done before the fighting is set to resume? later, loved ones reunited. how the families torn apart by that october 7th attacks -- >> i hope no one will ever have to go through, any nation, any nationality, to go through this situation where innocent civilians -- we just woke up that morning, just snatched from their beds. >> also happening right now, attorney general merrick garland expected to address both the ongoing hostage negotiations and the increase in violence against the jewish and muslim communities here at home. ♪♪ hello. it is 10:00 eastern. i'm ana cabrera reporting from new york. we begin with breaking news, the fourth and what could be the final day of the final truce between israel and hamas. any moment we're expecting more israeli hostages to be released by hamas in exchange for more palestinian prisoners to be set free by israel. this on the heels of 17 hostages released by hamas yesterday including young israeli american abigail edan who celebrated her fourth birthday while in captivity on friday. today there is hope this fragile pause could, could be extended. both hamas and israeli prime minister netanyahu expressed willingness to extend the pause. now we're learning from egypt that efforts to extend the truce for another two days are, quote, close. nbc's raf sanchez is in tel aviv, israel. and keir simmons is joining us from dohar, qatar. how many hostages are we expected -- expecting to be released today? >> ana, in that same statement the egyptian government is saying today's exchange will be 11 israeli hostages for 33 palestinian prisoners. those numbers not yet confirmed by either israel or hamas. it's a little bit lower than what we've seen over the last previous three days where it was 13 or 14 israelis in exchange for 39 palestinian prisoners. but if there is an exchange at all, that will be good news because just a couple hours ago, things were looking, once again, very uncertain. there have been a lot of ups and downs over the course of this cease-fire period. normally we expect, and according to the deal we should see the hamas beginning to hand over the israeli hostages around 4:00 p.m. local time. but it's 3:00 p.m. here, the prime minister's office here in israel putting out a statement saying they were still negotiating over the list of hostages who would be released today. that was causing a lot of anxiety among the families of the hostages who expected to know by that point that their loved ones were coming out. but the latest we know is the statement from the egyptian government, 11 israeli hostages in exchange for 33 palestinian prisoners. >> we're seeing that border crossing area where we anticipate activity will happen once this hostage deal is moving again. hold on, guys. i'm being told the attorney general here in the u.s. is speaking in new york. let's listen in to merrick garland. >> the justice department's victim services office including office for victims of crimes and the fbi's victim services division stand ready to provide assistance for released americans and to their families. we also remain committed to working with our pasters in across the u.s. government to secure the return of all missing americans, including those still held hostage. as always, but especially now, the justice department is remaining vigilant in the face of the potential threats of hate-fueled violence and terrorism. we are closely monitoring the impact that the conflict in the middle east may have inspiring foreign terrorist organizations, home-grown violent extremists and domestic violent extremists both here in the united states and abroad. all of us have also seen a sharp increase in the volume and frequency of threats against jewish, muslim and arab communities across our country since october 7th. there is understandable fear in communities across the country. even as we speak, the atf and the fbi are investigating the tragic shooting of three men of palestinian descent in vermont. that investigation, including whether this is a hate crime, is ongoing. investigative updates by law enforcement officials in vermont will be coming soon. the justice department is poised to provide assistance, any assistance that our state and local law enforcement partners need as we work together to protect our communities. last month i directed the fbi and every one of our u.s. attorneys to meet with law enforcement and community leaders to discuss what they're seeing on the ground and how we can best support them with regard to these threats. senior leadership at the justice department and i, myself, have done the same. in my conversations with law enforcement community and religious leaders, i have reiterated that the justice department has no higher priority than protecting the safety and civil rights of everyone in this country. protecting all people in all communities from hate-fueled vial lens was the justice department's job in 1870 and remains our urgent responsibility today. no person and no community -- >> we're listening to attorney general merrick garland right now addressing several different things there, the hostages that have been released and the violence that's been increasing in both the jewish and muslim communities in the u.s., as well as the shooting that happened of three palestinian descent students in vermont over the weekend. our ken dilanian is listening in with us here. ken, your top takeaway and why the attorney general felt he needed to make this announcement or address these issues today. >> reporter: ana, first of all, the fbi in particular plays a leading role in hostage recovery efforts. it coordinates the efforts of other departments. there's an fbi hostage fusion recovery cell that calls on state department, treasury, defense. technically merrick garland is the head of all that. he wanted to address what the justice department and the fbi is doing to assist in the recovery of american hostages. then, of course, he spoke to the incredible climate we're seeing in the united states where there's a massive increase in threats and hate crimes and potential hate crimes. he spoke in particular to this awful situation in burlington, vermont, where three palestinian college students were shot. a 48-year-old man has been arrested and is facing charges of aggravated assault. as garland said, the fbi is continuing to investigate whether that is a hate crime and whether federal hate crime charges are warranted. they haven't come to coop collusion and garland said that investigation is on going. local officials have made it clear that they believe there's strong indications that this was, in fact, a heat crime. we'll wait and see what happens there. >> ken dilanian, thank you. we should note the suspect in that shooting is due in court this hour. we'll take our viewers there as soon as that happens. meantime, i want to head back to israel and our raf sanchez who is standing by there, discussing the hostages we anticipate will be released toda. raf, what do we know about the hostages that have been released so far and how they're doing? >> reporter: ana, it sounds like all the children who have been released are in good condition which is obviously very encouraging. that includes 4-year-old abigail edan, she's at schneider hospital which is a pediatric hospital in the tel aviv area. her family says she's doing well, given she spent 52 days in hamas captivity. we don't know yet if someone has explained to her that she is an orphan, that both of her parents were killed on october 7th by hamas terrorists as they overran the kibbutz kfar aza where she was living. she has a long, long journey ahead of her, as do the other kids. we know there was an 84-year-old woman who came out of gaza yesterday. she's said to be in serious medical condition. she's in hospital right now. people here really, really hoping for her. the choreography of the release of hostages yesterday was different from the first two nights. normally the hostages going from gaza south into egypt and back into israel, last night they were handed to the red cross in gaza city and then taken straight over the border into israel. the reason for that was it was clear that this woman needed urgent medical care. she was flown by military helicopter from the border directly to the hospital. so people really here hoping and praying for the well-being of all those hostages. >> no doubt about it. we're seeing the smiles on family members as they hug their loved ones who were just freed in the last couple of days, again, as we await the additional hostages to be released today. could happen at any moment. we're keeping a close eye on developments there in israel at the border with gaza. keir, you're there in qatar where the bulk of these negotiations are occurring. what more are you learning about what's next and what's happening right now? >> reporter: i think, ana, at this stage we can probably be relatively confident that there will be another handover of hostages and potentially there will be an extension of the truce, perhaps for a couple more days. we don't know that for sure, but as raf was reporting at the beginning of this hour, the egyptians are suggesting that there might be 11 hostages released today and 33 palestinian prisoners. that same egyptian official is also talking about ten hostages each day for two more days with 30 palestinian prisoners each of those days. we know that the israelis and hamas have been indicating that they would be open to the idea of an extension of this the truce, and certainly the qataris here are pushing to try to have that happen. that is what they want. now, a diplomat with knowledge of the talks has told me that there are slight issues today, or at least there were, over the release of prisoners. it's to do with the names on the list of the prisoners -- the palestinian prisoners on the list of the israeli hostages. that was described to me as a slight issue. so i think we may overcome that. all this feels a little bit familiar now, ana, after a number of days of this, particularly on saturday where it was very, very challenging and very tense. hostages didn't get released until midnight. we likely won't see that today. as we've said so many times over the past week or so, it's not done until it's done. that's the case here, too. i think it's worth just pointing out, too, that no matter what happens, we are a little bit in the eye of the storm here. it's calm. we've gone through a massive storm, but at the same time, i think another storm is coming because inevitably at some point it seems as if the fighting will resume. that's certainly what the idf is saying will happen, saying it wants to reach the south part of gaza, and there are lots of questions about what that's going to look like and what kind of response there will be around the world to that. >> people collectively are holding their breath, at last check it was 184 people who remain hostage after those october 7th attacks. thank you keir simmons and raf sanchez for your reporting. joining us joel rubin former u.s. secretary of state and the former national security adviser and former head of israel's national security counsel. the world is watching very closely and wondering what's next. do you expect the truce and more hostages to be released? >> first, we need to see this deal come through. the delay today is -- i wouldn't say unexpected because we've had drama with hamas over the last two days as well. i want to assume the entire group of hostages will be released and the truce can be extended for two or maybe three more days. that is the hope of everybody in israel. we need to get the live hostages back while they're still alive, still in good shape. there's a 10-month-old baby waiting to be released that is supposed to be in the last group. that is the hope. we'll have to see if hamas can live up to the expectations. >> so far our understanding is the ages have ranged from 2-85 in the anyone ishl groups of the hostages released. young, young children, the very elderly as well, including that woman who had to go right to the hospital. joel, we understand the u.s., egypt and qatar helped broker this truce. it seems like qatar has had the role of direct negotiations with hamas. can you take us behind the scenes as a potential extension is being discussed? who is doing what? what kind of calls are being made, what kind of verification and so on? >> ana, this is clearly multifaceted in the negotiating seattle long with the united states and israel. within hamas, there's the political bureau in doha, in qatar, and then they engage with the military wing in gaza. so there's a two-step there regarding hamas. the qataris, when they're in doha speaking with the hamas political wing, they're still waiting for word from the field from gaza. and when they get information back, they share that jointly with the united states and with israel at the same time. egypt historically has played pa key role as a third party transit between the palestinians and between israel and many other arab states as well. that's where the juggling -- for us, the united states, bill burns, our cia director has been very engaged actively in doha, meeting with israeli, security officials, intelligence officials, alongside the qatari process to get the names and ensuring people can get out healthy. >> eyad, who is prime minister netanyahu listening to? >> granted, the government at this stage isn't the best we've had. we've hat rifts within the government and within the public from the beginning of the year with extreme ministers in this government. when the war cabinet was formed with two former joint chiefs of staff of the idf, i think the military -- the crisis cabinet we have, the war cabinet we have now has the most experience in terms of the military capabilities in israel. the hope is that within them, this is what the public in israel hopes, that within this small group of situation making level, sound decisions can be made to navigate. we have very tough decisions ahead of this government. mr. netanyahu will have to make very hard decisions in the end when this truce ends and clearly israel needs to go back to fighting until we eradicate hamas from ruling gaza. there will be tough decisions there. the hope of the israeli public is that this war cabinet can do the right things and make the right decisions. >> joel, how might this next phase be different than what got us to the initial hostage release deal? >> the next phase will be very tenuous. you can see how both sides are taking a pause for their own strategic regions. israel is looking for a renewal of the fight. there's nothing humane about what hamas did by kidnapping civilians in their sleep. this is a truce to get these kidnapped israelis out of harm's way. i do think we're going to likely see renewal in fighting. the question is how much time will lapse and what will president biden and his team do to chart a path for all this? remember, ana, that's an open question about what comes after this military action? who will govern gaza? what about the prospects for peace between israel and the palestinians, a two-state solution, diplomatic solution is not forgotten. those are all parts of the immediate discussion and very much top of mind. >> really appreciate you bringing all that up. thank you, joel rubin and eyal hulata for your insights. when we're back in 60 seconds, i'll talk to a woman who just had two family members released by hamas, but she's still waiting for more family to be freed. also ahead, insight from the former director of hostage recovery. we'll talk about the protocols once these hostages are home. a suspect apprehended in the vermont shooting of three men of palestinian descent. how the community is reacting. we're back in one minute. stay right there. n one minute stay right there that i coulds without losing my breath. i couldn't make it through the airport, and every like 20 or 30 yards i had to sit down and get my breath. every physical exertion seemed to exhaust me. and finally, i went to the hospital where i was diagnosed with afib. when i first noticed symptoms, which kept coming and going, i should have gone to the doctor and told them what was happening. instead, i tried to let it pass. if you experience irregular heartbeat, heart racing, chest pain, shortness of breath, fatigue, or light-headedness, you should talk to your doctor. afib increases the risk of stroke about 5 times i want my experience to help others understand the symptoms of atrial fibrillation. when it comes to your health, this is no time to wait. we're back now with more on the push to extend the pause in fighting between israel and hamas and bring more of those 184 hostages still held in gaza home. take a look at the emotional family reunions we're seeing as the hostages return with entire communities celebrating their release. i want to show you one special reunion here. here you can see danielle aloni and her 5-year-old daughter emilia in the back seat of this car as they drive by and the crowd lining the street waving back at them holding israeli flags helping to welcome them home. danielle and' mill yeah were visiting her sister when they were all abducted. sherrone, her husband and 3-year-old twin girls are still in captivity. danielle and sherrone's cousin ilan nah are joining us now. we know dani and amelia were among the first group released on friday, thank goodness. that's been a couple of days. what can you tell us about how they're doing and what their return home has been line for them and your family. >> they're doing okay. so we know they're in good health. that has -- we're so, so grateful for that. they're happy to be home, happy to be back with their family. amelia was reunited with her own cousin, my cousin moan's daughter. i was able to see photos of that, being so sweet. we're so relieved to have them home. i can't stop looking at pictures of them. i'm eager to talk to them. i haven't been able to yet. it's a slow process. she needs to gently kind of return to her life. to your point, it's bittersweet. we're in purgatory. on the one hand we have amelia and danielle. on the other hand, we're waiting for cher ron and david and the twins. >> are you able to sheer what happened to your family while they were in held hostage? >> i don't have any of that information and don't have anything to share about that. >> your other cousin and their family, they're still being held hostage. tell us about them and any word on their current status. >> no word. we don't know if they're altogether. we don't know about their well-being yet. we are desperate to see them back. we're obviously watching the news a lot and reading whatever is on the internet about the lists coming out. nothing is confirmed. i'm concerned that we've seen they've been releasing children without their mothers. will that happen here? we don't know. it's really an awful emotional state to be in. >> we're told 11 more israeli hostages are expected to be released today. we're all awaiting to learn how whose different people are. what are the top questions you have on your mind right now in this moment of such anguish? >> there's one question. are they coming back to us? are we getting them back and are they okay? >> that's the most important question, obviously. in your home state of new york fion fifth avenue was stoppe on friday by pro-palestinian demonstrations. we're showing that video. you wrote in "the new york times" earlier this month that you have seen too often the hijacking of the cause of palestinian liberation to stand against the lives of israeli children who have been in captivity. do you still feel that way? >> certainly there is a faction of people out there who i do still feel that way about. they aren't my priority, what i focus my energy and time on. i'm much more focused on those that are more silent and more sensible and those who are supporting us and can hold these two truths together, that both people are suffering and that our pain and our fate are ultimately intertwined. those are the people in my life that i'm focusing on. i'm not too concerned about the loudest voices out there. >> we've been reporting on whether this is going to be extended, this truce and these hostage releases. what do you want to see happen after today? today is the last day of what is the currently negotiated deal. do you want the truce to be extended? >> absolutely, yes. i want the truce extended. i want to see more hostages released every single day. i would like this to continue as best as we can. i do imagine it will get more complicated given the men and the soldiers in there. but i absolutely want to see this continue. >> alana zeitchik, thank you for taking time to be with us. your family is in our thoughts and our hearts. thanks again. keep in touch. nbc's richard engel is now reporting that a senior with direct knowledge of the negotiations confirms to nbc news that there will be a truce extension. the details are still being finalized, and this deal could still collapse until this happens. we're being very cautious. back with us is joel rubin, former u.s. assistant secretary of state. joel, your thoughts at this moment? >> ana, this is good news. a lot of work went into this, clearly, to maintain this momentum. this is something that, as you pointed out, prime minister netanyahu and hamas have both signaled they want. so this is good news for the families, good news for the palestinian people who will get increased aid deliveries. it's good news for american diplomacy to demonstrate once again how important it is that we're engaged and supporting the kinds of efforts like this that get humans in harm's way -- people in harm's way to safer ground. it's two days. it's still a tentative moment. there's still well over 180, 190 individuals who are kidnapped who are in hamas' hands right now. so we may very well see more of these mini extensions going forward. it clearly creates a little more of a stable environment for the next several days. >> i guess i just have to wonder what the calculations are here in terms of the push and the pull for extending the truce, how much do you try to get from hamas out of this deal, who has the leverage right now. what do you think? >> well, remember, for israel there are two core strategic objectives for this war. the first is to get all the kidnapped detainees out, all the 240 roughly people out of hamas' grip. the second is to eradicate hamas and its leadership and military capacity. so this certainly feeds into the first. so for israel and prime minister netanyahu, their thinking is the military pressure combined with t diplomatic pressure from our allies in qatar and egypt, to get hamas to rease these people, that has worked. i imagine they're going to continue going forward and continuing to keep the pressure on. certainly this does help to achieve a strategic goal for israel of getting their people out. >> joel rubin, thanks again for sticking with us as we continue to follow the breaking news throughout the hour. we're awaiting hostages released today, extending the deal perhaps. we'll get more details on that. up next on "ana cabrera reports," new details about the shooting of three students of palestinian descent in new york. what we're learning about a suspect now in custody and set to be arraigned any minute. plus, why elon musk is in israel meeting with prime minister netanyahu. plus, superior nutrition. because the way we care is anything but ordinary. ♪♪ ♪ the winter play was really coming together. ♪ until... disaster struck. ♪ tensions... were high. ♪ luckily, replacement costumes were shipped with fedex. which means mr. harvey... could picture the perfect night. ♪ we're delivering more happy for the holidays. ♪ ♪ if you struggle. ♪ and 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the shooting of three college students of palestinian descent. earlier this hour attorney general merrick garland confirmed this case is now being investigated as a possible hate crime. nbc news correspondent george solis is following the developments from burlington, vermont. george, what do we know about this suspect and what happened? >> reporter: good morning, ana. sort of rewind the clock here. this shooting taking place on saturday here, not far from the university of vermont. police then saying that the shooter walked up to these three college students and then shot them and walked away. police later confirmed these college students were here in town visiting a relative for the thanksgiving holiday. now, during sunday, it appears police working with the fbi and atf were able to track down this accused shooter, identified as jason eaton, and they found his apartment, which wasn't very far from where the shooting scene took place. using some of the resources of the federal partners, they were able to find, quote, probable cause that mr. eaton perpetuated the shooting. this morning around 10:30, we're expecting the accused shooter to appear in the courtroom. that's going to be followed by a press conference sometime in the noon hour with the mayor here in town as well as the police chief to give us an update on the investigation. the students themselves were identified by family members as hisham awartani, kinnan abdalhamid and tahseen ahmed, a student at connecticut's trinity college. i've been hearing anecdotes from family members, through statements, these are respectable young men here trying to enjoy the holiday. two of the students are u.s. citizens, the third a legal resident. obviously the sentiment from the community here, from their family members is they wanted this to be investigated as a hate crime. we're learning from police two of them were wearing those ke ffrjsfiyehs, those traditional scars. nevertheless, we have been hearing some word that there might be some other vigils and protests taking place as a result of this shooting. but, again, people waiting to see what happens here during the arraignment as well as what the mayor and police chief have to say later this afternoon. >> the arraignment expected to begin any moment via video conference. we'll be carrying that as soon as it gets under way. thank you very much, george solis. stay close. we'll go back to you once this court appearance happening. back to israel where tech billionaire elon musk met today with prime minister benjamin netanyahu. today they toured a kibbutz attacked by hamas in that october 7th attack. musk met with members of the idf and family members of some of those killed by hamas. the israeli government also reached they've reached a new deal with musk's star link satellite internet company. he's faced criticisms with accusations of rampant anti-semitism on x, formerly twitter. up next, what we've learned about a truce extension. arned about a 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reporter: so, ana, we've known for days that both sides were talking about this as a possibility. we heard president biden yesterday expressing optimism that it would happen. hamas saying they were open to it. israelis saying they were open to it. now this senior arab official with direct knowledge of the talks says a tentative agreement has been reached to extend this four-day cease-fire under that pre-agreed formula. that is one additional day of cease-fire in exchange for ten additional hostages. as of now, the cease-fire was supposed to end going into tomorrow. so it does appear like we're looking at least tuesday will be another day of quiet inside gaza, assuming this agreement is finalized and assuming that nobody breaks the cease-fire which so far has not happened. this cease-fire has been strained, but it has not broken. that will be enormously welcome news from the families of hostages here in israel who have not yet had their loved ones back. we know there are around 40, 50 women, children, who fit the criteria for this deal but have not yet been released. it will also be an enormous relief for palestinian civilians inside gaza who have had these three days of cam after 49 days of israeli bombardment in response to the hamas october 7th terror attack. people have been able to get access to that humanitarian aid which has been coming in to gaza, around 200 trucks every day. that's still a fraction of what civilians inside gaza need, but it's much, much better than what was coming before. one of the big sources of tension throughout these past four days of cease-fire and likely in any coming days of cease-fire has been whether or not palestinians will be able to return to their homes in the north of gaza. people there want to see whether their homes are still standing. they want to get winter clothes. that's something that so far the israeli military has not allowed to happen. >> in fact, i know our reporting is the israeli military is specifically saying do not return back north, as they anticipate picking up the fighting as soon as this truce deal ends. whether that extension happens is yet to be determined. raf sanchez, thank you very much. keep us posted as soon as we learn anything more about today's hostage releases or this deal. i want to bring in christopher o'leary, former director of hostage recovery for the u.s. government. christopher, good to have you here. we've seen videos of these reunions, at least the initial stage of reunification with the family members hugging each other, smiling and waving at supporters going down the streets. a lot of it is happening in private in terms of reacclimating to life outside of captivity. can you give us a sense of what that recovery process is like for somebody who has been held captive for weeks by terrorists? >> it's very difficult, extremely difficult. i'll just give you background. select members of special operations forces and intelligence units and pilots go through specialized training to prepare us for a detention, either by a hostile government, a terrorist group or if you're a prisoner of war. none of these victims have that. so this is a shock to their system, and now they are being put back into society. you have to protect them in that process president which is why there's a team of counselors, psychologists, medical professionals, victim service specialists that will guide them the entire way and also shield them from the general public and a media onslaught. they need to take steps for reintegration. >> how long does that typically take? there's obviously the physical recovery and then there's the emotional and psychological recovery, and there's also an element, i'm sure, of trying to glean information for use in terms of going after the perpetrators here as well as recovering other hostages that remain in captivity. >> for sure. you have to strike the balance. number one, it doesn't make any sense to rescue or recover a hostage and have them physically okay, but unable to return to a normal life. you have to make sure they're whole of mind as well. but, as you highlight, we also want to talk to them, because that is valuable intelligence to find the other hostages and then there's fbi agents there as well as other foreign law enforcement. american citizens have been killed. that's a crime. terrorism has been perpetrated. hostage taking is a violence of u.s. law, also international law. we will seek to identify who perpetrated those crimes and we will pursue them. we did it after benghazi. a couple years after benghazi as they tried to take ambassador stephens hostage, we had a unique capture operation which i can't go into. we went back into libya and pulled them out, brought them to the united states and faced trial and were both convicted. >> i'm sure the conversations with these newly freed hostages are very, very sensitive. how would those interviews go? what type of information do you think those who are doing the interviews are trying to get? >> you'll have intelligence professionals doing it for the targeting inside of gaza, trying to elicit any information that corroborates existing information that is being held or starts new lines of collection. you can start focusing your efforts. there's a limit to your resources and sucking up information. they're trying to glean anything they get. but they'll also do it in partnership with a counselor who will be there to guide the victim through this process as well. >> do you think hamas would be moving hostages that they still have so that the intel that officials are getting from the ones who are freed is less useful? >> absolutely. they have miles and miles of tunnels. but it doesn't have to be that specific on a location. it's identifying individuals, identifying unit patches so we can start eliminating what those pieces of hamas, those units are, who the guards are and start trying to follow them, their coming and going, find out what we call nai, known areas of interest, that we can focus collection on. >> right now only one american hostage has been released, young abigail edan, just 4 years old, had her birthday in captivity. we're told there are a couple other hostages that meet that criteria, women and children. are you surprised only one american has been released at this point, especially knowing the biden administration's involvement in these negotiations? >> unfortunately, i'm not surprised. number one, americans are worth more in the grand scheme of things. it gives hamas more power and leverage. also, hamas at least near term wants to drag this out a little bit further. it will run its course. i think this extension will go for a few more days, but hamas is not going to release all the hostages. they're going to hold on to the idf members and perhaps some americans, hopefully not. but i do think some americans will get out. i think the rest of the women and children will likely get released because we have influence with israel, obviously. we have a great partnership with the qataris, but we don't have control on either of those and certainly don't have control over hamas. >> christopher o'leary, thank you so much for this fascinating discussion. i value your expertise. thanks for being here. any minute now, former first lady rosalynn carter is going to arrive at her alma mater, georgia southwestern state university for the final time. right now the carter family motorcade is making its way to the university where members of the public are invited to observe a wreath laying ceremony. former members of her secret service detail are honorary ball bearers. newspaper atlanta the public will be welcomed to pay respects through tonight, and her funeral will be held on wednesday. next on "ana cabrera reports," what the white house is doing to bring home more americans still being held by hamas, and the central role president biden has played during this high-stakes process. during this 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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. sleep more deeply. and wake up rejuvenated. with purple's new mattresses - fall asleep 20% faster. have less aches and pains and sleep uninterrupted. right now save up to $900 dollars off mattress sets during purple's black friday sale. visit purple.com or a store near you today. welcome back. a homecoming for the first american hostage who's been released. we just got these images in, what you're seeing there is abigail idan who turned 4 years old while she was held by hamas. she was freed just yesterday. it's so wonderful to see her smiling, especially if you know her story. it is so heartbreaking. this little girl is now an orphan with both of her parents killed in the october 7th attack. and that is her uncle who is sitting there in the picture with her. she has been reunited with the extended family there in israel. and nine other american hostages remain in captivity in gaza. the u.s. official says the administration is actively working to extend the temporary truce between israel and hamas to bring more hostages home. let's bring in nbc news white house correspondent aaron gilchrist now. i want to get back to abigail in just a moment. but what are we hearing from the white house about extending the cease fire? >> well, you laid it out there, ana. our teams on the ground in the middle east reporting that their sources there saying this deal has been reached. a u.s. official here is saying that the biden administration is actively working to see this truce extended between israel and hamas, and the goal there to allow for more hostages to be released. that official also noting that while there is an expectation that this will happen, this extension of the truce will happen, they're still trying to work out final details to make sure that this can happen in a way that is safe and as useful as is possible. this has been a goal really of the biden administration from the very beginning here. we heard the president say yesterday that he wanted to see an extension happen. the parameters of this deal were such that there was a way, there was a methodology to have this go beyond four days, and it seems as though that may be the case. >> president biden was closely involved in the talks to free young abigail. what are we learning about her and her condition since her release? she certainly looks to be doing okay in those pictures we've seen. >> yeah, the administration didn't have a straight answer about her condition per se. we did hear from officials in israel that the children who have been -- who were released were in stable condition, and obviously from the photos we're seeing today, young abigail looks to be in great shape. we know that she was released to her extended family, as you said there in israel. we heard from lester holt interviewed one of her relatives here in the u.s. a few weeks back who said that she had brothers who escaped the attack on october 7th. her release in particular was a key point of the president's engagements with leaders in israel and in qatar as he was working to get more hostages released, and we expect -- the administration expects that other americans will be included soon as well. >> let's bring in former state department senior adviser, naira hawk. president biden and the national security adviser are saying they're hopeful they'll get more american hostages home. how is the u.s. likely involved in the talks to trying to extend the current pause? >> the u.s. is deeply involved with diplomats in the region. this is likely going directly into the white house itself, secretary of state antony blinken had been going back and forth within the region talking to the various leaders, but at the end of the day, hamas is considered a terrorist organization by the united states, so the united states is an ally of israel, so you have a country like qatar that is acting as the switzerland of the middle east to help bring these different parties together and have those conversations. >> here's what we know about a potential deal right now for egypt, it would be a two-day deal. it would include a daily release of ten detainees in gaza, women and children. plus, a cease fire to get more aid going into gaza, food, medicine, fuel, your thoughts about the state of play and what we're learning about this extended pause. >> at this moment, israel is operating from a position of strength, as we've seen since october 7th. they have been engaged in their own military campaign. for the palestinians, particular those in the west bank, this is a critical time to be able to wrestle with and get back some of the prisoners that they feel have been unjustly put in an israeli prison. many of them are under age, they're under 18. some of them are women, and so that is what the palestinians outside of hamas are looking to get from this deal as well. >> so the national security adviser, jake sullivan, he did not rule out the u.s. ending additional aid to israel, now he's noting that president biden's approach at the high level private diplomacy has generated results, and you know, there's been discussion about whether there should be conditions attached to additional aid sent to israel. how does that aid to israel factor into the discussions around this truce and the additional days of potentially hostage releases? >> at its most basic level, it is the renewal of the u.s. commitment to defending israel regardless of what military occupation is happening and regardless of which president is in place. and that's a key thing because netanyahu does have a particular point of view as compared to other parties in israel. but the word conditions has been very rare to hear about aid to israel as opposed to aid to saudi arabia or aid to other countries because of that recognition that israel's security is closely tied to u.s. support, but biden is facing pressure from his left flank, from many in the united states who have become politically active in this moment that like any other country, israel also needs to comply with international human rights standards and people do see that military aid and conditioning it is a vehicle for getting that type of compliance. >> nayyera hok, thank you for joining us. appreciate your time. that's going to do it for us today. see you back here tomorrow, same time, same place. we'll continue to monitor the updates out of israel, and until then i'm ana cabrera reporting from new york. josé diaz-balart picks up our coverage right after this. diaz coverage right after this. arexvy does not protect everyone and is not for those with severe allergic reactions to its ingredients. those with weakened immune systems may have a lower response to the vaccine. the most common side effects are injection site pain, fatigue, muscle pain, headache, and joint pain. i chose arexvy. rsv? 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