they are being overseen by the red cross. further releases will occur across a four-day ceasefire that began around midnight eastern time. in total, hamas is expected to release 50 hostages while israel is expected to release 150 prisoners. israel has also said it would extend the ceasefire by an additional day for every ten addion hostages releas. despite these developments, both sides have made it clear the fighting is far from over. joining us live from tel aviv is erin mclaughlin. it is now the time where these hostages are supposed to be released. what's the latest? >> reporter: we have yet to receive any official word that the process has begun. we are hearing from the egyptian state information service providing more clarity in terms of the hostages expected to be released today. according to egyptian state information, 12 thai nationals will also be released in addition to the 13 israeli hostages, women and children. we're also hearing from a senior white house official that americans are not expected to be among the 13 israeli hostages released today. that would include 3-year-old abigail moore adan. we know that a list of the hostages expected to be released has been provided to israeli officials. israeli officials have also provided the palestinians with the names of the palestinians expected to be released today from israeli jails. but the israeli officials are not making the list of hostages public, because hamas is seen to be unreliable, though we understand they have notified all the families about the current situation. >> what's the sense to when the next batch of hostages and prisoners will be swapped? we've lost erin's audio there. we appreciate her being with us and we'll check back in with her throughout the morning. joining us onset is david rhodes. i'll put that question to you. what do we know about the next batch? also talk to us about how tricky this is. >> there is a diplomat involved in negotiations from the region that said to us that there was zero trust between both sides when these talks started. it was an excruciating process that went on for five weeks. it is very delicate. the fact that the international red cross is involved in terms of picking up the palestinians released in the west bank is a positive sign. but the real moment of truth will be when these 13 hostages are finally in israeli custody. again, this diplomat said that he thinks both sides will abide by this agreement and it will go forward. again, it's going to be 50 hostages released from hamas and israel will release 150 palestinian prisoners. i think it will be small groups over each of the next four days. >> what do you think it does for israeli resolve for the campaign going forward? >> there was a public opinion poll taken in israel recently. almost half of israelis said they disagreed with prisoner swaps. that's a massive change in israeli society that shows how horrific the october 7th attack was, the murder of 1200 civilians, 240 hostages being taken. israelis are determined to continue the military campaign against hamas. there's also a great loyalty to bring prisoners home. 1,000 prisoners were released for one israeli soldier in the past. i was taken hostage 40 years ago. i think people may question that deal. >> let's talk about the role the united states has played in all of this. qatar has also been involved. subtle pressure perhaps from the u.s. behind the scenes. tell us more about it. >> this is a critical thing for president biden. frankly, his approval numbers have dropped. there was a split in the democratic party that biden had become too close to the israelis. the literal hug with netanyahu was too much. if biden can be given credit for this ceasefire and for hostages being released, he can argue this shows his strategy worked, that going to israel immediately and supporting netanyahu is paying off with the ceasefire and with the release of these hostages. >> stay with us. ahead of that planned hostage release, israeli ground troops and air strikes slammed northern gaza yesterda numerous clashes were reported in the area, whichsraeli officials have deemed a hamas stronghold. the israeli military said it discovered combat equipment. the israeli military released video of what it claims is a tunnel below the al shifa hospital in gaza city. the hospital has been a frequent target of the idf as it claims a hamas command center sits underneath the building. this video released by israel's military would suggest nearby buildings also used some sort of tunnel system. as evacuations out of that hospital continue, the israeli military has detained the hospital's director for questioning. the idf is alleging that under the director's management, the hospital indeed served as a ceer. command and control the "new york times" is reporting that hamas, health officials from gaza and the hospital director all deny the claims and accuse israel of anting evidence. let's get your read on this. there is zero trust between these two sides. >> absolutely. there's also an information war going on here. hamas wants to constantly talk about the casualties. the palestinian side, according to the health department in gaza, which is controlled by hamas, 14,000 palestinians have died, as many as 5,000 palestinian children. the "new york times" as of yesterday was reporting there was no definitive evidence yet of a command center. president biden himself in his statements after he met with president xi of china said hamas had a headquarters under al shifa hospital. we'll see what happens. under international law, the hospital had to be used for military means and the only way they could take a hospital by force is if it's preventing them from achieving a military objective. it is important for israel to show there's a command center under the hospital. so far there's a dormitory, bathrooms under the hospital, but not a headquarters. maybe it's semantics, but i think more videos will come out of these tunnels and we'll see if the idf overstated the headquarters under the hospital. >> we remember that other hospital explosion in the early days of this conflict where it didn't matter what the facts were. people just ran with their own narrative. david, you mentioned your own experience being held hostage. tell us a little bit about what you think the psychological status is of those hostages who are not coming out today. >> they are, you know, terrified, but they also have each other. i know this might sound strange, but i was kidnapped with two afghan journalists and we had each other throughout that experience. the sad thing is it's so large. they at least have each other, but they just don't know. for viewers, the interest analogy is they were taken captive but you're diagnosed with cancer. average americans go through this every day. you're faced with your own mortality, but you get through it. any support you can get helps you. this could be and should be a joyous day for the families to have of the 13 expected to come out. >> lastly, what's the latest sense as to how many americans are being held and when they might be released? >> there's ten total. hopefully they will all come out in the next four days. it's clearly a priority for the united states. i want to note one thing that our colleagues discovered in their reporting. hamas has consistently said that they only control about 120 of these prisoners, that most of them are soldiers, about 70, and there's another 50 women and children. the total number that are believed to be hostages, according to israel, is around 240. who controls those other hostages? there's 100 of them that are unaccounted for. are they dead in bomb strikes? that's a huge problem. as this process goes forward and as 50 are released and maybe another group, we're not going to get to 240. that's a huge problem as this process goes forward. >> there's some other splinter terror groups who have some of them and it's not clear. >> this situation is entirely hamas' responsibility. they chose to carry out that attack on october 7th. that created the chaos. maybe there were civilians who went through the border barrier and grabbed hostages. maybe islamic jihad grabbed some. it is hamas' responsibility to find these hostages. still ahead, we'll continue to bring you the latest developments in the hostage release. plus, we'll have new reporting about the pressure that president biden put on israel's prime minister to get this deal done. we'll be right back on this friday morning. we'll be right back on this friday morning he hits his mark —center stage—and is crushed by a baby grand piano. you're replacing me? customize and save with liberty bibberty. he doesn't even have a mustache. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ new reporting from nbc news highlights the significant role that the united states has played in the israel/hamas hostage negotiations. american efforts to secure the release of those taken ban just hours after the october 7th attack by hamas. according to a senior israeli vernment official, prime minister netanyahu was reluctant at first to agree to the negotiations with hamas, ultimately bowing to significant pressure from president biden himself. quote, this deal was a biden deal, not a netanyahu deal. that external pressure from the united states and the internal pressure from israelis at home, particularly those family members of hostages, were more than netanyahu could bear. joining us is paul beckett from the "wall street journal." tell us more about what we know about this significant back channelling by u.s. officials to israel, hamas, qatar and other officials in the region. >> our reporting suggest that is the biden administration played a big role right up to president biden himself in making some key calls, both to israel and to qatar, which has positioned itself as an intermediary here. egypt was helping as well. the u.s. certainly played a hugely significant role, but it took a lot of countries to make this happen. >> certainly it seems this is a moment where some bad actors, if you will, are seemingly emboldened globally, obviously what hamas did. the war in ukraine continues. china continues to make threatening noise about taiwan. north korea continues to test their weapon systems. what's your assessment as to the message that the biden administration and the west has been able to say to those rogue nations? >> i think where the biden administration tries to distinguish itself is in building up alliances that would counter those individual country moves. you've seen a big emphasis on nato and western democracies coming to the u.s. side. if you were to ask the white house, it would say one to have biden achievements has been to pull a group of like-minded democracies together in a battle against rising autocracy. i think that's what they would point to as their contribution in what is an increasingly dangerous world. >> we wanted to make sure we had you on today because december 4th would be the 250th day that your "wall street journal" colleague evan gershkovich has been detained in russia. the "wall street journal" recently launched an initiative to pressure u.s. officials to continue to try to secure his release. tell us about the campaign, what you're hoping to do here and if you have any updates at all as to how evan is doing and the state of his detention. >> before december 4th, sometime next week his latest pretrial detention will expire. we assume there will be another hearings. we assume the russian court will decide to keep him in detention for at least another three months. sometime next year we assume he will go to trial on this false charge. it's quite opaque, but there's something of a timeline we can look at here. it's really our responsibility to evan, to his family, to his journal colleagues and to the public that cares about press freedom to do everything we can to ensure his release. we've been asked a lot the extent to which the situation in the middle east may have distracted the administration. we are told that is not the case, but you can see from today that even the most intractable hostage problems can be solved. we're very much hoping that the biden administration will live up to the promise to evan's parents to get evan home. in the meantime, we are grateful for the support. we appreciate everybody contributing to our awareness campaign, especially through social media with the hashtag i stand with evan. >> tell us a little bit more about that point you just made. we have chronicled all morning long about how difficult it was for israel and hamas to get to this point, but the exchanges are hoping. does that give you hope that as intractable the situation is in russia, the same can be said for evan? >> of course we maintain hope. we would like to see it resolved. i think it would be a great thing for to send a message of the safety around importance of reporters around the world bringing us this vital knowledge. we wouldn't know about the hostage deal happening in the middle east right now if it wasn't for the reporters on the ground who put themselves in harm's way all the time. evan is one case of that where he was taken in russia march 29th. but this happens every day around the world. protecting those journalists as they do their job is of such vital importance. >> we should note the journalists killed in the middle east covering the conflict there. paul beckett, thank you for joining us. >> thank you so much for your support. >> we'll continue to keep evan in the headlines. let's turn to other news from overseas. in dublin, a knife attack that seriously injured a 5-year-old girl and hospitalized a teacher and two other young children yesterday. a man was detained, but a small group of anti-immigrant protesters arrived and clashed with police, leading to a riot. police say ty have arrested dozens of people related to the riot so far. elsewhere, hospitals in northern china are grappling with a surge of children being admitted with a respiratory illness. the world hea organization said after reviewing data from china the illness does not appear to be a novel pathogen and does not pose a global threat. the u.n. health agency advised against any travel restrictions based on theurrent information. the surge in cases across northern china come amid a rise in seasonal respiratory infections including here in the united states where rsv is rising. and the fbi is saying it's unlikely that terrorism played any role in that deadly car crash that temporarily shut down a border crossing between the united states and canada wednesday. officials say the driver was speeding on the rainbow bridge near niagara falls when they crashed into a border crossing booth, causing the car to explode. the driver and another person in the car died. a customs and border protection employee was treated for minor injuries. in a statement, the fbi said it didn't find anything indicating the explosion was intentional, contrary to some erroneous reporting on another network and some republican lawmakers happy to seize upon it and blame the biden administration, claiming it was terrorism, when the fbi believes it was simply an accident. still ahead, we'll examine the longstanding conflict between israel and the palestinians. conflict between israel and the palestinians - [narrator] what will you do when the power goes out? 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great in my book! who are you? no power? no problem. introducing storm-ready wifi. now you can stay reliably connected through power outages with unlimited cellular data and up to 4 hours of battery back-up to keep you online. only from xfinity. home of the xfinity 10g network. welcome back. the planned release of hostages from gaza coming any moment now. it will be nearly seven weeks after hamas launched its devastating terror attack on israel. while it has felt like an eternity to the israelis and palestinians living through it, it's only the latest chapter in a conflict that has been raging for generations. josh lederman has the story of one israeli family whose history is intertwined with the arab/israeli conflict. >> for more than a century, arabs and jews have balloted over the sacred stretch of desert between the mediterranean sea and the jordan river. this family have been fighting and dying on this land for five generations, living and breathing one of the world's most intractable conflicts, now erupting once again in the israel/hamas war. >> i pride to grow in this family. >> it started with joseph bren brenner. he fled the russian army, part of a wave of jewish immigration toward palestine and became an icon, writing dozens of books about life in the diaspora. >> this is where joseph brenner was murdered in 1921. hundreds of arabs and jews died in that violence. more than a century later, this street looks nothing like it did back then, and yet the violence hasn't stopped. his son's fight would be for israel's independence. he joined the jewish underground army and became a commander. his son remembers when his father jumped out of a tank and broke his back, in a body cast for months. he was promoted to second in command, his old battalion taken over by prime minister rabin. ♪♪ >> later that year rabin was a assassinated. he commanded a platoon in the six-day war in the sinai peninsula, now egypt. he was in syria fighting in the war with three others from his kibbutz. they were all killed, he says. the call came from benjamin netanyahu's brother and he was off to uganda on a secret mission. they rescued more than a hundred hostages from a plane hijacked by palestinian militants. given how many people you have lost in your life to these wars, how do you feel about your grandchildren now serving in this war? i worried when my kids served and now my grandkids, he says. his daughter worries too about her daughter now serving on the front lines. she works in the israeli prison service in the dental unit, now caring for some of the hamas terrorists who attacked israel on october 7th. do you feel like you have to separate your own feelings from doing your job? >> of course. no choice. >> have you given up on the possibility there could be peace? >> yes. now, yes. >> but the brenner family will keep fighting, she says. josh lederman, nbc news, israel. still ahead, the first wave of hostages, 12 thai nationals have just been released by hamas. we'll have details on that, including a live report from the west bank. report from the west bank. in the u.s. we see millions of cyber threats each year. that rate is increasing as more and more businesses move to the cloud. - so, the question is... - cyber attack! as cyber criminals expand their toolkit, we must expand as well. we need to rethink... next level moments, need the next level network. 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who are they and what were they accused of doing? >> reporter: we have the list of the 300 prisoners. we just recently got the list of the ones being released today. it's all women or males under the age of 18. i don't have details on what they have been accused of. i can tell you that larger group of prisoners, the vast majority have not been convicted of anything. many haven't even been charged with anything. these are israeli military courts operating in a situation of military occupation. it's not the sort of courts we're used to thinking of. some of these people can be held more or less indefinitely without charges. the people who are gathered here tend to hold the opinion that these people shouldn't be in prison at all. >> give us a larger sense as to the violence in the west bank. there's been recently some clashes between some of the settlers there and those palestinians in the west bank. has that calmed down at all? what's the latest? >> reporter: my understanding is that it has calmed down somewhat in recent days. the u.s. has been putting some pressure on israel to try and tamp down that violence. you're right that that violence has increased pretty dramatically since october 7th. a couple of thousand palestinians have been arrested since october 7th. the situation was already tense and has been tense for decades. it's particularly tense right now. we'll see how this ceasefire does. it's relatively unpredictable. >> david, thank you. stay safe. joining us now, nbc news editor david rohde and mychael schnell. we have the first release from gaza. thai nationals, why them? >> this is sort of a surprise. hamas has declared this is an unconditional release, that this is a good will gesture. 26 thais were taken hostage on october 7th. another 39 thais were killed. thais work all over the world as agricultural workers. in the area around gaza, there are large farms. these were thai workers that were there working to support their families back home. >> have you gotten any updates on the status of other hostages in the swap, when they will go? >> there's no official statement from the israeli government. we're waiting for the israeli government to say they are out and free. >> stay with us. let's talk about the impact here at home. october 7th is more than six weeks away and the united states congress has yet to send a dime of support to israel. we know that the white house asked for a package that would connect israel's aid with ukraine and border security as well. congress is on a thanksgiving recess. >> where things stand right now, they're pretty far away from getting any of that international aid over the finish line, because it's become a political thing, of course. if you take funding for israel first, the house earlier this month passed $14.3 billion in funding for israel, but notably it was linked with spending cuts to the irs, something that was starkly opposed by democrats. the house sent that bill to the senate. the senate blocked consideration of that piece of legislation. right now aid for israel remains up in the air. it's going to be a key focus when lawmakers return from thanksgiving recess and have a few weeks of legislative business for christmas recess. the urgency here is really going to increase on capitol hill. >> we're going to go back to tel aviv now and erin mclaughlin is joining us. give us the sense here of the latest. >> reporter: we are still waiting for official confirmation that the 13 israeli hostages have, in fact, been released and crossed the border into egypt. an israeli official says when that happens, there's a very specific process they will go through. they will be greeted by soldiers within the military. they will receive health checks. there will be an identification process. once that happens, they will be provided with video link to speak to their family members with the help of psychologists and social workers. from there, they will be driven to an israeli air base and flown to five separate hospitals in israel. that is certainly the plan. we are waiting for official confirmation to see if that is actually what happens. we're also waiting for identities of the hostages expected to be released today. >> are we anticipating hearing from prime minister netanyahu today? >> reporter: we're waiting for official word. we know that the israeli prime minister is with his defense minister and others carefully monitoring the situation across each and every development along the way. the red cross seen as a critical partner in all of this is likely feeding the israelis information as well as the palestinians. it is thought that we should hear from the israeli prime minister once all is said and done. >> give us a sense as to how these next few hours could play out once the first hostages are released. >> i think it will be the reunion that erin just talked about. i think the hostages will be medically evaluated. many of them are older, many of them are younger. again, it's only women at this stage. they want to make sure they're healthy. i don't expect to see many hostages making public statements initially. past hostages have done television interviews too quickly and it sort of made their recovery more difficult. five americans were recently traded for five iranians. they spent time with their families and several weeks later made public statements. again, a joyous day hopefully very soon for these hostages. >> there's been a little bit of violence since this truce was officially enacted. how precarious is this? how worried are u.s. officials worried that either side may lash out and jeopardize this pause? >> it is a chaotic situation on the ground. there is islamic jihad that is a separate faction in gaza. it's possible a gunman starts shooting at israelis. there's a hope that this system that the u.s. has set up with qatar of instant communications with each other -- part of the situation was cia director bill burns meeting with the head of the mossad. >> the government could shut down again in a few weeks. talk to us about how in early january and february how this is all connected. there's a sense of paralysis in the house. what are the likelihood that that'll get israel aid? >> the fact that the next government deadline is in january is really significant for sending aid to israel. typically when you see these foreign aid packages, a lot of times they're tacked onto a must-pass bill at the end of the year. this time around we saw that two-step continuing resolution kicking the funding deadlines to january and february. that takes away an escape hatch for lawmakers to get this funding, because now lawmakers don't have that funding bill to tack on israel aid. that really takes the chances of getting this funding across the finish line significantly lower. we're talking about israel, the closest ally in the middle east. it's a high priority. the funding deadline in january doesn't help with another one around the corner in february. they're going to have to figure out the contours of this piece of legislation. are republicans going to continue to push for spending cuts to be linked with this israel aid? >> mychael schnell, thank you for joining us. david, stay with us. we're going to come right back with the latest on the hostage and prisoner exchange between israel and hamas. rael and hamas i told myself i was ok with my moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis symptoms. with my psoriatic arthritis symptoms. but just ok isn't ok. and i was done settling. if you still have symptoms after a tnf blocker like humira or enbrel, rinvoq is different and may help. rinvoq is a once-daily pill that can rapidly relieve joint pain, stiffness, and swelling in ra and psa. relieve fatigue for some... and stop joint damage. and in psa, can leave skin clear or almost clear. rinvoq can lower your ability to fight infections, including tb. serious infections and blood clots, some fatal; cancers, including lymphoma and skin; heart attack, stroke, and gi tears occurred. people 50 and older with a heart disease risk factor have an increased risk of death. serious allergic reactions can occur. tell your doctor if you are or may become pregnant. done settling? 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>> reporter: well, you know, all eyes are certainly on gaza in the early hours of this morning, that temporary cease fire taking effect at 7:00 a.m. we understand that a rocket was fired, i was speaking to an israeli spokesperson from gaza into israel, one rocket at 7:15, that was intercepted. it has been comparatively quiet since then. it appears that the cease fire is holding. some 80 trucks of that all important humanitarian aid have crossed into gaza with basics that the palestinians there are so badly in need of as well as fuel, four fuel trucks as well as four trucks full of cooking gas also crossed into gaza. that's seen as absolutely essential. the fuel fuel shortage has hit hard. there's a shortage of water as a result of not having that fuel. telecommunications has been patchy, bakeries have been unable to bake. the palestinians there are suffering, and so this is seen as a critical time period for them. i've been speaking to aid organizations who tell me it is a race against time. all we know is what is happening today and if this process goes forward that there will be hope for tomorrow. this is, after all, at least a four-day cease fire. each day will have to be watched to see if this continues to go through and hanging sort of in the balance is, you know, daily life for any number of palestinians. now, earlier today, palestinians were seen trying to get back to their homes as part of the pause in the violence. they wanted to go back north. we saw social media video there is in gaza of israeli soldiers firing warning shots in the air distributing leaflets, telling them that they cannot go home. warning them that this war will continue. jonathan. >> erin mclaughlin, live for us in tel aviv. thank you so very much. david rohde is still here with us on set a the 30 rock. so david, it's not just about 5:00 p.m. there in israel. just give us a sense, your best sense as to where things stand right now? >> again, we're being really conservative in reporting this. there are concerns about the safety of the hostages. there could be bad actors, and if they find out that there are these 13 hostages in the rafah border area, they could theoretically try to snatch them. again, it's very important for the safety of these hostages to wait until we know they are in israeli custody, and hopefully that will be soon. again, i think this is a positive development both for israel, for these families and then the palestinians. erin's right in terms of the suffering that's been going on for palestinians. the broader deal, again, it's 50 hostages being released over four days for 150 prisoners. there's also hundreds of aid trucks that are now going to be allowed into gaza that will help with the humanitarian crisis there, at least 2 million palestinians are still in gaza. so in the short-term, this is definitely a reprieve. >> we should note that hamas has released about a dozen thai nationals, already, came as a bit of a surprise. so david, let's talk about what comes next. obviously we're in the early hours of this temporary pause in the fighting, a fragile one, but were it to hold, israel has said they could even extend it another day or two or more as long as the hostages keep coming out. but prime minister netanyahu has made clear the war is not ending now. it's not ending this week. where do you see things going once the fighting resumes? >> so four days of releases hopefully, and yes, part of this agreement is if hamas releases ten more prisoners, the the cease fire is extended for one more day. as we talked about earlier, there's 100 of the 240 hostages hamas claims it doesn't hold. that's the problem. there's a large number of releases you're going to get to that point, and the israeli government and the israeli public, you know, are correctly determined to, you know, end hamas's power, its military power to threaten southern israel. there's also broader long-term problems. there's differences between the netanyahu government. prime minister netanyahu wants to keep israeli troops there. he wants to set up a buffer zone. the u.s. administration said they don't want that because that signals to palestinians they see it as israel taking permanently part of the gaza strip and making that part of israel, and this has been the core of, you know, the conflict for 75 years. >> the white house has been very clear, they think that of the occupation will only further rad callize the palestinians in gaza, lead to more violence and terror. how dug in is netanyahu on this, someone whose own political standing is precarious at this moment. polls suggest these wildly unpopular in israel right now, being blamed for what happened on october 7th, and the biden white house is already starting to prepare for a post bibi israel. >> benny gantz is participating and working with bibi right now, but that will change with time. october 7th was a disaster. it was a failure by israeli intelligence and military. bibi has been blamed in part for that. again, the u.s. is pushing a two-state solution. netanyahu doesn't want that. his allies were far right parties that opposed that as well. many, many complications ahead, but hopefully several days of peace for palestinians and everyone in gaza and most importantly the release of these hostages. >> and we're looking at live pictures there at the rafah crossing just before 5:00 p.m. in israel and certainly to recap where we are now, there has been about a dozen thai nationals who have been released, an unconditional release by hamas, came as a surprise. we believe they now have their freedom. we are still awaiting official word about the first hostages being held in israel, being released. we know also keeping an eye on the prisons there in the west bank for palestinians to be released as well. there's a fast-moving developments, nbc's david rohde, thank you very much. we appreciate you being with us this morning. we'll continue to follow your reporting and analysis throughout the day. that does it for us here this morning. msnbc's live coverage continues with josé diaz-balart right now. and good morning, it is 10:00 a.m. eastern, 7:00 a.m. pacific. i'm josé diaz-balart. right now on msnbc, breaking news, the first group of hostages to be released any moment und