six more israeli hostages were just released, hours after two other captives were freed. this comes as hamas forces have been alerted to be ready for combat as day seven of the gaza truce is nearing an end. will there be another last minute extension? also breaking, indicts u.s. congressman george santos remains defiant as the house considers whether to expel him from congress. stand by for details on the debate that wrapped up just a short while ago. and the nail biter vote that's expected tomorrow. plus, donald trump is lashing out big time after an appeals court reinstated the gag order in his new york civil fraud trial. the judge in the $250 million case now revealing when he's likely to issue a ruling. welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." ♪ this is cnn breaking news. >> right now, the latest hostages released from captivity in gaza are back in israel. six more israelis are free as time is clearly running out on the current truce extension. let's go straight to cnn's oren liebermann, joining us live from tel aviv. he's following all of the breaking news for us. give us the very latest. >> reporter: wolf, a total of eight israeli hostages, women and children have been released out of gaza today, are in israeli territory on their way or already in three separate hospitals for treatment. certainly eight is a bit of an odd number, but israel and hamas agreed to count two extra israeli-russian hostages released yesterday. of course the question now is there enough momentum, and are there enough women and children released to push this for one more day. tears of unbridled joy as the mother of mia schem found out her daughter is coming home after 55 days held hostage. the french israeli citizen was last seen in this video in midm mid-october, her injured arm pinned in place. please get us out of here as soon as possible, please. released from palestine square in gaza city, a sign that israel does not have complete control over northern gaza. the row unions are never far from the pain. one day after released a spokesperson for the kibbutz, said her husband aviv was confirmed killed on october 7th and this image is from a clip, father of the bibas family, likely under duress, he pleads with israel to rescue him and bring home the bodies of his family. hamas's military wing claimed without evidence one day ago that his children and wife were killed in an israeli strike, a claim israel was assessing. cnn has not confirmed the deaths or the claim of the strike. secretary of state antony blinken on the seventh day of the truce. he made mahmoud abbas in the occupied west bank, and israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu. >> we made clear the imperative that before any operations go forward in southern gaza that there be a clear plan in place that puts a premium on protecting civilians as well as sustaining and building on the humanitarian assistance getting into gaza, and the israeli government agreed with that approach. >> after the meeting, netanyahu promised the war will continue. >> reporter: we swore, i swore to eliminate hamas, and nothing will stop us. the truce held at least one more day on thursday despite an attack in jerusalem, claimed by hamas this which three israeli civilians were killed as were two palestinian gunman. in gaza, the clock is ticking. israeli forces are poised to resume a war that's destroyed parts of gaza and killed nearly 15,000 palestinians according to hamas health run authorities. humanitarian aid has flowed in, amid the wreckage, gazans stocked up on food and supplies before the fighting begins again. in a brief break, video from an ultra orthodox news outlet shows soldiers setting up a hanukkah menorah in gaza. it's unclear how many women and children are left in captivity in gaza. scenes like this, prompting the u.s. to urge for more israeli precision in the next phase of the war, that's growing closer by the hour. secretary of state antony blinken said israel was aware for the need for a plan to avoid civilian casualties. what does that look like? we may very well find out quite soon, wolf, it's about 1:00 in the morning here. hamas had until 7:00 in the morning yesterday to deliver a list of hostages that would be released to ae void the resumptn of hostilities. it came down to the last minute. i expect it will come down to the last minute again. we'll be following this closely. >> oren liebermann, stay safe, thank you very much. joining us chief national security correspondent alex marquardt and white house correspondent arlette saenz. you have been doing excellent reporting on all of the tensions behind the hostage release, and how the negotiations will only get tougher from here. that's what we all anticipate. update our viewers, what can you tell us? >> reporter: as oren was pointing out, this deal could expire. whether hamas comes up with a list of ten women and children to release tomorrow. prime minister netanyahu has made clear that when this phase of hostage releases ends, that israel will go back to the fighting. so they clearly are taking this day by day. it was touch and go last night for quite some time, for most of the evening. we understand from officials that there were at least two lists that were presented to israel, one that had dead bodies on it, one that had elderly men on it that were rejected by israel. finally hamas came up with a list of eight women and children that israel did agree to. those were the eight releases that we saw today. there was a belief going into this, two extra days of pause that hamas did have enough women and children to get through tomorrow. but that remains very much to be seen, wolf, and then we get into a situation where israel and hamas agree on the release of civilian men, of some of the idf soldier, will hamas change the terms and ask for more palestinian prisoners, for example. what seems to be clear, wolf, is if these hostage releases stall, then the fighting will start again. >> you're over there at the white house. what are the concerns and challenges right now for the biden administration? >> well, secretary of state antony blinken and officials here at the white house made clear today that they want to see an extension of this truce to get more humanitarian aid in and more hostages out of gaza, and really top of mind for officials here at the white house is the status of those remaining americans who are still in gaza. that includes that one american woman that officials had been hopeful would be able to get out as part of the negotiated release. the white house so far has been unable to prvrovide an update o her status and condition, and seven other american men being held, including three idf reservist soldiers. officials have also said that they need to get more information about each of the conditions and status of these hostages. red cross officials as part of this deal were supposed to get in, get access to the hostages, but so far that has not happened, really leaving the administration in the dark in many ways about the status of those americans. now, the possibility of expanding the hostage list beyond women and children could potentially get others out. the u.s. had been pushing later on for there to be conversations about getting elderly men out, and then also turning to try to see what they could do relating to idf soldiers. certainly the path ahead is complicated. it's unclear whether there would be any expansion of the list of the types of hostages they would release before this truce could potentially end in the coming hours. >> important point. alex, israel is clear, it will eventually resume fighting and secretary blinken who's in israel insisted that will come with guardrails to protect civilians in gaza. what are you learning about that? >> reporter: he called it an imperative. it's clear the u.s. is nervous about what comes next in terms of israeli fighting. the biden administration being extremely vocal that israel has to be much more cautious than we have seen before about civilians, about civilian casualties, about damage to civilian infrastructure. they want israel to go about their military operations in a very different way than we saw in the first part of this fighting for the past seven weeks. two of the things that secretary blinken very clearly said was there needs to be safe areas in southern and central gaza for g g gazans to go to get out of the line of fire. he did say that netanyahu and the war cabinet agreed precautions needed to be taken. it remains very much to be seen whether they will heed that american advice, those u.s. warnings. wolf. >> guys, thank you very much. right now, i want to bring in mark regev, senior adviser to benjamin netanyahu. thanks for joining us. how close is israel to a deal with hamas to extend this truce at least into san eighth day? >> i would like to tell you we're close, but unfortunately you're either there or you're not there, and the truth is we'll find out. as you know, as you've reported on cnn repeatedly that israel is open to extending the truce on the condition that we can get more houstages out. it's not clear that that's possible, and the truth is we're ready for all possibilities. we are prepared for the extension of the truce, if hamas agrees to release hostages in accordance with the understandings reached. and we're ready far return to combat. the army is ready, the idf said so this evening. if we need to return to combat, we'll be ready to go. >> is israel open to expanding this deal potentially to include male hostages if hamas is able to guarantee ten more women and children to be released as hostages? >> wolf, i apologize but i can't go into the details of what is being discussed. it is clear that if we can achieve the release of more hostages, then of course we're open to extending this humanitarian pause in the fighting, but once again, it's not clear how serious hamas is about this. our position is clear. for hostages, we're willing to extend the pause. without that, hamas is a brutal enemy, and they will be de defeated. >> which is more important, bringing home all the hostages or resuming the military campaign against hamas? >> they both complement each other. there's no contradiction. if hamas is prepared and has been over the last few days to release hostages and we got some 80 israelis out, which is every life that we have saved, that's amazing, and people are very happy about that, but they would never have done that without the military pressure that the idf, the israeli defense forces has been placing on hamas. we have been destroying their military infrastructure, we have been eliminating their senior leadership, their senior commanders. hamas didn't suddenly release these 80 israelis because they became nice people. on the contrary, they're only doing it because of the pressure. and so there's no contradiction. getting hostages out, and the military campaign against hamas go hand in hand. >> as you know, secretary blinken is now in israel. he said earlier today that israel offered what he called concrete steps to protect civilians in gaza when the fighting does resume. what are those steps? >> well, i can't go into all the details of what we said in the meeting with the secretary of state. i can say this. we shared with him maps where we said here in the southern part of the gaza strip, we have humanitarian safer zones for gazan civilians who need to flee fighting, and we have thought about that in advance, and we're suggesting that the gazans who are in neighborhoods, where they will be spotting, please evacuate, we don't want to see you in harm's way, and we've designated special areas, not one, but a number in gaza where people fleeing fighting can go and find a safer situation. >> i just want to be precise, mark. prime minister netanyahu commit to secretary blinken that israel will put in place a civilian protection plan before resuming fighting? >> the plan is already being presented. it was done so today. and we're also talking about keeping aid at very high levels. if the fighting starts again, then the aid will stop coming in on the contrary. as we pursue hamas, and we will pursue hamas relentlessly, they're a brutal enemy, and we must and will destroy their military machine, and we will end the rule over gaza. at the same time, we presume our campaign against hamas, we'll do all that we can to safeguard gaza's civilian population to keep it out of the cross fire between the idf and the terrorists and at the same time, in parallel, of course, that aid enters the gaza strip, food, water, medicine, other things, for the people of gaza, to limit the level of suffering. >> mark regev, in tel aviv, thank you so much for joining us. >> my pleasure, wolf, thank you for having me. will republican congressman george santos be booted from congress? we're going to take you inside today's house debate, and tomorrow's highly anticipated vote. republican congressman george santos is definlt ant ah of tomorrow's vote to expel him from the house of representatives, refusing to resign andtomorrow. that will be essentially to getting the two-thirds majority support. at the moment, they don't have the votes. . since he was sworn in, george santos has been at the center of the storm, now, about to meet his fate. >> he is a dedicated, committed conman who is in the halls of h would require two-thirds support in the chamber. >> george santos is a liar. >> you sir are a crook. >> a total fraud and serial liar. >> he's got to go. >> reporter: santos has survived two attempts at his expulsion, amid his 2023 federal criminal charges and the widespread lies he's told about his past, a scathing bipartisan ethics report has led to growing gop calls for his ouster after it alleged he sought to fraudulently exploit every aspect of his house candidacy for his own personal financial profit. >> having him here is unbecoming of the house, and frankly, if republicans aren't willing to police their own, how can we possibly look the american people in the eye and tell them we're willing to police folks on the other side of the aisle as well. >> reporter: santos will be just the sixth house member, the first since james traficant, and the first not being convicted of a crime. a defiant santos said he would not resign. >> if the house wants to start different precedent and expel me, that is going to be the undoing of a lot of members of this body because this will haunt them in the future where mere allegations are sufficient to have members removed from office. >> reporter: some of santos' biggest foes are fellow new york gop freshmen. >> george santos is doing what every conman and 4-year-old does, which is to ignore the truth, take no responsibility, and point at others and suggest they're worse. >> reporter: yet many are wary about setting a new precedent, including speaker mike johnson and other top republicans. >> are you concerned about the allegations of the ethics committee report? >> i think we're all concerned about those things, but that's a call for the voters. i'm not going to support that. >> reporter: expelling santos would narrow the gop's already razor thin majority and give democrats a pickup opportunity in a swing district. >> removing him prematurely is a very tough decision, notwithstanding that he certainly is not out of state. >> reporter: in a recent cnn interview santos admitting to some cof his lies. >> i have already told you this, it's insecurity, stupidity, i don't know. look, i'm human. we make mistakes. >> reporter: now, amid his defiance, george santos refused to weigh in on the specific allegations, the findings, they were in the bipartisan ethics report about campaign finance fraud, and alleging that he spent money on personal items. wolf, i just asked him about that. i said why won't you respond to the specific allegations. there's evidence in the report, detailed here, saying quote, you're a lot smarter than to ask that question. wolf. >> manu raju reporting for us. thank you very much. coming up, donald trump lashes out on social media after a new york appeals court reinstates a gag order in a civil fraud trial. we have details on his latest legal troubles. that's coming up next. the power goes out and we still have wifi to do our homework. and that's a good thing? great in my book! who are you? no power? no problem. introducing storm-ready wifi. now you can stay reliably connected through power outages with unlimited cellular data and up to 4 hours of battery back-up to keep you online. only from xfinity. home of the xfinity 10g network. new developments tonight in donald trump's civil fraud trial in new york. the former president already appearing to defy the gag order that was just reinstated by a state appeals court. our senior justice correspondent evan perez is joining us now. the court weighed in on these trump social media posts attacking the judge's family. >> that's right, wolf, and like a lot of things on the internet, it appears the social media postings that the former president and some of his allies are not hers, they're not real. that's one of the things that the judge, the court administrator's office has said. they said judge engoron's wife has sent no social media postings regarding the former president. they are not hers. and so of course, wolf, as you can see from some of these messages that are on there, this is stuff that the former president has been obsessed with for some days. lashing out against the judge's wife saying that she and the clerk who works with the judge are biassed against him and have been posting things online against him. according to the court, this is not at all related to the judge's wife, so it appears the former president is lashing out for no reason. >> and i understand that the judge also gave an update today on the timing for a decision. >> right, this is a trial now that's been going on for nine weeks, wolf, and it appears the judge says that we're going to see something in january. the end of january is when he expects to release his written opinion at the end of this civil fraud trial. we expect that some of the closing arguments will start happening in the next few weeks, and all of this is going to take several more woekeeks for it to wrap up, wolf. >> evan perez updating us on legal issues. thank you very much. m meanwhile, former president trump is causing growing alarm inside the republican party after vowing to repeal obama care despite failing to do so while he was in the white house. members of trump's team were surprised by this renewed focus. update our viewers. >> they have had a number of conversations with donald trump about what policy would look like if he were to be reelected to the white house, and none of those conversations centered around health care, even if his in-house policy team which has drafted policy proposals for if he was to reclaim the white house on immigration, on overhauling the federal government. they hadn't even drafted anything when it comes to health care. as you mentioned, on top of that, republicans, even many trump allies are still scarred by what happened in 2017, when trump was unable to fulfill a core campaign promise of repealing and replacing o ba ma care, even though he had a monopoly in washington. this is someone who was trump alied, they said health care was a loser in 2018. it's a loser now. talk about the border. talk about the economy. talk about no more foreign wars. don't talk about health care. now, there's probably one clear reason for that, and trump's renewed interest has really given new ammo to democrats. the biden campaign has seized on his threats, put out surrogates. they put out an ad today attacking trump on health care. it will be interesting to see what the next steps are if we will actu