to underscore how today could have been radically different in modern history books as we watch what is happening today. what we understand is in a benchmark of progress, 24 hostages have now been released. 13 israelis, 10 thai nationals and one filipino citizen as the israel-hamas hostage deal holds steady on the first of what will be a longnd critical four days. among the youngest israelis freed today, a 2-year-old, 4-year-old, 5-year-old and a 9-year-old. you can see a small child here getting into that bus preparing to go home and leaving their nearly seven-week long nightmare behind. they have since been reunited with their families, given toys and clean clothes as they start the long journey to healing. many of them may not have an understanding of everything that has transpired on october 7th and since and challenges still remain for the families of those who did not come home today yet. as for the civilians inside the strip, the israeli military dropping new leaflets today with a warning. the war is not over yet. one woman telling nbc news, we do not want this truce, we want it to last forever. i want to begin with the powerful first images of freedom for the hostages released today by hamas. an elderly woman seen here being assisted off the bus after 49 days spent in what was hell for her, for a trip back to israel, and we are learning the names of the others too this hour, released along with her. nbc's er erin mclaughlin is on ground. what do we know about the first group of hostages and how they're doing? >> reporter: we just had an update from an israeli military spokesperson who said that all 13 israeli hostaave now passed their preliminary medical examinations. they're on their way t an air force base where they'll have the opportunity to connect with their loved ones and then from there, fly to five other medical facilities where they'll be able to reunite with their families in person. now, the israeli military spokesperson making the point that there is not a single hostage released today, israeli hostage, that does not have a family member that was either kidnapped on october 7th and is still in gaza or murdered when hamas stormed the kibbutz on october 7th. that is the case for 45-year-old danielle aloni and her daughter, amelia, 6 years old. today her family confirming that they both have been released but also providing the aitional detail that on october 7th danielle and amelia were visiting danielle's sister at the kibbutz nir oz and danielle's sister, her twins, 3-year-old twins, as well as her actually kidnapped and taken into ga the question being what happenedo e rest of danielle and amelia's family, that answer not been at least publicly, that question, rather, has not publicly answered tonight, and it's unclear if danielle and her daughter amelia know. meanwhile, we're also hearing the story of 76-year-old hannah katsur. she was initially reported dead by the palestinian islamic jihad. they claim she had been killed in an air strike. now the 76-year-old has been part of this hostage exchange, now confirmed safe and sound in israel by the israeli military spokesperson. these stories illustrate the unreliability of hamas and the palestinian islamic jihad. it is an illustration of the challenges they have faced in negotiating the release. the question remains what is going to happen tomorrow at this point, it's unclear, richard. >> erin, as you know, in your reporting, up to today, this friday, starting on tuesday, this was moving forward in fits and starts. in terms of this truce, how does it look as the day closes in israel and gaza in terms of making it to day 2? >> reporter: well, the fact that this exchange happened, the fact that 13 israeli hostages, as well as 39 palestinian women and teenagers were released and exchanged today is a very good sign for the overall deal that was brokered by qatar. that deal being a four-day temporary cease fire in which hostages will be released each and every day of the pause and the violence with the possibility to extend at the end of the four day period, ten hostages released another day of cease fire. what happened today is a good sign for that, again, we have yet to hear word on torrow's process, and it's unclear how many hostages expect to be released tomorrow as part of the overall deal. we know that 50 hostages have been preliminarily agreed upon for that four-day period, richard. >> nbc's erin mclaughlin in tel aviv, we'll get back to you a little bit later. i want to remind you, we are waiting for the president, president biden expected to talk about the hostage release. when he comes to the microphone, we'll bring those to you. i want to bring in former israeli consular general, ambassador, elan pinkas, you heard the reporting from erin. on one side of the occasion, it seems like the deal is moving forward, the release of those hostages by hamas. are you satisfied by what you have seen on day 1. >> satisfied is a big and heavy word, richard. because, you know, unfortunately this is going in increments. i would be looking at two things moving forward, whether or not the cease fire holds. it's intended for four days, we need to look at what's going to happen on day five, and secondly, perhaps, more importantly, are there going to be more hostage deals in increments and how they will affect the longevity of the cease fires. and that is something that i think you should also look for hints when president biden speaks soon. >> what do you know of t hostages that have been released today and thosehaare being held as of this hour? >> well, my understanding is that ten or 11 thai nationals been released. they have been reaching in agricultural farms. well over 13 israelis and one filipino nationa the idea was women and children, but look, this is diabolical cruelty, on the part of hamas, leaving behind at least 25 children, toddlers, babies, and women. not to mention the others. so this is the profile. i'm happy it happened. i'm elated for the families, but to tell you that this is a, you know, a victory, it is not. >> you mentioned earlier, ambassador, that, well, you invoked president biden, and in fact, this is a live shot where we expect president biden to come to shortly to reflect on the first hostages released by hamas as well as the abductees released by israel, where do you think president biden's key role is going in the coming days? because what we understand from our own reporting is he was quite essential in making this happen to the point where it was said by some senior officials in the reporting from nbc news, this is a biden deal, but is there any other type of deal one might ask too? >> well, i think you're absolutely right, richard. it is a biden deal, and i think israel owes him a huge debt and his dedication and commitment to it was unwavering. that being established, the question of what happened, and i referred to at the outset of our discussion. what happens at day 5, as indeed, the defense minister indicated yesterday. does the u.s. condone this? does the u.s. support this? what if hamas proposes another deal, does the u.s. urge israel to accept another deal, ie extend the cease fire indefinitely? and so you're going to reach a point where reaching a juncture where president biden basically has two almost incompatible policy goals. one is eliminating hamas. he's going to have to find a way to reconcile the two. honestly, i don't know how. >> so based on that reporting then here, ambassador, president biden has certainly burnt his powder, at least some of it for this deal. does he have more? >> does he have what? i'm sorry? >> more powder as we look forward to potential deals, advancing this from what appears to be some sort of truce, some sort of deal, maybe moving it to an official cessation of hostilities, maybe moving it to a cease fire, you know, all of those levels of diplomacy that you're very aware of? >> well, okay. so here's the thing the administration, not just president biden but also secretary of state blinken have been adamant and repeatedly said they're not asking israel for a comprehensive and long and finite cease fire, but, indeed, they are against hamas maintaining residual power. on the other hand, the president wants to prevent escalation. and at this point, his leverage on israel is huge. it's not just the two aircraft carrier strike forces. the uss gerald ford and uss dwight eisenhower, it's not just the $14.3 billion of u.s. aid that he committed to israel, it's his true friendship of diplomatic both military and particularly emotional. so i think that his leverage, the way he can exert power on israel is enormous, the question is how and when will he do so? >> this is the second, at least, deal that he has worked on in his administration. what do you expect based on his history, and you're a follower, obviously, being an ambassador of how these processes work out. what do you think he might do. what might he be able to do going forward, based on his relationship with israeli leaders, many of them long time standing? >> well, okay, so let's not forget, richard, that president biden loves israel. he does not like mr. netanyahu particularly. okay. so given that he has to, you know, kind of balance the two, and mr. netanyahu remains the prime minister. so i think what the president is going to do is continue his commitment to israel, but exert more pressure. if, indeed, i go back to the beginning of the conversation, if indeed the war resumes on day 5 as israel said it would, the president, i think, would lean on israel to change the modality, change the intensity, change the volume of the fire power, so i wouldn't be surprised if war resumes on day 5, i would not be surprised to see secretary blinken or secretary lloyd austin, the defense secretary, i'm sorry, being dispatched here next week. >> again, stand by for a second here, ambassador, we are waiting for president biden to speak. that is the podium in nantucket that we expect him to come to shortly to reflect on today's first day of this deal between hamas and israel. ambassador, what we understand from reporting from nbc news and with the "wall street journal" is how fragile every day was to get to today, even earlier in the last 24 hours, the fact that names were not released or proof of life has been called, and because of that, it was delayed by one day, and that potentially for tomorrow, we may not even have those names pre-released going both ways, israel to hamas, hamas to israel. that's one detail that shows how difficult it is, and how key every single word is in these agreements. your thoughts on this? >> well, it's heart wrenching because you're not dealing with people committed to the geneva convention or to, you know, values that we hold dearly. you're talking about a terrorist group that's cynically manipulating feelings and emotions and extortion, employing extortion. the problem here is that it's complex. it's not, you know, it's not a direct negotiation. you have the qataris involved. you have the egyptians involved. you have, indeed, the united states involved as you and i both mentioned. so, you know, this -- everyone omits a sentence and adds a caveat. and so this is really a grueling undertaking. >> the essential part is you brought them up, the qataris, the egypan all part of the united states, as well as israel and hamas, and their discussion.ives in this and from what we understand this, if you will, sell, as it's been called has been working on c coming to some sort of deal since the very beginning. this is seven weeks long now, they have been working on it potentially for five or six weeks. what do you know about the process? is this typical of previous deals we have seen in the last 30 years that we have been discussing these issues? >> it's not similar, richard, in the sense that the numbers are greater. i mean, we're talking about 240 hostages, down by 25. we're looking at 235 still remaining or even less now. so, you know, i don't know how the mechanism works because the u.s. has leverage over qatar. the u.s. has some leverage over egypt. israel has no leverage over hamas outside of the military. but the u.s. does have leverage on israel. so everyone has leverage on everyone. and yet you see how policy -- for israel, this looks like to you, it looks like an easy decision, how could you not support a prisoner exchange. you have to understand, there's another attitude, there's another approac that says, look, there's a military operio going on. it's got momentum. there has been invaluable intelligence information that's been gathered, and you're all throwing it into the bin now for a partial deal. if this was in exchange for a full de, okay, that's a different ball game. but now they're going to come back in three or four days and say, hey, guys, you know, we have another deal, 20 hostages in exchange for another 72 hours, and so on and so forth. so this is truly an excruciating dilemma for decision makers. >> okay. president biden is coming to the podium. let's listen in. yesterday, families all across america gathered together with their loved ones to give thanks. we have much to be thankful in america, the food on our tables, families and loved ones in our homes, and the many blessings that come from living in the greatest nation on earth. we can be thankful for families recruited and reunited with loved ones who have been held hostage for nearly 50 days. beginning this morning, under a deal reached by extensive u.s. diplomacy, including numerous calls i've made from the oval office to leaders across the region, fighting in gaza for four days. this deal is also structured to allow a pause to continue for more than 50 hostages to be released. that's our goal. this morning, i have been engaged with my team as we begin the first difficult days of implementing this deal. it's only a start, but so far it's gone well. earlier this morning, 13 israeli hostages were released, including an elderly woman, a grandmother, and mothers with their young children. some under the age of 6 years old. separately several thai nationals and filipino nationals were also kidnapped by hamas on the 7th. they were released as well. all of these hostages have been through a terrible ordeal. this is the beginning of a long journey of healing for them. the teddy bears waiting to greet those children at the hospital are a stark reminder of the trauma these children have been through and at such a very young age. jill and i, jill's with me here, are keeping them all in our prayers today. today has been a product of a lot of hard work and weeks of personal engagement. from the moment hamas kidnapped these people, i along with my team have worked around the clock to secure their release. we saw the first results with the release of two american hostages in late october and two israeli hostages. i have pressed for a pause in the fighting for two reasons, to accelerate and expand humanitarian assistance going into gaza and, two, to facilitate the release of hostages. i have spoken repeatedly with the mayor of qatar, and prime minister netanyahu of israel to secure the deal, to nail it down. i want to thank all three leaders for their personal partnership to get this done. i spoke with the mayor and president of assisi and prime minister netanyahu on wednesday to confirm the elements of the engagement. as i said, today's release are the start of a process. we expect more hostages to be released tomorrow, and more the day after and more the day after that. over the next few days, we expect that dozens of hostages will be returned to their families those being held. two american women and one 4-year-old child, abigail, who remains among those missing. we also will not stop until we get these hostages brought home and an answer to their whereabouts. i remain in personal contact with the leaders of qatar, egypt and israel to make sure this stays on track. and every aspect of the deal is implemented. you know, this extended pause in the fighting brings a critical opportunity to deliver much needed food, medicine, water, and fuel to the civilians in gaza, and we are not wasting one single minute. since my trip to israel last month, i have been focused on accelerating the delivery of humanitarian assistance to gaza. in coordination with the united nations. i just spoke with my special envoy, david satterfield for an update and i've asked him to monitor our progress hour by hour, and keep me personally informed. from the beginning, we put in place mechanisms to prevent hamas from diverting these supplies, and we're continuing that effort. to make sure aid gets to the people who need it. more than 200 trucks arrived at the crossing point in egypt into gaza today. these trucks carry food and medicine, as well as fuel and cooking gas. the fuel will be used not only to power the trucks delivery in life savings supplies but desalinization, water wells, hospitals and bakeries, and hundreds more trucks are getting in position as well, ready to enter gaza over the coming days to support the innocent palestinians who are suffering greatly because of this war that hamas has unleashed. hamas doesn't give a damn about them. we also look to the future, as we look to the future, we have to end this cycle of violence in the middle east. with need to renew our resolve to pursue the two-state solution where israelis and palestinians can one day live side by side in a two-state solution with equal measure of freedom can dignity. two states for two peoples. and it's more important now than ever. hamas unleashed its terrorist attack because they fear nothing more than israelis and palestinians living side by side in peace. you know, to continue down the path of terror and violence and killing and war is to give hamas what they seek, and we can't do that. so today, let's continue to be thankful for all the families who are now and those who will soon be brought together again. i want to once again thank the mayor of qatar, president assisi of egypt, and prime minister netanyahu for their partnership to make what we have done so far possible, and for their continued leadership as we all keep working to implement this deal. and over the coming days, i'll remain engaged with leaders throughout the middle east as we all work together to build a better future for the region, a future where this kind of violence is unthinkable, a future where all children in the region, every child, jewish, muslim, christian, israeli, palestinian, arab, grow up knowing only peace. that's what we do. we're waiting now, just a matter of i thought maybe as soon as the time i got here, but in the next hour or so, we'll know what the second wave of releases are, and i'm hopeful that it's as we anticipate. thank you all for listening. i'll take a few questions. >> reporter: mr. president, when will the first american hostages be released? >> we don't know when that will occur, but we're going to expect it to occur, and we don't know what the list of all the hostages are and when they'll be released but we know the numbers that are going to be released. so it's my hope and expectation it will be soon. >> reporter: and of the ten americans that are unaccounted for do you know all of their conditions? are they all alive? >> we don't know all of their conditions. >> reporter: mr. president, how long do you expect this war is going to take, and do you encourage netanyahu to accept the time line? >> i have encouraged the prime minister to focus on trying to reduce the number of casualties while he is attempting to eliminate hamas, which is a legitimate objective. that's a difficult task and i don't know how long it will take. my expectation and hope is as we move forward the rest of the arab region is also putting pressure on all sides to slow this down, bring this to an end as quickly as we can. >> reporter: mr. president, do you trust hamas to uphold the deal? >> i think the chances are reel. >> reporter: there are members of your party who would like to see -- what is your view on that, they would like to see a reduction until the bombing? >> i think that's a worthwhile thought, but i don't think if i started off with that, we would have gotten to where we are today. we have to take it a piece at a time. >> reporter: mr. president, do you trust hamas to uphold their end of the deal? >> i don't trust hamas to do anything right. i only trust hamas to respond to pressure. >> reporter: you said you were hoping to get cooperation from leaders, what are your hearing from them? >> i'm hearing a lot but i'm not going to speak to it right now. there's an overwhelming desire on the part of the region to -- let me back up. i cannot prove what i'm about to say, but i believe one of the reasons why hamas struck when they did is they knew that i was working very closely with the saudis and others in the region to bring peace to the region by having recognition of israel and israel's right to exist. you may recall when we did the g20 a little while ago, i was able to get a resolution, a statement passed through there saying we're going to build a railroad from riyadh all the way through the middle east into saudi arabia, israel, et cetera, and all the way to europe, not the railroad, but underground pipeline, and then railroad. the whole idea is there's overwhelming interest, and i think most arab nations know it. and coordinating with one another to change the dynamic in the region for longer term peace, and that is what i'm going to continue to work on. thank you all very very much. i appreciate it. thank you. happy thanksgiving to you all. >> president biden there speaking for about ten minutes, an update in terms of his view from the white house and about the progress of the deal that he was pretty much right in the center of, and we're also learning as he was speaking, a statement coming in from the idf, they are saying that at this hour, 22 of the israeli foreign-released hostages have arrived at the base from which they will then be taken, so they've arrived at a base, and they will then be taken to hospitals and reunited with their families. so 22 of the israeli and foreign released hostages arriving at a base, and then they will be reunited with families, and then the other medical attention they will receive along the way. i want to go to nbc's aaron gilchrist who's at the white house, following the president's comments. what's your take away? how would you break down what the president was saying today? >> reporter: i think we heard the president say some of the things he has said in the past about the progress that has been made, how much work went into today, and how much work is still being done, and made it very clear, this is only a start, noting of course, it is going well, basically, reinforcing what you said about the movements of these now released hostages toward their families, and the resumption of some degree of normalcy. the president talking about extensive u.s. diplomacy that was needed, that was applied to make this deal happen, and to end up today with this release of 13 of the 50 anticipated hostages who will be released. the president noting that there are two american women and one child, a 4-year-old in this group that is still missing and he expects, he anticipates that those people, those two women and the child will still be in this group of 50 that's released over the next coming days. but i think it's also worth noting, richard, that the president knows there's a lot more conversation to be had around increasing humanitarian aid for palestinians living in gaza, but also around getting more hostages released, all of the hostages released, and then the president spoke a little bit about the two-state solution that he's referenced so many times. in his conversations with arab leaders in the middle east, he has told them, as we've learned from readouts from these phone calls he's been having that he still believes the palestinian people deserve their own state and that palestinians should be able to live in peace alongside israelis, and so that is something that the administration will continue to work toward during this time of trying to win the release of the remaining hostages, but also in the days after. once the war is over, the president has said there's going to be a need for palestinians to run gaza, to run the best bank and that he intends to work with others in the region to figure out exactly what that will look like and how it can be done successfully. >> you may have noticed we have pictures on the right part of the screen, and this is video coming into us. this is the base where the 22 israeli and foreign-released hostages are arriving. these are live pictures. again, that statement coming from the idf just now, and what we're watching is this very location where 22 of the 24 hostages are being received at the base, at which time they will be reunited with their families, as you were noting, and get the proper medical attention you may need. 22 of the 24 arriving this hour. aaron, you're making note there. no americans in the first round of hostages released, and the white house or the president specifically saying he expects to get more information on exactly what list of hostages will be released tomorrow, and that's really the way it's been hour to hour, hasn't it, in terms of the way these deals have been making its way through? >> it really has been, richard, and i tell you, we were able to get from a senior administration official earlier this week, sort of a time line of how this entire process, the deal came together, terms of the deal were written down. we were able to get an idea of how that all happened, and it has been a pain staking process to make sure how all of the logistics here, there was a point the israelis and biden administration, president biden himself, as a matter of fact, pressed for hamas to give some information about who was going to be released and what condition they might be in. hamas resisted that at one point, and the biden administration went back to the qataris and said they need to get us this information or there's no deal as the israelis have been saying, and so this notion that there's going to be some information that comes from hamas necessarily in order for this deal to continue in the way that it's been laid out is something that the administration has made very clear, so tomorrow, before the release of more hostages tomorrow, there's going to be a need for descriptions of all of those people who will be released, and then we'll see them come out in the same way we're seeing this today, and again, the president noting as others in the administration have noted that there is an expectation there will be americans in the group at some point over the next couple of days, and then the mechanism has been put in place in this agreement for hamas to be able to have more time under a cease fire, under a truce, as long as they release more hostages. the hope is that there will be a full release of hostages potentially in the days to come, richard. >> and, aaron, this is video we're showing that just came in from hamas of the release of hostages we have been talking about on the right side of the screen, this video just into us from msnbc from hamas, the video there saying is the release of some of the 24 hostages, you can certainly note the age, as has been noted throughout our reporting today. many of those who are elderly. i wanted to drill down on something that you heard here, aaron, from the president. he said several calls, didn't say how many, but that he was very much in communication. we're aware, of course, via your reporting that it really did make a tent pole request within the last week. we got to get this done. second of all, we don't know their conditions. that's what he was asked when you heard about the condition of the americans who were part of this hostage group. what did you think about those two statements from the president? >> you know, the white house press corps here did ask a senior administration official about the conditions of, in particular, the americans that were taken hostage. and obviously we were given the information that there were two women and child that would be released, and, you know, i'll be honest with you, the question -- the core of the question was really do we know if these people are severely injured. do we know that these people are going to be coming out actually alive or near death or whatever condition they may be in. and that administration official either wasn't inclined or wasn't able to answer the question or didn't have the information, you heard the president say here today, we don't know their conditions, and so i think what we're going to see over the next couple of days as the president has indicated on a few occasions, there's hope that things will happen in the way that they want to see them happen. there's not a whole lot of certainty given the president said himself, he doesn't simply trust hamas. >> aaron gilchrist at the white house, thank you for reporting. we'll talk to you a little bit later. appreciate that my friend. still ahead for you, the latest on the pause in the fighting and how both sides are approaching it. stay with us. aching it stay with us 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. the subway series? it's the perfect menu lineup. just give us a number, we got the rest. number three? the monster. six? the boss. fifteen? titan turkey. number one? the philly. oh, yeah, you probably don't want that one. look, i'm not in charge of naming the subs. 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is it hamas or idf? >> well, it's hamas less than idf. if you're on the offense as many of us have been, and you're engaged with the enemy, you do not want the enemy to disengage from you, it puts you at a disadvantage and tremendous advantage. this break in the action is much more helpful to hamas. it's not helpful to the idf at all, and was undertaken because of the pressure that we heard, both international from the united states and also domestic pressure on netanyahu from israeli citizens who wanted the securing of hostages to be hiring up on the list of priorities. so no, no, it's much better off, a cease fire, and the longer the cease fire is, the better off it is for hamas. >> now, one of the conditions that hamas was standing down for or actually standing up for, they did not want to come to a deal unless idf agreed no drones during this truce period when they're moving the hostages and when the abductees are moving. and that was a back and forth. now without that ability, at least because of the agreement and there will not be any drone usage by idf during this period or certain periods of this deal, what will that mean? you were just mentioning how they may use drones to see how hamas is repositioning, but that may not be part of what can be done based on the agreement. >> no, if they can't use drones, of course it would be much more difficult to garner intelligence information about the location of hamas, where they're going and so on. as a result, satellites will be used, long range air craft reconnaissance will be used but it's not nearly as good and accurate as you get from drones. not being able to use drones certainly makes it more difficult for the idf to get intelligence, richard. >> as we look at those in south gaza, now i want to go into the north, and we look at islamic jihad as a possibility of all of this, we have those he or sheages -- hostages accounted for, outside of hamas, and as you look at the variables in previous conflicts, what would you be looking out for now? >> you know, you raise a very interesting point here. everybody's -- a lot of people's perception is that the idf is monolithic and there are hamas is monolithic, and we know for a fact that it is not. as a matter of fact, it's difficult to tell with any specificity, actually how many hostages there are or where they are or who's holding them, and, indeed, having a truce with hamas does not necessarily mean there's going to be a cessation of hostilities because there are quite a few organizations. many of them supervised, administered by iran who are likely liable, if not likely to conduct attacks on not just idf interests but american interests. so we need to be looking out. one would be surprised if one of these militias backed by iran does not now use this cease fire as an opportunity to reinitiate hostilities, particularly attacks on american interests and american troops which they have done before. remember, this cease fire is great for hamas. it's not so good for iran. iran wants to see hostilities continued. and i'll say one other thing, the president said something remarkable in the presser he just had when he said he's convinced that the timing of the hamas attack on israel was the result of, at least partially the result of discussions that have been undertaken to increase communications, physical communications between the middle east and europe, and that meant leaving out iran. iran doesn't like that very much. and they were behind a lot of what took place on october 7th, richard. >> colonel, thank you so much for that analysis, colonel jack jacobs with us. appreciate it. for more on the ongoing negotiations for the hostages still in captivity, joining us now, rob d'amico, a former fbi special agent with experience in international hostage recovery. now, as you look at where we are at and i'll go back to what i mentioned a little bit earlier here, rob, and that was the proof of life, the lists of the names, and that seems to have been at least in the last 48 hours if not longer a big sticking point in the negotiations for these hostages and abductees, why is that such a big issue? >> it's always been an issue. anytime we try to talk about getting hostages back, you want proof that they're alive, and you want that proof to come in certain forms that only that person can provide, and then it also holds accountability that nothing is going to happen between now and then if they're saying this person is alive at this point. because i think some of the concern is the hostages may have perished since the taking on october 7th. so we want to kind of hold them to it, understand who they have, and who they're looking at providing back to us. >> i guess one would think in negotiations that would be a given. if you're going to agree to release, the names would be forgiven. is it because they're maybe saying we're going to return hostages we don't even have. is that what you're saying? >> it's accountability on them. getting them to -- we want to find out how many they actually have, and how many are alive, and so much so that there's an end state to this. so a bunch had perished since then, and we're thinking that there's 200, and we're forming our negotiations around that, there's 50 now, and 50 later, then all of a sudden is comes up that they rethink that they have more, and they don't, and then it's a stalemate at the end of they're really negotiating for ghosts. >> i want to get into what your reflection is on the mechanics of what you have seen happen today on both sides. i want to get to proportionality for a second. we often talk about that militarily. when it comes to hostage negotiations and trades in this particular case, we can go back to gilad shalit, that was just him for over a thousand that were held by israel. in this case, we're at 50 and 150. in terms of proportionality when you're looking at how they are deciding how many to release on both sides, what does that tell you as a negotiator? >> actually it's not a concern. getting hostage back is what counts. when you have several out there, and we're trying like with russia, you just don't turn down taking someone back saying, oh, we want more type of thing. it's almost always been we traded two americans before. we've done that back and forth. we found out there's a back deal releasing almost 40 taliban out of the afghan prison, so it's never about an exact proportion to it. it's about having an end state to get them all back at one point. that's why i think it's important that the proof of life of who they have right now, kind of dictates how we're going to do it later. >> i'm going back to this video from hamas, that we're showing on the left side of the screen right now, and this is the release of the hostages from hamas. what are you seeing in these pieces of video that we're just getting in here, rob? >> i don't have it on my screen. it's the one where they're transferring from one vehicle with all the people around. >> from vans. >> the mental state of the hostages is so delicate right now. we have an entire price, pisa, post isolation support activity, it's run by the psychologists looking out for the mental health. i see this as almost like a parade. i think it's going to harm the hostages later on. and also shows no control. if someone was there that did not want these hostages to get transferred, they could come in and do something to kill a hostage or throw it into me lay that is going to put them in danger. i'm not happy with that, seeing kind of what a zoo it is, and transferring them, it's not dignified, and i think it's going to harm them in the long run. >> understandably the looks and if you don't have the video, rob, but a lot of lost countenances, not knowing what is happening, again, for close to seven weeks, and it ends this way. and as they arrive, a little bit earlier, we were showing our viewers, rob, as they did reach a base just east of gaza finally 22 of them, just within the last hour. we got that video in. >> what is the strategy, as to why the u.s. hostages are not being released as of yet? >> i think hamas knows that, i don't want to say more valuable, but there's only say, ten, is what we're looking at, that they want to make sure that they have something that keeps the u.s. involved in it further down the road. they know we pushed on things. we may have demanded more. but they know that the u.s. is behind this, and even biden himself is getting into these negotiations, which i think is a credit to the folly foundation. diane folly is the mom of james folly, she formed a foundation to get the u.s. government more involved. you see this in this negotiation having the president himself, they want the americans involved almost to the end, and i think all the hostages coming out will still have some americans toward the end too. >> rob d'amico, thank you so much. we appreciate that. we are learning more about the hostages returned home it to israel. erin mclaughlin is tracking one family who is very vocal trying to get their loved ones back. we got the video of the arrival at the base east of gaza. >> reporter: yeah, that's right. and among the hostages released today was yoni asher's family. his wife doran and his two daughters were being held hostage inside gaza on october 7th. they were visiting family when their kibbutz was stormed. doran managed to message yoni, telling him hamas was inside the house. he managed to track her phone as it went all the way into gaza. spoke to nbc news just days after october 7th, pushing for their release. take a listen to what he had to say. >> they are my only family. we are a regular family. they are lovely girls, very energetic, very happy girls. love to sing, love to dance. love their mother. love to play. they have a lot of friends, and they're like every other ordinary child. and to think that they're held by hamas right now, for a parent, it's the most horrific thought that someone can -- that someone can think. >> you can hear there his pain and anguish. now he's releasing this statement, saying they are finally here at home. there will be more time to talk about everything. for now, thank you all from the bottom of my heart for the support and the warm hug. there is no victory picture until everyone returns. now, we understand from an israeli mill spokesperson all 13 israeli hostages that were released today have passed through the initial medical screening. they're now on their way to five separate israeli hospitals where they'll be reunited with their loved ones in person, but the spokesperson making the point that not a single one of these hostages is going to emerge from this unscathed. they have either lost someone, lost family members in the attack on october 7th or still have family members in gaza being held by hamas or palestinian militants. it's the reality that so many of these families are now facing. at least tonight there is hope for the remaining hostages that this process seems to be completed successfully. but still, there is no word on what kind of release, what the procedure will be for tomorrow. richard. >> and, erin, part of the conversation, the exchange on the other side, 39 palestinians being released by israel. what do we know about how that went? >> reporter: that release seems to have gone smoothly. earlier this morning, they were transferred from two israeli prisons southeast of the israeli city of hifa. they were brought to an israeli controlled prison in the occupied west bank following the release of the israeli hostages, that's when all 39 were released, including 15 males and 24 females. we understand that they are now in the process of returning to their homes in the occupied west bank, east jerusalem, and gaza. richard. >> erin mclaughlin, liven tel aviv, thank you so much. shead for you, helping the hostages reenter society after seven weeks deep underground. the head of the medical team who will work with them joins us next. stay with us. hem joins us next stay with us we're still going for that nice catch. we're still going for that sweet shot. and with higher stroke risk from afib not caused by a heart valve problem, we're going for a better treatment than warfarin. eliquis. eliquis reduces stroke risk. and has less major bleeding. over 97% of eliquis patients did not experience a stroke. don't stop taking eliquis without talking to your doctor as this may increase your risk of stroke. eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding. don't take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. while taking, you may bruise more easily or take longer for bleeding to stop. get help right away for unexpected bleeding, or unusual bruising. it may increase your bleeding risk if you take certain medicines. tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures. the number one cardiologist-prescribed blood thinner. we're going for it. ask your doctor about eliquis. type 2 diabetes? 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