announcer: this is cnn breaking news. thank you so much for joining us. i m boris sanchez alongside jim sciutto in washington. we have wolf blitzer live for us in tel aviv, israel, where we are monitoring remarkable moments in the middle east. it s freedom after 48 hellish days in the hands of hamas and other groups in gaza. today the first 24 hostages were taken into egypt, and you can see them in this footage just moments after their release at the rafa border crossing. this is just the start of their journey back after they were ripped from their homes on october 7th. the israeli defense forces shared this video of the moment a bus carrying the hostages entered israel. most of the people released today are women and children. we are told they include 13 israelis. you see their pictures here. as well as ten thai citizens and a filipino citizen who were also taken on october 7th. over next three days we do expect to see at least 37 more hostages released. that was a fi
and six elderly women. ten thai nationals and one filippino were also part of the group. and huge crowds are welcoming home the 39 palestinian women and teenage boys freed in exchange from two israeli jails. the red cross has now bussed them to the beitunia checkpoint in the occupied west bank. just showing you the image now of the airbase in israel, we understand from our correspondent there. this is where many from our correspondent there. this is where many of from our correspondent there. this is where many of those is really hostages have been taken. a airbase in southern israel. the hostages taken there and within the next few minutes we are expecting they would leave there and be airlifted to a hospital elsewhere within israel. today has been a day of significant investments and lots of international diplomacy to secure the release of 2a hostages, but also the release of 2a hostages, but also the 39 palestinian detainees. this is the image at the airbase where the
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
release after 48 days of fighting in gaza is now underway. israel waiting to accept 13 women and children who were kidnapped on october 7th. israeli media reports that hostages have been transferred to egypt. the four-day cease-fire in gaza setting the stage for that deal at midnight. it appears to be holding. but as the idf now awaits the final transfer of the first round of freed hostages, israel s focus is on getting back all of the nearly 140 people hamas has held for 48 days. welcome to a very special hour of america s newsroom. i m molly line. good morning, griff. griff: good morning, i m griff jenkins. it is indeed a special hour. bill and dana have the day off. as we watch in exchange for those first 13 hostages israel offering up other prisoners. the amount of prisoner israel gives up is not the top concern. molly: alex hogan has details on the unfolding exchange and cease-fire. first we begin with trey yengst live at an air base in southern israel where the ho
team here, who have been working out of an operation center today, alongside members of the international committee of the red cross. another key stakeholders in this. and they certainly feel like this mostly went to plan. you are right to point out this is a humanitarian pause, and the implementation of that had a number of key obligations. the pause had to stop at 7:00 local time. the hostilities had to stop on the ground from both parties. that allowed for the potential for the release of these hostages, these 13 in the first instance israeli women and children, who had been held by hamas around about 4:00 this afternoon. what happened was we saw 24 hostages ultimately released. the process took about two and a half hours to get those hostages out of hamas hands, into the hands of the icrc and out of gaza into israel via the rafah crossing, which is down on the the egyptian boarder. the surprise, and i have to say i think it was a surprise as well, possibly to those invol