We are back now with Breaking News out of The Middle East. Two american hostages have been released by hamas. They are now in israel. The State Department is expected to give a briefing in minutes. Lets get to tel aviv with the news. Kaitlan collins helped break this story. What are you learning about the two americans and their release . Reporter yeah, amazing news for the families of judith and Natalie Ranaan who have desperately been waiting for word on their loved ones, and we have confirmed theyre the two american hostages who have been released and now in israel according to the prime Minsters Office here. Theyre on their way to a Military Base where theyre going to be meeting their family whos waiting for them tonight. Judith and natalie, many people are familiar with their story. Theyre from illinois and they were just in israel visiting. Natalie just graduated from high school. She was here with judith, their mother. They were celebrating a relatives 85th birthday. They were s
it is the top of the hour. i m brianna keilar with boris sanchez in washington. wolf blitzer is live from tel aviv. intense talks are under way to try to extend the truce between israel and hamas. here in just hours the current deal is set to expire. we want to show you some video with a red cross convoy entering the rafah crossing. this, as we wait for hamas to release in the group of hostages today. wolf? as these critical talks continue, we know the top u.s. hostage envoy is here in israel and that secretary of state antony blinken is headed here in the coming days. he ll be in israel very soon. a key mediator from qatar says they re hopeful an extension will be announced soon. cnn is following all these angles of a very fast developing situation. let s start with oren liebermann. what have you learned? reporter: two israelis were handed over to the red cross from hamas and will have a quick medical checkup and to the hospital for fourth evaluations. it s impor
the breaking news at this hour, 24 hostages have been released by hamas terrorists. 13 israelis, 10 thai citizens, 1 filipino citizen. they were moved from inside gaza over the rafah crossing into egypt. a short time ago, we got our first look at some of these hos hostages. we have video. it includes pictures of a little girl in a yellow shirt. 1 of the 13 israeli hostages release d. we have other video to show you as well. different vantage points where you can see some of the people, including that girl, who was released and then a number of people boarding a bus from a holding facility inside rafah. a number of these people now on a bus on the move, presumably, back into israel. this is the first part of this pause in fight fighting agreed to by israel, by hamas, to aa low for the release of some 50 hostages over the next several days in exchange for the release of 150 palestinian prisoners in a pause in the fight ing, and breaking moments ago, the identity of two hostage
12 hours from now, a long hope for a truce will take effect in the israel-hamas war. it is scheduled to last for only four days, but in that time, hamas has promised to release 50 hostages and israel is going to release 150 palestinian prisoners and allow more aid into gaza. the deal was negotiated by the kingdom of qatar, and the spokesman is hopeful that with this deal hostilities will stop. we are hoping that we don t see any delays, and we have reached a point now where everything is in place, and we are ready to go on the ground, so we are hopeful that as i told you by 7:00 a.m. tomorrow, everything will stop. the first hostages are set to go free 4:00 p.m. local time tomorrow, and that is 9:00 a.m. eastern, and that is going to include 13 women and children. and the government has notified their families. becky anderson is in doha, and can you walk us through the outlines of the deal? yeah. here is what we do know. at midnight eastern time, which is 7:00 in the mo
happening now, the anxious wait for the first major release of hostages from gaza after an agonizing delay. israel and hamas once again on the verge of a temporary truce, expected to begin just hours from now. if all goes according to plan, it would mark the first pause in the hostilities since the war began and could, potentially could set the stage for even more captives to come home. welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. i m wolf blitzer in tel aviv, israel. and this is the situation room special report. let s begin our coverage right now here in the middle east where we appear to be on the cusp of a critical moment in the war. 13 hostages now just hours away from returning home if the agreement between israel and hamas holds firm. cnn s oren liebermann has the latest. reporter: after nearly seven weeks of war it is the storm before the calm. final hours of fighting in gaza ticking down until a pause in the conflict set for early friday mo