who feel they can thrive. ♪ ♪ . welcome back. i'm dana bash in washington. >> and i'm wolf blitzer in tel aviv. >> and, wolf, i know you spoke earlier with the uncle of a woman who was released on saturday. she was the child released without her mother. i can't even imagine how emotional that interview was, wolf. >> i spoke with her uncle. and i drove outside to tel aviv to one of the hospitals. and we met for awhile. it was a very, very emotional, powerful interview because i heard her uncle talk about how significant it was that he was finally getting together with his little 13-year-old niece. and today, by the way, is her birthday. she's in the hospital at that children's hospital outside of tel aviv. but her mother was supposed to be there as well. rya. and as part of the deal, the deal according to u.s. and israeli officials and others, if little children were released, they would have to be released with at least their mothers, if their mothers were being held as well. and rya, the mother, the sister, is still being held. she was not released. and this is considered to be by the israelis, the u.s. and others a clear violation of the initial agreement. once you release children, if they're with their parents, the parents are released as well. the children don't have to leave their parents behind and the little girl has to leave her mother behind. and i spoke with the uncle about all of this and he was very, very powerful in what he was saying. obviously thrilled that he could spend a little bit of her 13th birthday together, but so, so upset that his sister was not being released. and i want to play a little clip, dana, from our interview. listen to this. >> she told me her mother is here, they come and took us. they didn't give us a lot of time to prepare. but i had time to give her a hug and my sister was crying when the girl -- the children left. and, yeah, that's how it happened. and rya is still there. she had to say good-bye to her mother. she didn't know what is going to happen with her mother. the mother is not going -- the mother doesn't know what happens with her daughter. i'm sure my sister don't know what's going to be next. are they going to set her free? are they going to jail her again? are they going to murder her? the first thing that they said when they met me was, yeah, we've been with rya the whole time. and she told me, look at my hair. my mother cut it for me when we're in captivity. they were together. >> hamas put out a statement saying they didn't know where the mother was. the little girl said she was with her mother the whole time including at the very end. they know exactly where she is. but they refused to let her be released as part of this deal. if a child is released, the mother is supposed to be released as well and this is causing a lot of anger here in israel. a lot of israelis are saying this is a clear violeation by hamas and hamas is going to pay for this. they want the kids released, but they want the parents released at the same time so that the children don't have to be suffering, where is mommy, where is daddy? why aren't my parents with us right now? they're very, very upset about this. it's going to be a continuing issue i'm sure until this mother is freed. >> trauma on top of trauma on top of trauma. i mean, such an emotional interview, but important interview, wolf, because we didn't know if she actually was with her mother. and according to the uncle you spoke with, they were together. and she was ripped apart from her mother. it's yet another thing that is unimaginable that is happening at the hands of these barbaric twists. thank you. first, i want to talk about the hostages that have been released by hamas. explained that there have been about 40. there are still hundreds more inside of gaza, including rya. i'm joined by a woman who knows firsthand what it feels like to be on the waiting side -- part of the waiting game. but the good news, thank you so much for being here, is that six members of your family were finally released by hamas over the weekend. we should say that one remains in captivity. but first, i want to tell our viewers that a.i spoke on october 16th. you see just been in brussels. you were pressuring members of the union to push for the release of hostages. here we are six weeks later, as i mentioned, six members of your family are free. what do you hear from -- have you been able to speak with any of them to get a sense of their -- of their situation? >> so, first of all, thank you for having me again. personally i haven't met them yet because we're taking it slow for them. they're resting. they're organizing. but my dad was there and some other family members, of course. my cousins. and, you know, they seem physically okay, relatively. they were talking, they were laughing, they were very happy, obviously, to see everyone and to be here back home. but obviously as you said, it's extremely bittersweet because we have the kids now and my cousin, their mom, but we don't have their dad with them. and they need him and this is why we will keep fighting for him and all the other hostages that are still left behind waiting to come home as much as my family did. but definitely a relief that gives the strength to move on. >> and we're showing photos of your family as they had arrived back in israel and -- of your cousin, i believe, holding a teddy bear. that's just hard to imagine what it was like for her, in particular, but everybody held captive for so long. almost seven weeks. your aunt is 67. your cousin is 38. and then there's the children. one 8, one 3, and one 12. what do you hear specifically -- we're showing photos of them on the screen right now. what do you hear specifically about the children? children are obviously resilient. but they store trauma pretty deep. >> yeah. you know, now they're playing with everyone and happy to see everyone and excited. but obviously things will come up, we assume. we know it's going to be a very long process of recovering and healing and we are here to hug them and be with them and do whatever they need to support them. and, you know, i'm sure that very soon, if not already, they've been asking for weeks where is their father? who knows how long they didn't see him. obviously, they need him, as i said. so i'm sure it's such a shock to them. but also very exciting. i'm sure they're confused, how do you even start to imagine what they've been through and how -- they've been through so much more than me in the past 50 days, 52 days. you know, it's really shocking and it's -- good complicated -- >> very complicated. very complicated and have you been able to get any information, maybe your father who is with them, about what the situation was like with the conditions were like during their time in captivity? >> you know, besides the fact they're all taken out together, they'll have to be obviously investigated and talked to the authorities and, you know, for now, we can't really know. but i'm sure as time goes by, they'll talk more and know more whenever they feel prepared to talk to us and share. and we just hope it was, you know, bearable at some level. but obviously -- yeah, i can only imagine what they've been through. >> yeah. absolutely. and we should say that your grandparents were the founders of kibbutz back in 1947 and also as i mentioned three members of your family were all murdered. so may their memory be a blessing. thank you for sharing your story and we're happy to hear that six of your family members are back home. thank you. >> thank you so much. need to keep this on the agenda even though, you know, we have releases now. we need more -- thank you. >> thank you. and here in the united states, a suspect was arrested in connection to the shooting of three palestinian college students in burlington, vermont. the investigation into whether this could be a hate crime is ongoing. polo sandoval has the latest. you heard from local law enforcement moments ago. what did they say? >> reporter: and i just stepped out of the city hall where that press conference is ongoing right now. here are some of the key takeaways thus far as that conference continues. those three young palestinian american men who were shot here on saturday evening, they continue to recover. some more injured than others. but also, what we heard just a short while ago was a little bit more about the investigation that led to the arrests of the suspect just past midnight. and 48-year-old jason eaton who made his first court appearance. there was a series of door knocks, investigators going door to door. they knocked on mr. eaton's door and he said something to the effect of, i have been waiting for you. the investigation proceeded. they moved forward and eventually detained him. eventually secured a search warrant. that leads investigators into mr. eaton's apartment and that's where they discover a pistol. the police chief saying they have been able to connect the pistol that that was seized from inside of the suspect's apartment to the casings that were found on that sidewalk where those three young palestinian american men were shot. authorities saying that they're cautioning the public not to jump to any conclusions. they're looking into the possibility that it was a hate crime. but as this time, they're not prepared to officially classify it as such. federal authorities are standing by waiting to intervene if it does reach that point. >> a very important unanswered question and no matter what, it's very good news that the three young men who were shot are still recovering in the hospital. thank you so much for that, polo, appreciate it. up next, again, here in washington, we are -- in the united states generally, it is seven weeks to go until the republican primary campaign is officially under way. and that will be in iowa. the battle grbetween ron desant and nikki hahaley is only gettt hotterer. we havave new detatails after r short t break. welcome back to inside politics kwt. we are seven weeks away from the republican iowa caucuses which means voters will finally have their chance to weigh in on who will be the gop presidential nominee. joining me here to discuss is cnn's political director david chalian. hope your giant political brain and let us know what the state of play is at this moment, seven weeks out. >> we're about to enter a new phase of this campaign. donald trump is the clear front-runner, but as you just noted, no voter has weighed in on that yet and so we are now entering a phase inside of 50 days for the republican caucuses where one of these other candidates are now going to have to be on a proving ground that they are the alternative to donald trump. namely that is a battle between florida governor ron desantis and nikki haley. they are going to be in a whole new context with each other in these next weeks ahead. and that is both on the debate stage, on the ground in organizing and, of course, in tens of millions of dollars of advertising on the airwaves. >> let's talk about the advertising. because we have a breakdown of what iowa voters are seeing. never back down, that is the desantis pac. almost 16 and a half million dollars that they've spent so far in advertising, sfa fund, that's nikki haley's group, and maga, of course we don't have to tell you who that is, almost $11 million. what does that tell you? >> that is what has been spent. when we look at the reservations from here on out, we see nikki haley's campaign, not her super pac, now getting in the game in a way that they weren't. and you see that with the other campaigns as well. now it's time for the campaigns themselves to start not necessarily delivering their closing message, but start owning their own framing of the narrative around these candidates. to me, the two big dynamics to watch, ron desantis has put all of his chips on iowa. coming up this coming weekend, he's going to hit his 99th county, the full grassley, if you will, touring the entire state. he's put all of his energy there. he needs to show an actual if not outright win against donald trump, a clear success that boosts him out of iowa to have staying power in this race. nikki haley has chosen a different strategy. he's playing in iowa and new hampshire trying to emerge as the last person standing against trump to head into her native south carolina and try to take him on there. >> "the wall street journal's" headline speaks to that point, keep anti-trump gop vote, add some backers. >> she has done really well with independent-minded republican primary voters, with suburbites. but donald trump is still dominating with the hard-core republicans and the like and his committed supporters. the question is, are there enough republican primary voters, dana, swimming where nikki haley is fishing, or it seems perhaps not and she does need to convert some people who are with trump or with desantis and bring them over into the haley fold. that is a key challenge. >> and it's -- an open question, particularly given how poll after poll, you come on the show and talk about how sticky donald trump's support is. it is. >> there's no doubt about it. it's one of the most identifying characteristics of donald trump and this era of the republican party. but polls aside, voters are going to get to weigh in here which is going to in and of itself help alter the dynamic in the race. >> no question. and iowa is a very different electorate than new hampshire. thanks so much. appreciate it. up next, we will remember rosalynn carter, the former first lady's motorcade will make its final drive across georgia allowing georgiansns to say good-bye.. rosalynn. new information just in to cnn. president jimmy carter is expected to attend his wife rose lynne carter's memorial service tomorrow according to his grandson. today former first lady will be lying in repose for members of the public to pay their respects. people from across the state and across the country made their way to her home town of planes, georgia, in the past week to celebrate her life and her legacy. earlier a motorcade traveled through the city of americas for a wreath-laying ceremony at southwestern university. carter died peacefully earlier this month at the age of 96. president joe biden and first lady jill biden are expected to attend a tribute service tomorrow. a private funeral service for family and friends is set to take place on wednesday morning. thank you so much for joining "inside politics today." -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com