hello again, everyone. thank you so much for joining us, i'm fred dreek with a whitfield alongside wolf blitzer in tel aviv. now to our breaking news. 13 israeli hostages are now back in israel. they were released by hamas after being abducted and held prisoner in gaza for 50 days. among those released today, dual israeli-american citizen abigail edan who is only 4 years old. she is the first american released since the four-day truce began between israel and hamas and that got started on friday. we're told 12 of the hostages were taken through the border fence directly from gaza to israel, while one was airlifted by helicopter to a hospital. an additional four foreign nationals separate from today's deal arrived in egypt earlier today. that group includes three thai nationals and a russian-israeli dual citizen. there are also celebrations in the west bank where 39 palestinian teenagers have now been released from israeli prisons as part of today's agreement. as the truce naears the end of the third day we're seeing more humanitarian aid arrive in gaza. egyptian officials say at least 120 aid trucks entered gaza through the rafah border today. let's send it over to wolf in tel aviv. >> thank you very much, fred. important developments unfolding, we have our correspondents monitoring all of these developments across the region. i want to go to cnn's matthew chance over at the schneider children's medical center just outside of tel aviv. matthew, we understand that abigail edan will be transferred there, she is the american israeli little girl who is finally released. what do we know? >> reporter: yeah, that's right. i mean, within the next few minutes we are expecting a helicopter to arrive carrying abigail edan and the other children or at least some of the other children that will be coming here to the schneider medical facility on the outskirts of tel aviv. the family of abigail have issued a statement saying this, no words express our relief and gratitude. we thank president biden and the united states and the qatari government for their diplomatic interventions to make this happen, but saying they continue to stand with the families of all the hostages who are still held captive. so that's a statement from the family of abigail. she turned 4 on friday, just a few days ago, as a hostage inside of gaza. and her family have said that they don't know whether she understands because she's so young, because she may not have seen it that she is now an orphan because her mom and dad were killed on october 7th just before she was torn away and taken by hamas militants into the gaza strip. she's been there more than 50 days so her world is going to be dramatically different when she comes back here. she still has the rest of her family waiting for her. but there are other children coming back as well who also will be confronting very different family circumstances. shen goldstein is the mother of three children and all four of them have been released today and they are on their way here now we understand by helicopter as well. they've lost their father and they've lost a sister as well. there's also the wife and three children of abby hyde brodich, somebody i spoke to three or four weeks ago when this whole nightmare began. he had lost his wife and three children, they had become hostages inside gaza. they have been released today as well. so i spoke to him earlier today and he spoke of how relieved he's going to be when he finally sees them after more than 50 days. wolf? >> matthew chance reporting from the schneider children medical center just outside of tel aviv. matthew, thank you. i want to go to cnn's jeremy diamond joining us from israel. jeremy, that's a significant location, you saw the hostage convoy pass through where you are. we didn't have the long delays that we saw yesterday with this exchange. what can you tell us about how all of this unfolded today? >> reporter: yeah, that's exactly right, wolf. we saw the convoy of 12 israeli civilian hostages newly freed coming from right down this road after they entered israel directly from the gaza strip making their way this way towards this air base where they are being helicoptered off to hospitals prepared to receive them. this is a different procedure than we've seen over the last few days when israeli hostages went from gaza into red cross custody and then into egypt via the rafah crossing before coming into israel at that intersection of the egypt/israel/gaza border. we are told it is because of the condition of an 84-year-old israeli woman taken hostage on october 7th. she was actually directly medically evacuated by helicopter from the gaza strip and towards a hospital in israel. tonight that hospital says that she is in serious condition saying, quote, her life is in danger, but those other 12 israeli hostages then just entered directly from near kibbutz neary into israel. beyond that the process went fairly smoothly, which was a big change from yesterday when we saw hours' long delays when there were disputes over the aid into gaza and also disputes behind the scenes over one of those child hostages not being released with her mother. but beyond that, wolf, there are now questions about how this moves forward. we are now on day three, tomorrow will be day four of this fragile truce between israel and hamas which is set to facilitate the release of 50 israeli hostages over those four days and now there's the question of whether this truce will be extended. ten additional hostages per day will result in an additional day of truce, hundreds more aid trucks entering gaza and also the release of three palestinian prisoners from israeli prisons for every one civilian hostage. israeli officials have already told me that they intend to seek an extension of that truce, they want to see more hostages released and hamas tonight is saying in a statement that it is also seeking an extension of that truce. of course, hanging in the balance, wolf, is the lives of more than 180 hostages still captive inside gaza as well as the potential entry of hundreds more aid trucks desperately needed in the gaza strip. >> lots at stake. jeremy diamond, thank you very much. i want to head over to cnn's priscilla alvarez standing by for us over at the white house. i understand we have just learned that president biden spoke with the family of that little 4-year-old american girl who was released today as well as the israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu. what can you tell us about those conversations? >> reporter: that's right, wolf. a busy afternoon of phone calls for president biden as he makes his way balk to the white house. president biden spoke with members of abigail's family in the united states and israel. it goes on to say that he spoke with prime minister benjamin netanyahu about the release of hostages, including the release of abigail edan, that 4-year-old little girl. this was news, wolf, that the president celebrated earlier this afternoon in his remarks. she is the first american hostage to be released as part of this negotiation between israel and hamas. this happened after seven weeks in captivity. the president speaking to what abigail endured during that time, saying, quote, she has been through a terrible trauma and calling the experience over the last several weeks, quote, unthinkable. now, at the time the president did not speak to her condition, saying he did not have details about her condition. the statement released from the white house moments ago also doesn't include that, but it is news and welcome news for the president and this white house which has been working furiously behind the scenes to secure the release of hostages, especially those who are american. and the president signaling that he is hopeful that more americans may be released as this is ongoing. now, u.s. officials have been saying that israel is prepared to continue a pause in fighting if hamas in exchange gives -- releases ten hostages over each day. now, that remains unclear whether it's going to happen, but the president was hopeful. take a listen to what he said this afternoon. >> critically needed aid a going in and hostages are coming out. and there's still a structure so that it can be extended to keep building on these results. that's my goal. that's our goal, to keep this pause going beyond tomorrow so that we can continue to see more hostages come out and surge more humanitarian relief into those in need in gaza. >> reporter: now, all of that a topic of discussion for president and israeli prime minister netanyahu. we will get more details on that call shortly. wolf? >> when we heard the president speak earlier today, priscilla, i'm sure you heard him as well, he clearly got very emotional and moved when he was talk about this sweet little 4-year-old american israeli girl, abigail edan, and he mentioned how she was there in that little community when these hamas terrorists came in, murdered her mother and then saw that and then murdered her father and she was saved and eventually she became this hostage, though, and god only knows what she's been going through over these past 50 days. she's now thankfully safe and in israel but you can see how touched the president was in this personal story of this sweet little girl. he was very moved, wasn't he? >> reporter: he was. and he also went on to say thaeshd he was there for the reunion between her and her family. i mean, clearly the white house and the president in particular relieved to know that she's been released. if you recall, wolf, she had come up in a call with the president and the leader of qatar a few days ago and that was the first we had learned that this young girl was held hostage by hamas. so she has come up repeatedly, it has been a top concern for this white house and for this president. so clearly relief for this president knowing that she is now released, as you mentioned, he was emotional about this and, again, went on to say that he wished he could be there for that reunion. did he get on the phone with her family this afternoon so perhaps we will learn more from the white house about that call later today. >> yeah, i assume all of his back channel work with the qataris, the egyptians, the israelis, everybody else was very significant in helping get this sweet little girl released from being a hostage in gaza, but we will learn more about this in the days ahead. priscilla alvarez at the white house, thank you very much. we're also seeing new images right now from ramallah on the west bank showing celebrations on the streets of the wacky as buses carrying 39 palestinian prisoners and detainees arrived there in exchange for the israeli hostages released today. this marks the third such release of hostages for prisoners between israel and hamas during their four-day bruce truce. let's go to cnn's nada bashir joining us from jerusalem and watching all of this unfold. what can you tell us about these prisoner releases out of the west bank? >> reporter: well, look, wolf, we certainly have seen those crowds showing up once again for the third night in a row to welcome and celebrate the release of these palestinian detainees and prisoners, again, for the third night in a row. 39 palestinians released from israeli custody. tonight all of them were teenagers, some as young as 14 and 15 years old. the vast majority of them, 23 of them, had been held under administrative detention. this is a deeply controversial policy enforced by the israeli authorities where detainees, young people under the age of 18 are held without charges laid against them without a clear ongoing legal process. what we have seen today is more celebration from palestinians in jerusalem and in the occupied west bank. huge crowds turning out in the downtown area of ramallah. we've met with many of those families yesterday from the second day of those releases, we spoke with some of those detainees, teenagers who had been released who spoke of the situations they faced while in detention and family members who said they hadn't been able to make contact with their children for months on end with no clarity as to what was going on with that legal process with no legal representation provided for their children or at least accessible to their children. these releases are part of that wider truce agreement between israel and hamas which is expected to see 150 palestinian women and children released from israeli custody over the course of those four days. this is indeed the third day of that agreement. we saw a lot of uncertainty yesterday, the process today seemingly moving slightly more smoothly today. we saw those names released earlier but for many families here, palestinian families across the occupied west bank this is a deeply anxious time because they do not know whether or not their loved ones will be selected as part of that release. earlier in the week we saw 300 names of women and children who would be eligible for possible release and it is each day that we learn whether or not those names will be on the list for release. that release is of course hugely dependent on the safe rescue evacuation of those israeli hostages from hamas captivity in gaza. it is not until confirmation is received that those hostages have been returned to israeli authorities that that process can begin. we've seen the three days now those detainees and prisoners being held at a prison in the occupied west bank where they are held until that confirmation is received and then transported by a red cross convoy to be reunited with their loved ones and families. there has been a huge amount of celebration we have seen particularly in the occupied west bank, many from told us that they cannot be totally happy because of the situation in gaza, because of the mounting civilian death toll. we have seen in the gaza strip. wolf? >> nada bashir reporting from jerusalem for us. thank you very much. we are going to take a quick break. our special live coverage will continue right after this. back in israel. they were released as part of a four-day truce agreement with hamas. that agreement also includes the release of dozens of palestinian prisoners. as of now the agreement is set to expire tomorrow and hamas also released three thai nationals and one russian israeli dual citizen. let's bring in retired u.s. lieutenant general ben hodges the former commander general of the u.s. army europe. general, thank you so much for joining us. let me get your assessment. has that truce, this temporary truce, this pause as we're calling it, benefitting either israel or hamas militarily? >> well, wolf, of course, when this pause does end it will be very difficult for israel to resume operations as they were doing before the pause. the hamas strategy from the beginning has been about these hostages, the israeli strategy has been about destroying hamas. so it looks like the u.s., the united nations, other countries are for now going along with the hamas strategy focused on the hostages. we even heard the president say as much earlier today. hamas of course will string this out as long as they can but with more promises of hostages being released, that's probably why we have seen so few or only one american released so far because if they continue to hold american hostages, that will keep the u.s. focused on this and keep the u.s. putting pressure on the israelis. on the other hand, the israelis, i think, could change the entire narrative -- i doubt this would happen, but if they were to change the narrative and say we've decided we do accept the idea of a two-state solution, we will begin negotiations for that as soon as hamas releases all of our hostages and then we will focus on also cracking down on their right wingers, the illegal settlements in the west bank. this is how israel could change the entire narrative, but right now hamas has the advantage. >> let me follow up on that, general. what do you expect will happen once this temporary truce is actually over, whether that is tomorrow or later in the week? >> well, of course, i imagine that both sides have been carrying out preparations for resumption of the conflict, logistics, targeting, building up better intelligence picture of what each side has. i would imagine that hamas has continued to build out what we call order of battle where you're identifying units and capabilities that are out there. they would get this from observation as well as from talking to refugees who had moved south from the northern part of gaza on the other side the israelis of course would be using all of their various intelligence collections platforms, even with the limitation toss which they've already agreed. and i would also imagine that they have debriefed or spoken with some of the hostages who have been released that might be able to provide some insight about what other hostages are still out there. >> retired lieutenant general ben hodges, thanks so much for joining us. >> thank you, wolf. let's get to cnn's matthew chance right now over at the schneider children's medical center outside of tel aviv. matthew, we understand abigail edan will be transferred there. what else do we know? >> reporter: yeah, that's right. abigail edan, 4 years old, is going to be transferred there. i've just stepped out of the way of the camera, wolf, because i want to show you the scenes unfolding here at the schneider medical facility right now. you're looking at a picture, those lights in the sky, that's the helicopter that we believe is carrying abigail or some of the other nine children that were released from gaza a few hours ago. you can see in front of them -- we will just pull out a little bit -- in front of them you can see there is a whole load of people that have gathered here from the local area, supporters. there is a scout troop here waving israeli flags. coming here to the fence, the perimeter fence of this hospital waiting for this helicopter to come in carrying abigail, carrying the other freed hostages and nine children that were released today. you can see these scenes as this helicopter slowly approaches the helipad which is just along to the left of the screen as you look at it. and, again, an absolutely extraordinary scene. there's been a statement released by the family of abigail over the course of the past hour expressing their relief and gratitude -- it's getting very noisy now you see. that helicopter potentially carrying abigail coming in to land . >> reporter: yeah, i've got you. i've got you. can you hear me? >> matthew, if you can hear me, give us a sense, the helicopter has landed, we are about to see some folks, including the kids who are walking out into the hospital. is that right? >> reporter: yeah, that's right. it's very noisy, but the engines have now turned off so i'm going to be able to speak a bit more clearly. but, yeah, this helicopter has now landed, there have been applause from the crowd that's gathered here at the perimeter fence of the helipad and for the past hour or so there have been ambulances and medical staff and very tight security on this helipad outside the schneider medical facility on the outskirts of tel aviv waiting for this moment, waiting for these released israeli hostages, mainly children, we think this is a children's hospital, remember, and to be delivered safely as they now appear to have been on to the helipad where they will be some of them getting the first chance -- listen to that applause. that's the applause of a very grateful crowd of israeli citizens who have come here waving their flags, welcoming these children home. we will zoom inasmuch as possible on what's happening there. the back of the helicopter has opened and i think we're probably going to be able to catch a glimpse of the children as they come off perhaps. you know, we're a bit distant from it right now,