close, could bring some of the hostages home very soon, but i don't want to get into details or things because nothing is done until it's done. and we have more to say, we will. but things are looking good at the moment. >> sandra: at this hour, awaiting updates from both the state department and the pentagon on the war in the middle east of a the president there says a hostage deal with hamas is very close and he is optimistic. and also an update is expected from the pentagon a short time from now after the u.s. military carried out an airstrike last night, killing several militants from iranian proxy group. a lot to learn in the coming minutes and hours. hello, welcome, john, great to be with you. >> john: good to be with you as well, sandra. john roberts in washington. "america reports". an agreement could be announced at any moment but what we know at this hour about the hostages. the deal on the table would free about 50 israeli women and children in exchange for 150 palestinian prisoners. and more could be released if fighting in gaza is paused for several days. >> sandra: some military officials warn any agreement could give hamas days to regroup and launch a counteroffensive on israeli troops. >> john: the former israeli ambassador to the united states michael orin, but first, trey yingst, what are you hearing from your sources on this possible deal. >> yeah, hey, john, good afternoon. we understand that israel's war cabinet just wrapped up a meeting shortly the security cabinet will have another meeting and then the entire government expected to meet later to vote on this proposed ceasefire and hostage deal could see dozens of israeli civilians, mostly women and children, headed back to israel in exchange for palestinian prisoners. these conversations have been taking place at a very high level over the past several weeks. qataris helping to negotiate along with the americans, trying to get a ceasefire together for 4 to 5 days with the possibility of extension. staggered, the initial group expected to be 10 to 12 hostages released into israeli custody. after this 24-hour waiting period that is expected to allow the process to play out in israel before the deal moves forward. listen to prime minister benjamin netanyahu who spoke about the possibility of a ceasefire and israel's goals. >> voice of translator: the first goal, eliminating hamas. we will not stop until they are done. the second goal bringing the hostages back. we are making progress. i don't think we need to discuss it further, not even at this moment. but i hope we will have good news soon. >> at this moment you can hear the buzz of israeli drone overhead. israelis are still surveiling the gaza strip. but as part of this agreement, there are reports that indicate israel will reduce that surveillance as something that hamas requested. we do understand as the agreement goes into place more fuel and aid will still enter the gaza strip. at this moment you can see some aftermath video from gaza's second largest city of khan younis. there are still people inside gaza in need of food and water, and israel says the enemy is not the civilian population but rather hamas, and we will see a pause in fighting but the israelis tell fox news they will continue to go after hamas leadership when the deal is complete. john. >> john: that was one of the questions i had, what happens after the amazon fire is over. the other question i had, trey, what is hamas expected to do during this ceasefire, the fears from israel would be any ceasefire would only play into their hands, allowing them to regroup, rearm and get ready for any onslaught that might come after a ceasefire. >> yeah, absolutely. there are huge questions right now about what happens the day after a ceasefire. israeli officials told us today the fighting will continue, they will continue to go after hamas leadership, not just in the northern part of gaza, but also the central and the southern part of gaza. we are talking about two major population centers, khan younis and rafah, the southern cities, but israelis have told all the palestinians to head south, so raises questions how they will operate in this area with the firm understanding most of the leadership from hamas is no longer in the northern part of the gaza strip. they have moved south, they are in the tunnel network beneath gaza and even if they do release women and children, they still have israeli civilian men held captive, hostage inside gaza and the soldiers that are taken, dozens of them, not even on the table as part of this agreement. john. >> sandra: we are getting closer than we have been, john kirby says, we believe we are getting closer, this after the president as we have been reporting says he feels optimistic but nothing is done until it's done. and john kirby and his comments talking about he doesn't want to say anything in these delicate hours that could put this deal at greater risk. trey, we are left wondering how much time before we learn that this is indeed happening, and those hostages actually get transferred. >> so the announcement could come in a matter of hours following the government meeting and israel and the approval of such a deal. then likely will be a 24-hour waiting period where there could be people in the israeli government who actually opposed this, surprisingly, saying it's not a harsh enough response against hamas and the court would overrule that and move forward. that's how it's expected to play out in israel. but when we talk about how sensitive this deal is, i was speaking with a regional source, someone who often provides a lot of information about these negotiations, and he requested every part of our conversation off the record. understanding on the ground that any information or movement or any development on the ground inside gaza could put this deal at risk. even once the initial push that gets 10 to 12 hostages moves forward. it still could collapse because in the past we have seen ceasefires collapse very quickly. hamas and islamic jihad are not rational actors and despite coming to the table to regroup and get leadership into safer areas of gaza, in the past they have fired on israeli forces during these lulls in fighting. they still have to remain on high alert inside gaza. there are thousands of infantry troops in the strip, they could be ambushed, attacked, and the israelis will be on high alert. >> john: of the idf continues to operate at al-shifa hospital, and also jabalia camp now. looking for hamas tunnels, looking for hamas infrastructure. does the idf still believe the hamas leadership is headquartered under al-shifa, or the main players perhaps bugged out of there and headed for safer parts maybe in the south of gaza? >> it's likely that they left gaza city, possibly even weeks ago. they are likely in khan younis. the nickname is the butcher of khan younis, he was born and raised, and the other man is his neighbor growing up. the two master minds behind the october 7th massacre in southern israel. so israel will go after these individuals. understanding on the ground that even once this war is over, whether it be weeks or months from now, that the israelis, they have a long memory and they will continue to hunt down hamas leadership even if they don't kill them in the war. we have been raising questions about how they will operate in the southern part of gaza. projected this idea that they will operate to destroy hamas leadership throughout the strip and completely de militarize gaza, but the death toll keeps rising, and asking questions inside gaza. focus remains on the highly anticipated prisoner swap, a thr3 to one deal. so three palestinian prisoners in exchange for one israeli hostage. talking about women and children here, and one caveat on the deal. do not want anyone who was convicted of murder in an israeli prison to be released. they want to ensure they are not releasing the most dangerous people out into the streets where they are from, either in gaza or the west bank, so that they could commit another attack. john, sandra. >> sandra: trey, yesterday i had an interview with the israel president herzog and he said they are dealing with a psychopath in these negotiations, you know, so all of these conditions, they have to just somehow assume in making this deal that they are going to come through and meet these conditions and we have yet to know what condition these hostages will be in when they are passed over, if they are passed over. >> you raise a great point and during our reporting in the past inside the gaza strip, i have set with leadership posed questions about israel and the existence of the jewish state. and the mindset is so different from the israelis. they don't care if they lose thousands of their own civilians. we saw that on display when they committed a massacre they knew would draw such a heavy israeli response. when we talk about the release of the hostages, israelis have to go into the negotiations, get what they can now. if that means dozens of women and children, they will take it as part of a deal in the security cabinet, but also understand the negotiations could collapse at any moment, the deal could collapse at any moment, won't necessarily take five days, they could renew rocket fire on major populations here, they have to keep that in mind understanding they are not negotiateing with a reasonable actor and move forward, they will operate in the gaza strip understanding that some of the civilians and some of the soldiers that were dragged against their will into gaza on october 7th just simply may never return home. >> sandra: all right. >> john: trey yingst the latest from southern israel. stand by as we wait to see if this deal actually comes together. meantime, james carafano, senior counselor to the president at the heritage foundation. deconstruct the deal for us, looks like 50 women and children to be released in groups of a dozen over a number of hours. it's a 3-1 swap for palestinian prisoners and then what do you think hamas does in the time it's not bombarded or chased down by the idf. >> if you think of the way this could unfold, think like a tree with branches, and i think from the start at the base of the tree is iran who is i think most of us believe orchestrating the entire effort, and there are different ways you can do it. so iran just got a $10 billion pay-off from the u.s., and that makes them appear from the u.s. perspective that iran is being reasonable and cooperating, so that's almost the get out of jail free card. there seems to be very little interest in really expanding a major second front and so an off ramp is okay, we've gotten money out of this, we have not really paid a price for this, does not look like a second front, does not look like the world will force israel to stop, so this is an off ramp that was always there, the gradual ending of this, the exchange for hostages, which is apparently, was part of the strategy from the beginning. because remember, taking hostages was part of the plan, and then we have seen this before, we saw it in 2014, and it is extremely common in these exchanges to see the israelis pay a high price to get hostages back. israeli for 10 or 15 people, that's not really unexpected. >> sandra: and because, james, they would be released, these hostages in phases, a lot could change in between the different batches of hostages. obviously the conditions could be -- could rise coming from hamas, their demands could become more, we just have no idea how they are going to come through, even if a deal is indeed reached. >> think about it, right. once you have given up the last hostage, you've run out of off ramp. so you're only gonna do that when you are basically ready to stop fighting a major war. >> sandra: got it. james carafano live on that as we await breaking news on a hostage deal, james, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> sandra: michael orin is with us, ambassador, thank you for joining us. what do you want to tell us in this moment we could get news any time now that these hostages could be released and a swap could happen? >> i would caution you, good afternoon, i caution you to curb your enthusiasm, ok. we are dealing with hamas. hamas does not negotiate in good faith. it has broken every ceasefire agreement over the last 15 years. hamas could say oh, we'll release 50 people but could not find 15 or 20 of them and try to drag out the ceasefire. four days to six days to two weeks, a ceasefire means hamas wins, gets away with mass murder, it can rearm, regroup, and strike again, and it has pledged to do that. very, very cautious. hamas will use the ceasefire to move its troops around, to boobytrap the entire gaza strip so it's going to cost israel in terms of soldiers lives when the ceasefire ends, and the pressure to have another ceasefire will mount, not the least of which whose families did not get out in this deal. so a lot of potential, you know, mine fields along the way, i would recommend not to get overenthusiastic just yet. >> john: so i can -- michael, what do they do with the possibility hamas regroups, rearms, moves assets or people, part of the deal is israel has to end surveillance over northern gaza for six hours a day. that seems like don't, don't look because we are going to be doing bad things when you take those drones away. >> why do you think hamas doesn't want the drones, precisely that reason. and i would be surprised and dismayed if israel agrees to that break of drone activity to hold off on the drone activity, that's crucial. the drone activity shows what's going on above the surface, not below the surface, where the major hamas forces and terrorists are located in the 300 miles beneath the surface. they come out once in a while and fire an rpg and ambush a patrol, but that's about it. so it's fraught with dangers for israel, the agreement. tremendous pressures. and pressures probably from the administration as well, but it doesn't mean this is in any way a long-term, you know, no cost development. >> sandra: ambassador, i'll ask you the question, i'm sure they are dealing with right now behind closed doors, going back to my point about the israeli president yesterday, when i spoke with him saying they are dealing with a psychopath in these negotiations. how do you do that? >> it's like negotiating with al-qaeda, how do you negotiate with isis. the person got famous by killing palestinians and jews. so we are going to be delighted and more delighted to see the hostages come home and reunited with their families, but again, we have to think about the cost to our troops, the cost of the other families whose loved ones are not getting out and the eye on the ball, that is israel cannot have a ceasefire. ceasefire means hamas wins, israel cannot restore security, israel loses. >> john: michael oren, always great to get your thoughts on things. appreciate it, as we watch the developing news. good to see you, michael. amid the growing conflict in the middle east, new reports suggest new york city is facing its own increased threats of a possible terror attack. the state is now beefing up security and increasing staffing of joint terrorism task force. what's governor hochul saying about all this? >> according to state officials, an increase in the chatter about terror threat targeting new york because of the ongoing war in israel and comes just a day from the start of the most festive time of the year, some of the biggest events happening here in the big apple. the governor of new york, kathy hochul says they are working to stay ahead of the threats. >> all of our intelligent operations are on high alert, no doubt about it, they have been since october 7th, from our online monitoring, there are no credible threats toward violence at any particular event. >> still hochul's plan includes increasing security at major events like the macy's thanksgiving day parade, as thousands of tourists pour into new york, and 400% rise in hate threat since october 7th, and terrorist threats. hochul is calling out social media companies to better monitor their sites as they are the main tools of online radicalization. while there is stepped up security, it will not restrict freedoms. >> we are not blocking any one for expressing opposition or support for action in the middle east. that's what we are not doing. we are not tolerating the spread of hate. >> and repeat, state officials say there is no credibility threat against any event or location here in new york, john. >> john: lauren, thank you. >> sandra: the u.s. economy mie be showing -- may be showing signs of life on paper. why isn't it 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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. >> john: president biden spent his 81st birthday making jokes about his age but the latest polls show americans are not laughing as concerns grow about his fitness and ability to do his job. his leading 2024 rival donald trump used the occasion to talk about his own doctor. put up the picture that president biden released yesterday of his birthday cake, literally aflame, 81 candles. he increased his carbon foot print substantially. >> and in the post covid era. >> he's making jokes about his age, but it's still a big underlying concern with democratic voters. >> well look, the white house has to make a choice and the biden campaign is making the choice to own the issue, surrogates are saying we understand it's a concern but look at the policy positions of our opponent. while president trump timed the release of his letter from his doctor who said he's lost some weight, he has a better diet, maintains a rigorous schedule, the white house physician who has seen president biden over the past three years has never been made available by the white house press secretary or the comms department. they released physical documentations and saying when the president had physicals and what they found, they say he's in good health. but the transportation on that has been low, and not something that the white house is putting out there. president biden is not having a big party to celebrate his birthday, i believe he's off to nantucket today. they don't want to emphasize the issue of his age but look, it's about ability. >> john: don't want to emphasize his age but a birthday cake with 81 candles. >> and put out the photo, right. 650,000 americans over the age of 80 are in the workforce this year. so it is about ability and that's the issue they have. >> john: age is a number but the physical ability -- some people's 81 is other people's 60, and other people's 95, depends how you age. here is what the wall street journal said, given mr. biden's age and obvious decline, running for re-election is an act of profound selfishness. he has wanted the big desk since 1987 when he first ran. aging people, even if they are not surrounded by yes men, can be the last to notice times toll, as many can attest to trying to take away dad's car keys and that's the case. i remember we moved my mother out of her home at the age of 93, she went tooth and nail but she had alzheimer's disease and she did not know where she was or who we were, it was -- she was a danger to herself. not to say that's where biden is, but just to say sometimes people who are aging are the last to know. >> accusation of selfishness seems to be a qualification to be a politician. and a lot of people around joe biden are benefitting from his presidency, make decisions on policy and the direction of the country, domestic and foreign policy. a lot of people have stake in keeping president biden in the white house and getting him re-elected. but when it comes to democrats and whether they are going to decide that they want a different candidate, the ship is sailing. they have missed a number of deadlines in key states like nevada. you have a number of states in december coming up for ballot access. january, the time is ticking on this. >> john: they could do it at the convention. >> they could, but that would require convincing a number of delegates to change their votes. dnc said they are all in on joe biden, infrastructure behind him, and who i have talked to democrats say it's ridiculous to think he's going to be replaced on the ticket, but we have a long ways to go, a lot can happen and so the convention would be the last option for them. >> john: now the trump letter from his physician. the trump campaign took the opportunity of the president's 81st birthday for the glowing report on his health. his physician writing i'm pleased to report president trump's overall health is excellent. physical exams in the normal range and cognitive exams were exceptional. cardiovascular all normal, cancer screening negative, reduced his weight through improved diet and continued daily physical activity while maintaining a rigorous schedule, reminiscent but not as glowing as the 2015 assessment from his doctor which said if elected mr. trump i can state will be the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency. bornstein later admitted that trump dictated the letter. fred trump, donald trump's father, passed away at 93. joe biden's father the age of 86. in terms of longevity and genes, trump would seem to have the advantage. >> that is true, and ronnie jackson, congressman ronnie jackson from texas was the white house physician when trump was in office, and they will use that with his age and his ability. >> john: the unfortunate thing, none of us are getting any younger. >> every day is a blessing, every day above ground is a good day. nice to see you, john. >> john: sandra. >> sandra: straight to this idf spokesperson giving a statement to the media, confirming no deal for a ceasefire yet, he's giving details on what we know right now. listen here. >> return of the previous abductees. from what happened in the past, certainly whoever returned we learned, we got more additional information, intelligence, their memory and knowledge helped us, served us well. even in the case of judit, we have disposal -- i'm not going to describe whether something will happen. every -- every abductee, man or woman who return, i hope they will come back soon. for each of them, we will learn the picture, and first of all, to put the puzzle together regarding the abductees, the idea to get them all back home. thank you very much, and have a good evening. >> sandra: so the chief military spokesperson for israel saying there is progress on the release of the hostages but he recommends waiting until the details are final. what we also just heard there is we have completed -- separate from the hostage situation, but john, it does seem like they are close, but there is no confirmation this is happening yet. so, we could be still to trey yingst' point, hours away possibly from the first round of hostages released if this happens. >> john: and michael oren was saying don't trust hamas. try to make a deal or close to a deal and pull the rug out from underneath. and this has gone on for decades. remember arafat, bill clinton thought he had a deal and went for the handshake and then did that. you know, he was so close but then decided nope, wasn't good enough and here we are 30 years later doing the same thing all over again. >> sandra: also coming from the u.s. state department on the hostage deal as we continue to wait more details here, that is ongoing, what we heard from state so far, john, is everything is not final but we are close. so, a similar messaging from all fronts right now. >> john: speaking of the state department, let's go to the state department, matt miller is briefing, listen in for a bit. >> what could happen as a potential result of a deal not yet reached i think i will decline to comment in too much detail. >> the israelis beginning the southern offensive and you've talked about wanting to make sure there's better arrangements in place for protection of civilians. have you been asking them to delay their southern offensive until that's ready, i mean, they have already kind of started anyway, but -- where are things at? >> so i won't get into too much detail about the private conversations that happen between our two governments, but we have made clear to them as we have made clear publicly that we think they should not commence with further activities in the south until they have taken the proper steps to account for the humanitarian needs there. several hundred thousand people have moved from the north to the south before military offensive begins there, we would want to make sure the people are properly protected. >> said, go ahead. follow up on a couple things barbara raised before i want to state for the record the poet, whom i raised yesterday, he was actually released by the is israelis and he will be on his way to egypt to come back to the united states with his family. on the issue of the deal itself, we are talking about -- >> issue of what itself? >> potential deal. >> the deal, yeah. >> potential deal that could or may not happen. is it your understanding there is a split in the israeli cabinet as to who may agree or disagree and will that hold the going forward with the deal? >> i'm just not going to discuss internal israeli political matters. >> but if the war cabinet agrees and the larger cabinet did not agree or the supreme court and so on, back to square one. are you urging the israelis to go forward with the deal? >> i'm not going to discuss our private conversations with the israeli government but we have been attempting to reach an agreement to secure the release of hostages for some time and i'll leave it at that. >> let me just ask you on something that you always state that you want the israelis to abide by the laws of war, you want to minimize civilian casualties and palestinians and so on. yesterday or the day before childrens world day of whatever. 5500 palestinian children have died thus far. do you think the israelis are abiding by the laws of war? >> so, i will say that it is a tragedy how many people have died in gaza. it's a tragedy how many children have died especially. as the secretary has said, it is our belief far too many palestinian civilians have been killed as a result of this conflict. we continue to engage with the government of israel about steps we believe they should take to minimize civilian casualties. it is an ongoing conversation between our two governments. and we continue to engage with them on every possible measure they can take to ensure that civilians are not in harm's way, as they conduct legitimate military operations and i want to remind everyone again that the reason why this is so difficult, difficult even in most conflicts, is because hamas embeds itself inside civilian targets. and so israel faces this difficult situation where there are legitimate military targets, terrorists launched an attack against the israeli public and said they want to continue to launching and rockets in the past few days against the israeli public, israel has a right and obligation to take military action to bring the terrorists to justice but their burden is in no way lessened to minimize civilian harm. so we emphasize to them in all of our conversation with them including concrete steps. >> israelis seem to be obsessed with the palestinian hospital. i wonder if you've seen the interview on cnn with a former prime minister who acknowledged israel built the basement or tunnels and so on. have you seen that? >> i saw a report of the interview, not the full interview and don't have assessment about that. regardless of what particular tunnel he might be speaking to, if they are hamas, the issue of hamas embedding itself under a hospital would be a different matter. >> they showed no improve, but they were there for utilitarian purposes. >> so what i will say that is, number one, we have -- we assess, but it's public, public knowledge at this point, shown over many years that hamas has also built its own tunnels regardless of that. number two, whatever infrastructure exists at a hospital, under a hospital, no matter who put it there, terrorists should not be using that infrastructure to embed themselves underneath the civilian target, underneath a civilian hospital, underneath a hospital that is supposed to exist for the care of civilians, and making that, you know, using that facility as a human shield. so i think a separate issue than who might have built whatever room it is the former prime minister was referring to. >> just to follow up on a couple of things from colleagues' questions, so this might be a little bit down the line but is there at all an understanding in these hostage negotiations and the deal, i'm asking because there are 240 people who are taken hostage by hamas, so while israel, hamas, qatar and you were somehow in these conversations about this number of people, was there any understanding for what happens with the rest of the people? >> so, i do appreciate the question, but if i'm going to decline to comment on an arrangement that has not yet been finalized, not yet been reached, i certainly don't think i can comment on what might come next after this arrangement. i would just say reiterate that again, we are close to a deal, we don't have one yet, i can't talk about what might be in a potential deal, let alone what might come in its aftermath. >> you are talking for everybody -- >> our goal to secure the release of every single hostage. united states is focused on american citizens, of course, but the hostages, all released, don't think any of them should be held. that is the goal from the negotiations at the outset but cannot get into what steps might look like. >> to push you a little more on barbara's question about possible israeli offensive in the south, and john priner talked about this as well, but what is the latest in the sense of are you getting a timeline from them on when they are planning to start this, and, are you telling them specifically here are the things, here are the objectives, here are the safe zones you have to create or whatever you think appropriate to call them before you start, without these you should not be starting it. is it that clear-cut? >> so, we are having fairly detailed conversations with them about steps that they could take to protect civilians and steps to take to increase humanitarian access, protections in the south. i don't want to get into the details of those conversations. obviously the israeli government makes its own decisions about the military campaigns. the conversations we have been having with them are on steps that they can take as they look to the south to increase protections for civilians, especially considering that hundreds of thousands of civilians after being told to move by the israeli government moved from the north to the south. we think it's important those civilians now have a way to put themselves out of harm's way. >> and in terms of the protections for civilians, is it united states government's proposal and does it include icrc or un for the creation of the safe zones. >> we have been in conversation not just with the government of israel but a range of humanitarian organizations, including the united nations about how exactly civilian protections could be implemented, how they can best be implemented, but it's best i keep the details of them confidential. >> do you have targets in mind, like looking to conclude those conversations and have some sort of a rough plan by the end of the week, soon? >> i just wouldn't want to put a timeline on it. >> there seems to be a bit of a discrepancy between u.s. and u.n. on the -- >> john: jump out of the state department briefing with matt miller still saying he doesn't know if and when a deal is going to be finalized, only that it's looking promising at this point and that's pretty much the words we have been hearing all day from various sources. >> sandra: a message from state, idf should not commence with operations in southern gaza before addressing humanitarian aid and need there as we watch what is next down in the south, and the southern end of gaza. >> john: so a lot of questions hanging out there to answer some of those, let's bring in idf spokesperson lieutenant colonel jonathan conricus. some call it a ceasefire, and what president biden said. >> we are now very close, very close. we could bring some of these hostages home very soon but i don't want to get in details because nothing is done until it's done. and we had more to say, we will. but things are looking good at the moment. >> john: a little difficult to understand but he said nothing is done until it's done, is it your expectation, colonel, this will get done? >> hello, thank you for having me. it is definitely our expectation to get our hostages home, all of them. it's been 46 days when women, children, babies and elderly have been held in hamas captivity, and of course any time will be not a moment too soon to get them home. there are a lot of details, a lot of moving parts as we speak. what we are doing in the idf is of course to remain pressure on hamas to not relent our operational pressure on them, and of course execute whatever orders we are given by the israeli cabinet. there's many things happening at this time. i won't be able to tell you exactly where we stand and where the hostages are and the technical details of it. i will say it is of paramount important for us to get the hostages back. >> sandra: what we are reporting on from this hour from our own reporters, some of the terms of the deal, approximately 50 hostages, women and children, for 150 palestinian women and children being held by israel. they are saying this would be a phased release of about ten hostages followed by a ceasefire, if the ceasefire holds, followed by more, i should say, more hostages being released if the ceasefire holds and that multi-day ceasefire could be up to five days. can you add any further detail to that reporting right now? >> yeah, i can add details that any ceasefire with hamas, based on our previous experience, is always a dubious endeavor. we have had soldiers taken hostages or being abducted in 2014 after a u.n. ceasefire was brokered, so we have to be very careful when it comes to anything that relates to operations on the ground with hamas. and i also know there are other conditions that hamas is trying to stipulate what we will do and what we will not do, while the hostages are being returned. but i think that ballpark your reporting seems correct, and i think that your viewers are getting a very good understanding of the situation as i understand it as well. but just like the president just before said, we'll have to wait and see and it's not done until it's done, and based on our experience with hamas i can only believe what i see and i can touch with my own hands. >> john: colonel, one of the stipulations as we understand it is israel stop surveillance of its drone fleet for six hours every day. we just talked with michael oren, the former israeli ambassador to the u.s. about that, and he said there can only be one reason why hamas wouldn't want the drones flying around, it's so they can move their assets about, they can regroup, rearm, and prepare at that take the idf back on again. for weeks we have been hearing about the dangers, militarily and politically, declaring any kind of ceasefire, why is israel willing to do this now? >> well i think it's clear the government, the cabinet is voting on it announcement idf has made its voice heard to the cabinet, ultimately these are decisions made by the government and by the war cabinet. once they will make the decision, then we will execute it. there is always pros and cons, and of course we would rather not be in the situation we are in with more than 236 israeli hostages being held but we have to deal the hand we have been dealt or play the cards we have and make the best of the situation. of course we would rather continue to monitor the situation, continue pressure on hamas, but if there's a chance of getting hostages back home, reuniting families and getting women, children, elderly people back home into safety in israel, that is of paramount importance. nothing says that the war ends after hostages are returned. hamas needs to be destroyed and we need to free gaza of hamas and free ourselves of these territories. that doesn't change. >> sandra: colonel, can you give us any idea the condition of these hostages that may be released? >> yeah, not yet. we will have to see that. we are working on the assumption all the hostages that will be returned are live hostages. but again, we are dealing with a very corrupt organization. hamas is extremely corrupt. they are defeatful and they have a long track record of blatant lying to the world and everybody else and see and touch and evaluate with our own hands before we make assurances and assumptions. >> john: thank you, lieutenant colonel jonathan conricus. >> sandra: our own benjamin hall returning to ukraine the first time since being injured last year. he sits down with vladimir zelenskyy. we'll speak with him coming up. >> john: expected to be a record breaking thanksgiving travel week. could a massive storm slow things down even further? we have that coming up for you. , grant gill will become a legend. when he totally kills it at his improv class's 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[sneeze] dude you coming? ♪ alka-seltzer plus powermax gels cold & flu relief with more concentrated power because the only thing dripping should be your style. plop plop fizz fizz winter warriors with alka-seltzer plus. hi, i'm jason and i've lost 202 pounds on golo. so when i first started golo, i was expecting to lose around 40 pounds and then i just kept losing weight, and moving and moving and moving in a better direction. with golo and release, you're gonna lose the weight. >> sandra: all right, the white house leaning heavily on bidenomics touting the president's economic policies as winning message. while some, at least some of the numbers look good on paper, poll after poll shows his message is falling flat with voters and the white house is admitting it could be tough to convince them it's great. >> we are not going to change the minds of american, i get that. americans are going to feel how they feel and we are going to respect that and i've said that many times from here. >> sandra: ok, our panel, i've been looking forwards to this, dan greenhouse is here, robert wolf, former obama adviser and fox news contributor. i love having you on set here. serious debate has been had on the set and continue it here. but first of all, robert, since when is it the white house's job to convince american voters that they are feeling great, and that their future is bright? >> shouldn't be. i think that we are kind of in the glass is half full or glass is half empty outlook, in my opinion we have a lot of good things going on. but you and i have talked about it. inflation reared its ugly head and the prices are still high. >> sandra: and voters blame this administration policy for that. >> we could, and i don't blame them, i blame post covid, but prices have come down dramatically whether it's gas down 1.70. >> sandra: since when? >> one year, the past year. >> sandra: interesting you say that, i don't mean to cut you off. karine jean-pierre at the white house decided to tackle it similarly, her messaging was look at all these prices for your thanksgiving meal coming down from a year ago when biden was still president, listen. >> as we start preparing our thanksgiving meals, grocery inflation is at its lowest level in over two years, with prices for eggs, milk, bacon and fresh veggies lower than last year. in fact, according to the american farm bureau, the cost of a thanksgiving dinner fell this year. prices are down for turkey, stuffing, peas, cranberries, pie crust, and whipping cream. we had a big discussion about whipping cream in the back. i know whipped cream, but not whipping cream. >> sandra: wait, wait, you said you need to finish. >> i'm going to py vot. i'm pivoting. >> give it to me. >> in 2023, wages has outperformed inflation. i actually think the trend is our friend. but they do have to do a much better job explaining why actually things are better. but that's hard. >> sandra: dan needs to get in here. >> no dan. >> sandra: reference to a year ago when prices were sky high or two years ago when prices ran up under this president's policies, dan. is she doing herself and the biden administration any favors? an -- >> listen, it is true, prices are down, food prices are off the highs, but for the average american not how they think bit, a little lower than it just was. a poll found 84% of americans think the single biggest priority is prices, and another poll, 64% of americans said single biggest priority was lower prices. and the issue isn't that they are not lower than they were 3, 6 or 9 months ago, it's prices are up 20, 22% from 2020 just before covid and something the administration and the american public has to wrestle with. >> sandra: looking to tweak the economic message, these are real hourly wages and facts, robert, not politics, average hourly wages under this -- what people are feeling, right, wages not keeping up with inflation, so i know you just said they should be touting that in 2023 wages are outpacing inflation. that's great, but this is what people are feeling. real wages are down 3% since he took office. >> yeah, like i said, the glass is half full and i can explain it. we cannot talk about covid with any other period, 10 million unemployed during trump or high inflation with biden. >> sandra: they talk job growth and rebound from the pandemic. >> speaking as someone in the community, who had to live through 2020, 2023, and forever, hopefully. i cannot look at what we did in the past, it's the past. my opinion is we have to talk about the good things that are happening. wages being higher than inflation, or actually unemployment, ok, being where we are versus growth. growth is higher than unemployment. talking about times we have not seen in years. >> sandra: convincing people. >> white bread up 30%, flour up 40%, crackers are up 40%, turkey up 40%, canned vegetables are 30%. >> as jason chaffetz said yesterday, turk is not $90. average is 35. >> americans deal with the nominal world, they have to buy a basket of goods from the supermarket and you cannot convince them prices are down because they are looking at prices -- >> sorry, producer, final say. you would rather have wages higher than inflation because then purchasing power is better. let's see where we are during the next year. >> sandra: definitely not there. i can tell you that. this is a spirited discussion and i appreciate it. dan, thank you very much. robert, thanks for sticking around. ok, john. >> john: sandra, the holiday travel season and so is the chaos. thousands of flights are canceled or delayed as a major storm moves across the u.s. has the holiday chaos set in there yet? >> a little turbulence at dfw, almost no line right here at the ticket counter, nor a line next door to the tsa check line but gusty winds in the region have created some problems, according to flight aware, 101 delays reported so far today. also today, tsa projecting 2.6 million passengers will be screened across the country. faa says more than 48,000 flights will be operated today, more than 49 scheduled for tomorrow so passengers need to prepare and anticipate some potential hiccups. >> if you have to travel, then yo