Transcripts For CNNW Smerconish 20240702 : comparemela.com

Transcripts For CNNW Smerconish 20240702



israel says it is expecting 14 hostages to be released today, but a list provided to them by hamas only has 13 names on it. in exchange, israel is prepared to release up to 42 more prisoners. cnn has learned that no americans are expected to be released today. under the deal, israel is freeing three palestinians from jail for every israeli hostage allowed out of gaza. but palestinian officials are warning of what they call a possible crisis in the deal. they say israel is not following terms of the prisoner release deal as it relates to sin yourity. the truce also allows the flow of humanitarian aid into gaza. more than 70 aid trucks entered gaza today through the rafah crossing carrying food, water, fuel and medical supplies. cnn is covering the developments. we'll start with kaitlan collins. so, we have seen one day of a successful exchange, several more to go. what are we expecting over the next few hours? >> officials in israel are hopeful but not confident because they know they're dealing with hamas here. they're waiting to see this exchange actually happens, to make sure before they even come close to celebrating the fact that she are hopeful that a second group of hostages will soon be reunited with their families. we are approaching the time yesterday when we started to see this process begin to take place, where the hostages were handed over in gaza by hamas to the red cross, from there, they were taken in those ambulances, a dramatic scene where we saw them going through the rafah crossing into egypt and they were met by israeli forces and brought here to hospitals throughout israel. what we're hearing today is confusion over the number on this list. what we are told by multiple sources is that 13 names are on that list that was handed over to israel last night. they get the names the night before, they start to call the families to let them know, yes, their loved one is coming home or no, they don't expect them to be coming home. israel was expecting 14 names to be on that list. instead there are only 13. what we are told is that in the last several hours there have been continued discussions over what that ultimate number is going to be. we know whatever it is on that list, it's in exchange for 42 palestinian prisoners who will be released from prisons here in israel. four of those israeli hostages are expected to be on that list today. right now we're expecting names to be on that list. we'll see if that changes throughout the day. of course, we have reporters covering this all over the ground. jeremy dimon is with us, but i want to start with arlet. what's the reaction to your reporting that no americans are expected to be on this list today? >> the white house remains hopeful that ultimate ly there will be three americans on the list as part of this hostage negotiation. for today's expected release, there is not expected to be any american citizens released as part of that group, that's according to a u.s. official. president biden himself yesterday had been unable to provide details about exactly when he believed these americans will get out. he simply said it's his hope and expectation that they would be released. a white house official this morning says they remain hopeful that they will be released as part of this larger deal to release 50 women and children out of hamas and hostage custody. what the white house is pointing to this morning is the fact that president biden had previously negotiated the release of two americans, that was judith and naturally renaud, who were released in october. in a statement, a white house official this morning said the president secured the release of two american citizens as the pilot to this larger release of hostages. we're early in the process, we hope to see at least 50 american women and children released during the first phase of the agreement, we hope that will include three women and children who are israeli and american citizens. we will not comment on the individual cases as the process is under way. it is the hope and expectation that those three american citizens will include two women as well as 4-year-old abigail edan. president biden said he is keeping his fingers crossed that she will be part of this larger release. for the time being, americans back at home, the families continue to wait to see the release of their loved ones and that the president's hopes will come in the coming days. >> absolutely everyone is hoping for that. arlette, thank you. jeremy dimon is with us. we anticipate to see some movement soon of these hostages shortly if it goes the way we saw it happen yesterday. i think the discrepancy with the people on the list is a lot of officials here in israel, obviously anyone except for hamas, they're just learning more about the condition of these hostages. there's been so little insight into who potentially could be produced by hamas as part of this deal. >> yeah. that's right. we're learning that there are still at this hour ongoing discussions as late as this morning going on about the number of hostages and other details. a palestinian official earlier today raising issues about the number -- the type of palestinian prisoners who israel is releasing in exchange for these hostages. it shows you how fragile and tense the situation still is. that's why israeli officials have been taking this day by day. the hope and expectation is that we will see a release of hostages today and those outstanding issues will be resolved. as you can see, there's israeli military vehicles, military personnel all around us. this is the road where those hostages yesterday who were released, newly freed, traveled down this road. this is where we expect if they cross through the kerem shalom crossing they will travel straight down this road. they then went to an air base to make phone calls to families and then helicoptered over to israeli hospitals. this is the road they took down here, which would take them to the base. yesterday we were at an overlook point where we saw that convoy of ambulances drive down this route. there were helicopters waiting in a field nearby in case of a medical evacuation, in case that would be necessary for any of these hostages. that ultimately did not appear to be necessary yesterday. we know there were two of these hostages taken by ambulance directly to hospitals rather than stopping first at that air base, but they were not in a grave enough medical condition it appears for them to be medically evacuated by helicopter. everything is being prepared. there have been so many preparations in terms of the medical support, the social support, the psychological support, financial support that all of these newly-freed hostages and their families might need. that effort is obviously continuing even as we understand that there are still some ongoing issues in the negotiations to resolve for today's hostage release. >> yeah. we should find out who is on that list in short order. jeremy dimon, we'll continue to check in with you. what's important to remember about this deal is it's not just a trade for the hostages or for the palestinian prisoners. it also allows for no fighting to happen in gaza right now. it's been incredibly quiet there compared to what the last several weeks have looked like. it also calls for an increased amount of aid going into gaza. aid so desperately needed by the millions who live there. l what have we been seeing as far as how many trucks are going into gaza? is it more than on day one of this temporary agreement? >> so far it's not more than day one, but it's still progress. 70 trucks have come into gaza today from the rafah crossing in egypt. 70 trucks are bringing food, fuel, medical supplies, and other essential supplies that people there badly need. this is according to the spokesperson for the rafah border crossing telling cnn there's still an effort to get more trucks to come into gaza, to hit that quota. the quota is 200 trucks coming in every day. about 130,000 tons of diesel four and four gas trucks of cooking gas. so far 70 of these trucks include about 150,000 tons of fuel and four trucks of gas. but they want to get to that quota. yesterday we had 137 trucks skom in. t it is still a drop in the ocean to the need that is great there. before october 7th, 450 trucks came in every day. right now with the mass displacement we've seen, the need is so far greater than this small amount that's coming in. aid organizations say this truce should go on longer and more aid should be allowed in so they can reach as many people as possible. so many people are desperate. listen to this one man. >> translator: gas cooking is essential for everyone in gaza. nobody can cook or do anything without gas. we hope to be provided with gas in the next two days. all the people are hoping and ready for it to make their lives easier. >> so far, a lot of this aid is coming in just to maintain the infrastructure, support humanitarian infrastructure there, so people like him may not necessarily get it. at the same time, some of the wounded are making it across the rafah crossing into egypt. 16 made it so far today. some palestinians who were in egypt trapped for a couple of days have made it back into gaza. >> yeah. it's amazing to see all of those trucks go in compared to what we've seen happen with this total blockade over the last several weeks. larry, thank you. as we look and wait for this next group of hostages to potentially be released here at any moment now, for the families of these hostages, these negotiations are coming with mixed emotions. some relatives have been released. others are still being held. last night we saw several elderly women who were released while their husbands are still being held by hamas in gaza right now. this deal so far that has been negotiated between israel and hamas is only for women and children in that 50-person total that we're expecting to see if this truce holds. obviously, you're one of those families i was describing there. you had several family members released yesterday. i'm sure such a joyful moment for you. can you tell me how yesterday was? >> yeah. yesterday was very exciting and very emotional. as you said, three of my family members were released, however, my uncle is still in captivity. with him there are over 200 hostages still there. it's just the beginning. nothing is over yet. we can't be completely happy. >> i know of those released, we've been showing this video of 9-year-old ohad munder who had a chance to be reunited with his father and seen running down the hallway. how are they doing? what have you learned about their conditions? >> i know physically they're okay. mentally it's too soon to tell. they've been through hell since october 7th and during the captivity time for 50 days during hamas. hamas are monsters, we saw what they're capable of. they suffered through trauma. it's going to take them time to be mentally well. >> ohad, he turned nine while in captivity. what's it like to have him home? >> it's amazing to have him home. it's terrible he had to spend his ninth birthday in captivity. we waited for him so long, we will celebrate his ninth birthday now. just awful to think that a 9-year-old was in captivity for this long. it's just terrible, terrible scene. i hope in the next two days we see more coming back and i hope to see the rest of the hostages back home. >> how do you plan to celebrate his ninth birthday now that he's free? >> like we wanted to, with family and with friends. his friends are now visiting him in the hospital. we're still waiting for his grandfather. the celebration can't happen before he's back. we need the entire family back. his uncle was murdered on october 7th and he had to find it out. it's still sad. this is another glimpse of the horrific gravity we live in. when they come back out of captivity, they have to face this awful reality. >> he didn't know that. and you're -- the family had to break the news to him about what had happened on october 7th. >> yes, they didn't understand the scale of what happened exactly. they were there, they were abducted on that day from their beds. but they didn't understand the magnitude of everything that has been going on. they weren't in touch with anyone apart from hamas in the past 50 days. >> you mentioned your great uncle who is still being held. he was not part of this release. based on what we know, he would not fit into the category of who is expected to be released. i wonder what your message is to the stakeholders here, whether it's israeli officials, qatari officials, on the importance of getting everybody home. >> yeah. we need everyone. we need everyone. my uncle is 78 years old. he's not in very good health. he needs to take medications every day. he walks with a cane. he has glasses. he cannot survive in captivity for this long. we need everyone back no matter if they're women, children, men, elderly, everyone should be back home with their families as soon as possible. >> itay, i know it's a bitter sweet moment for you. thank you for joining me today to talk about this. we're so happy for ohad. i hope you tell him we all said happy birthday. >> thank you. of course it's not just the first group that was released yesterday. we're now getting new information by the minute about this second potential group with hamas preparing to hand over that next group of hostages that are being held. it happened this time yesterday. we started to see this process take place. we'll walk through the logistics of what is an incredibly complicated process after a short break. breaking news this morning. at any moment hamas is due to release the second group of israeli hostages in exchange for palestinian prisoners release. u.s. officials say they do not expect americans to be among the hostages released today, but they expect them to be released at some point during this four-day temporary truce. joining me now is former coordinator and former navy s.e.a.l. member david o'shea. you are the right person to talk about this at this moment. i want to start with the logistics of what happens. this delicate handover process. what are we seeing? more importantly, what are we not seeing that is happening as these hostages are handed over? >> i think what they're not seeing is where the hostages are being brought out of the ground or presumably the tunnelling system for obvious reasons. that's part of the logistics challenges for hamas. hostages are probably held in several groups spread out over gaza. that's what we're not seeing. to date it's gone smoothly. the first day, even though the cease-fire was extended because of firefights going past the zero-seven, i'm cautiously optimistic that the transfer will continue via the red crescent/red cross to the border into egypt and then being flown into israel. obviously being taken into hospitals. the critical thing is what's going on in the hostages. the medical checkups and the mental health which will be a lasting process for all these hostages. >> when you hear cnn's reporting that a palestinian official says there's a possible crisis here that the israelis are not respecting the agreement that the prisoners who would be released would have seniority, would have been in prison for years and they would be the top of the list or that israel expected 14 people, hostages to be released, but there are only 13 names on the list. are discrepancies like that significant enough to break this down and to end this exchange? >> no, i don't think quibbling over something like one hostage or the other will be the breakdown. my bigger concern is that there is a car driving too fast up to an idf checkpoint that gets the idf soldiers skittish, that they open up and the conflict starts again and the cease-fire ends. that's what i think we should be more concerned about. if an errant rocket comes out of the west bank or gaza itself by a splinter group, something like that could be more counterproductive to the cease-fire. time will tell. >> you mentioned at some point -- we know this is happening because we have reporters on the ground, we're seeing the video. the medical checks. these hostages are being taken to hospitals. the 13 are in good and stable condition. at what point are the psychologists and counselors working with these hostages traded out for intel agents so that they can get information about the tunnels, about the whereabouts of potentially the other hostages? >> that started immediately. i guarantee there would have been intelligence officials traveling with hostages and been monitoring. it's critical to get the debrief out immediately. you can be assured that the fist 13 are sharing experiencing about the conditions and how they were held and critically the name of the fellow hostages so they can get a full accounting on who was taken and what is their current status. >> as i said, good and stable condition for the first 13. we're waiting for the next hostages to come out. i wonder your degree of confidence and optimism that all of the remaining hostages will come out in that good and stable condition based on your experience. >> listen, hamas grabbed these hostages for this reason, to force a cease-fire. they knew the idf would respond to their attacks on october 7th. right now these hostages are the only bargaining chip. without those hostages, there's nothing that will stop the idf from finishing what they started four weeks ago with the offensive. that's why this hostage drama will play out over weeks and months and potentially even longer. >> do you expect that this will -- hamas has the leverage of these hostages, that this agreement can be extended for another -- i believe it's five or six days if they continue to release ten hostages per day, according to the agreement brokered for israel and hamas. do you think this will go beyond the four-day hold? is that in the interest of hamas to continue to engage? >> it is and it isn't. they have a dwindling supply of hostages that they'll hold on to. let's hope that the four days goes smoothly and that it gets extended. that's been the expectation set. again, we're really sitting on a tinder block. hamas and israel do not trust each other. they did not negotiate this deal across from a table with each other. this was done through third party intermediaries and could fall apart easily. let's take it day by day and let's hope we can get an extension. let's get through the first four days and then go from there. >> we're expecting 14, 13 or 14 to be released today, israeli hostages. the big surprise yesterday was the thai and filipino hostages who were released. do people at home who don't understand how there could be this really involved negotiation over the israeli hostages but kind of the surprise deal for thai citizens and filipino. explain that parallel track and how that could happen and few people at least expected it would. >> the reality is there's a calculus. every hostage is evaluated on everything from their nationality, their gender, age, condition and to what value. the thai -- the fortunate thing for the thai and the filipino being released yesterday is that there's no real strategic value to hamas for them. there's not really a connection between the two, and that's why they were considered. they're not that valuable. that's why they were the surprise yesterday in addition to the 13 released. they're looking at all their hostages and holding on to them. you notice no americans have been released yesterday. and largely the u.s. diplomatic commission got this cease-fire in effect. they know what hostages have more value to them. those are the ones that will be held on the longest. >> daniel o'shea, thank you. israeli officials say they will release more than 40 palestinian prisoners today after the release of 39 on friday. next, why that is prompting mixed emo

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