hostages held by hamas for 48 days are expected to be released at any moment. good morning, a special edition of "america's newsroom." i'm griff jenkins. hi, molly. >> molly: i'm molly line. bill hemmer and dana perino are off. 13 women and children are being transported to southern israel at 7:00 a.m. local time in gaza fighting was paused for the first time to allow for the hostage release. and to let humanitarian aid through to civilians. the cease-fire appears to be holding. part of the deal the u.s., qatar and egypt helped broker. israel releasing three times as many palestinian terror convicts, 39 in exchange. >> griff: one of the hostages held from october 7th a 3-year-old israeli american girl. she is not expected to be among those released today. >> molly: trey yengst is live at an air base awaiting the handover. trey, to you. >> good morning. at any moment that first group of hostages will be released into the hands of the red cross and taken to this air base in southern israel where they'll be medically evaluated before being able to call loved ones. we don't know at this hour if they're taken by helicopter or bus to get here. there are conversations in the israeli government wanting to make sure this will be the most comfortable transfer possible for these young israelis and the women who will be released as part of this deal. we saw ambulances headed into this air base. they want to make sure they have all the medical equipment here. unsure of what the condition of these hostages will be like when they're received by the israelis. the idf making preparations with toys and blankets and noise canceling headphones wanting to make sure the hostages are comfortable being released. this is a group of 13 people. women and children reportedly from the same community taken into gaza on october 7th and exchanged for 24 female palestinian prisoners and 15 male teenagers. nine hours since the cease-fire went into effect. rocket alerts, it appears to be holding. the break in fighting lasts for four days. we'll see 50 israeli hostages released for 150 palestinian prisoners if all goes well. despite the cease-fire terre israelis are telling gazan forces not to leave the south. at this hour we're getting new information from the egyptians indicating 13thai hostages will also be released as part of a parallel deal. >> molly: thank you so much for keeping an eye on this. a lot of people with hope in their hearts today. >> griff: let's bring in former israeli diplomat, a former spokesperson for the israeli consulate in new york. what do you make of this historic moment as we await the first batch of hostages to be released and exchanged? >> this is an incredibly touching moment for so many israelis in israel and so many other people. israelis and others across the world. these are innocent children and women, innocent israeli civilians who were abducted from their homes by this hamas. you showed an image of one of those children who is not supposed to be released today, abigail. she is 3 1/2 years old, watched her mom and dad murdered before her very eyes before she was abducted by these monsters with her brother and sister 9 and 6-year-old hiding in a closet for 16 hours. we should never lose sight of what hamas is and what brought about this horrendous situation as we go through this process and look forward to giving them a hug and welcoming them back in israel for shabbat. >> griff: as we watch and wait to see who is released, as you point out, abigail not among them, i want the play for you yesterday the spokesman for qatar foreign minister talking about all parties being committed to this process. take a listen here. >> everybody is highly committed for the success of this humanitarian pause. the light at the end of the tunnel this crisis and why we needed to succeed and hoping and working toward succeeding. >> griff: you heard there saying he hopes this will succeed. what do you assess as we go forward in the hopes that over four days the fighting will be paused and that we will get a larger number than just the 13 we anticipate coming soon? >> israeli forces are extremely wary. we know hamas very well. we have seen hamas too many times in the past. their word -- until things actually happen, we don't consider them happening. we've seen them in 2014, after a cease-fire was announced, an hour into the cease-fire the launch and attack against the idf killing our soldiers and abducting the body of golden, blessed memory, and they keep on holding his remains, griff, to let you understand what hamas is, to make sure that his family doesn't get a proper burial. this is the kind of moral depravity of an organization that we are talking about. israeli forces are extremely wary. again, this is not a cease-fire, a pause. we're hoping to see more and more of our abducted hostages come back. but at the same time, we need to remember that the overall strategic goal of the state of israel is the eradication of hamas as a viable force controlling our southern border. the reality of october 6th can be no more. regardless of what is going to happen in the next few days. of course we're awaiting eagerly for the return of our hostages. >> griff: that is a fine line as we watch on the right side of your screen there, the rafah crossing, hostages to be released and flown to an air base not a far distance by helicopter where trey was reporting from. talk to me about the fine line, the tight rope that prime minister netanyahu must walk now because all of israel wants the hostages back but ultimately, as you mentioned, the overarching goal of eradicating hamas and preventing them from ever being able to carry out another horrific attack like the one on october 7th. >> this is very true, griff. when you think about the process that brought about the release of these abducted hostages, what happened in the last almost 50 days? israel launched an unprecedented attack on hamas which we have not done since hamas took over the gaza strip. it is because of the israeli attack against hamas terrorist strongholds that we have been able to force the hand of this very cruel and inhumane terrorist organization to release those hostages. but if we had not done so, then i don't believe -- many israelis don't believe we would have reached this point. now remember, even after our initial hostages are released in the next hopefully four days reaching about 50 or so, we still have around 190 hostages being held by hamas. again, innocent civilians abducted from their bedrooms on a saturday morning, taken into the gaza strip. the mission is still very much at hand and everything has to be done very delicately because like you said, griff, the return of our innocent hostages is israel's top priority but we can't let an october 7th reality to ever happen again. egyptian president has indicated in a recent speech he views the near future as a demilitarized gaza that is being controlled by international forces so that we can move forward into a more stable future. there are many solutions that are potentially on the table. none of them includes hamas continuing to control the gaza strip. >> griff: let me ask you about the role that the biden administration must play in somewhat of a tight rope they're walking. yesterday former ambassador to israel david friedman was on our air and said this. take a listen. >> if the pressure continues within the biden administration to handcuff israel, if that continues and israel is somehow restrained after this 4 or 5 day cease-fire ends from finishing up hamas we're talking about a mistake by america of afghanistan proportions. >> griff: what would you advise the biden administration to do assuming we are able to get through the four-day period successfully? >> i think first of all it needs to be very clear that israelis overall have been extremely appreciative of the united states, of course, and standing by israel not just morally but militarily on the ground by sending forces and u.s. marines we're appreciative but also very clear, griff, it is in the interest of not just israel, but the united states of america, the moderate sunni arab regimes and many countries in europe to see hamas eradicated as a viable controller of the gaza strip. hamas is one of iran's key proxies that allows for constant instability in the region. the onslaught against israel partially was driven by iran to derail the potential agreement that was to be signed for normalization between israel and saudi arabia. so if we are to rise to a new future in the middle east at any point that is not going to look like anything at all on october 6th, we have to make sure the mission is completed and i have every faith that the united states understands that strategic consideration and will not shackle israel's hands in getting the job done. i can assure you that there is an unequivocal demand by all members of israeli society wherever you look that hamas no longer is in control of the gaza strip. the israeli public will not accept any such reality and no matter what is put on the table as for the future, hamas cannot be part of that equation, cannot be. >> griff: we're watching on your screen at the rafah crossing in the southern part of gaza into egypt. ambulance driving. we don't know whether or not hostages are in that. it is very likely they could be. the 13 women and children israelis that are being released. we don't know if there are americans among them. meanwhile, there are 39 palestinians being released, among them 24 women, 15 teens. some of them convicted. talk to me about what it must be like to be in israel now watching this play out and how they feel about the deal. because on paper it is a 3-1 swap, which is not a good deal if you consider the numbers. >> well, when you think about -- imagine who are the players so to speak in the field. on the one hand hamas, a deprafshd, inhumane terrorist organization and then you have israel. the jewish state whose foundation is we who saves one life saves the world entirely. we value human life above anything else. even in the warfare that we're conducting in gaza against this terrible terror organization it is israel that's defending the children and civilians and sending fighters ahead. hamas cowardly hides behind its children and women and civilians. as the idf forces entered into gaza it was incredible to see how hamas is terribly cruelly and cynically useing civilian infrastructure, the hospitals, or schools where idf forces identified in a classroom right next to a classroom weapons put their by hamas and clear while students and pupils were sitting studying whatever they were studying is a different issue, they were sitting nearby planning terrorist attacks knowing that israel, the jews, will not attack them because it is a school, because it's a hospital. so for us, each life is incredible and we cherish it in the most precious of manners. that's why, when we look at the price that we're paying, i take you back to the dealing with hamas which saw the release of 1,000 palestinian terrorists in exchange for an israeli soldier. our value, our respect for life is incredible and it cannot be sum areized better than my statements made by these terrorists who often say that they adore death, whereas we, israel, appreciate life. nothing says it more. >> griff: we're watching on our screen as we see what appears to be a fuel truck possibly heading north. we know in just today's arraignment there are some 35,000 gallons of gasoline going into a desperate humanitarian situation. what do you make of the humanitarian situation on the ground and the need to continue for that supplies to flow? >> let me just say this. the terrible situation in the gaza strip is horrendous. what gazans have been exposed to. but we have to consider the reason for this situation. if we're unable to identify the cause, we'll never be able to deal with the problem. that has always been the issue with the heads of the international relief organizations who keep on decrying the situation, but they fail to point a finger at the culprit. this is the terrorist organization hamas, which has been abusing the gazan population and has been using them not just as human shields. all of the money that came into the gaza strip. the level of tunnels that israel has seen underneath gaza is unparalleled. imagine if the billions of dollars invested there would go for infrastructure and schools and hospitals so naturally this is a terrible, terrible situation. but i can also tell you that in addition, we have seen the gazan population by hamas. they have been teaching in their classrooms innocent children as they are starting their way in school, we found books like president herzog showed of mein kampf who were bred on nazi ideology. an entire population is bred on hatred and why so many of them not just the terrorists but ordinary gazans who entered into israel on that horrendous october 7th and perpetrated the terrible massacre and rape of children by people who were filled with hate. so we can no longer look away. not just for the demilitarization of hamas and making sure that it no longer controls gaza, but also the -- making sure we don't look away from incitement and hatred. we saw the result in israel on october 7th. we cannot allow it anymore. >> griff: looking live at a feed from the israeli government. now we are taking you back to the rafah crossing as we wait and watch for this historic moment. just in the last 20 seconds or so i have left. how confident are you that this will continue, this pause, this exchange? do you have a certain degree of confidence in this or do you anticipate it will break down eventually? >> at the end of the day the military pressure that the idf is applying, hamas needs this pause and we need our hostages back. >> griff: we do indeed. thank you very much for your time and we'll continue to watch this. check in with us if you get breaking news. thank you, sir. molly. >> molly: a lot of people with hope in their hearts right now. alex hogan is live at the schneider children's medical center near tel aviv. this is where the women and the children released who have spent more than 40 days now in captivity in somewhat unknown conditions. we can imagine, of course, some government officials have referred to under grounds dungens. they are headed in your direction to see the doctors there at that facility. what do you know right now, alex? >> yes, this is the schneider children's facility where we know at least some of these children will be brought. they'll be away from other patients and have privacy and where people finally reunite with their families and loved ones. nearly seven weeks. talked with a lot of families in my time here how traumatic this has been. they wonder every day what their loved ones have been through in the last seven weeks. we talk about what these hostages have lived through and the physical conditions that they likely are in. i talked with one expert a couple of weeks ago how living underground and the long-lasting effect that would have of not seeing sunlight and being mal nourished and dehydration issues on top of the psychological issues. all the children will have access to a therapist and plenty of doctors in the facility behind me. we can look at this live broadcast we're able to see. egypt says it is preparing to receive those hostages and through negotiations we're also learning now that egypt's mediation efforts have reportedly yielded the release of an extra 12 hostages. these are thai nationals. in the october 7th attacks when hamas came here to egypt not only killing about 1200 people on top of all these hostages that were taken that were israeli, a lot of foreign nationals as well. there is a large percentage of thai foreign workers in that part of southern israel working in the fields and they were a big part of the people who were taken. several weeks ago about 4 or 5 weeks ago when i was here we saw a lot of the hotels in tel aviv completely full with thai foreign nationals. they were then able to go back to thailand and big charter buses that would pick them up and take them to the airport throughout the day and night until most had gone home. they, of course, had many hostages that were taken that were thai nationals. those thai nationals through the new brokered negotiation are among those who have been released. we did hear from the thai prime minister on social media saying there is official confirmation that those thai workers have been released. we'll have to see what their condition is. a lot of negotiations being brokered now and conversations how to get them back to thailand as quickly as possible. they as well can be reunited with their family members. that's completely separate from the 13 extra people that we are likely going to see, many of them again children that will be here at this medical facility. we have been seeing people coming by honking their horns. a lot of people eager to see what is going to happen and give the support to the families who have been waiting for so many weeks, molly. right now there is one of the ministers in the country speaking to some of the fame lalls at the same gathering we typically see families gathering in the central square protesting and calling on the government to do more. there is a lot of hope today this will all come to fruition. we haven't received the official word yet that these 13 people have officially crossed. there was hope and expectation that among them in this group of 13 there could be those three expected dual citizens. a little girl having a fourth birthday is not among those 13, molly. >> molly: you've covered a lot of great ground as we continue to watch the rafah crossing. we see a lot of movement and people and vehicles going in and out. as you noted we don't know precisely where the hostages are, how the exchange, how far along things are going in the process. one of the things you talked about a moment ago was the mental health aspect of all of this. of course these hostages are getting out and going to need physical and mental help. you talked about just the capacity what it is like to be held underground. they also have information that authorities may want. they want to talk to them and maybe get some idea about the other hostages left behind. i suppose they need to be fairly delicate about that with women and children that have suffered so much recently. >> i think that's going to be the first focus is reuniting these families who have been such emotional turmoil over these weeks. after all of that is said and done the reunions we likely won't hear comments from the families today and the celebration of seeing your loved one. after that there will be an all hands on effort to comb through whatever memories these hostages can pull together about what they saw. where they were. were they all together? the 13 people coming back were all from the same village. we expect it to be along the border if they were from the same village. those were largely the villages that were attacked. in terms of what that means, we can also potentially deduce that it was a better than hoped experience for them. maybe if these 13 people were all from the same village maybe they were together. that would be a much better situation than had they all been separated. that's not necessarily to say it's true. they could have all been separated for these seven weeks and reunited for them to be now brought through the rafah crossing. but that will be a big question for some of these investigators today of what's likely to come. >> molly: one of the hope that so many of the hostage families had that fathers were still with their sons and mothers still with their babies and all of that. you are right. one of the big questions we want to find the answers to. alex hogan, thank you so much. historic day there on the ground in israel and we'll be coming back to you later, of course. thanks for the reporting, griff. >> griff: let's go back to the air base where trey yengst is outside awaiting those 13 hostages after they are released at the egypt and where they'll fly to you. what's the latest? what can you tell us? >> griff, a lot of anticipation right now across israel about these 13 hostages. women and children among the first large group that will be released by hamas. palestinian media at this hour is reporting the hostages are on the move. we have not been able to independently confirm that but align with the timing in all this. head to egypt's rafah crossing in the custody of the red cross and transferred into egypt where they will then cross back into israel. how they will get to the air base we aren't sure. two major options discussed. israeli media and by officials. one is by helicopter. we saw images of a helicopter being prepared earlier today. and the other is by a small bus. they want to make sure they can evaluate the hostages when safely back in israeli hands and make sure they give them what they need and not put the small children in a situation where they will be scared by a helicopter or loud noises. they even have noise-canceling headphones for them and sunglasses. they have been held so long in rooms or underground they want to make sure they are comfortable. we're learning also at this hour that in addition to the 13 women and children that will come out in the first group as part of this four-day cease-fire agreement there is a parallel agreement that will allow 12thai hostages to come out of gaza today released by hamas as part of a separate negotiation. these hostages were taken into gaza also on october 7th. many of them workers that were in the small communities along the border with gaza. so an indication that 25 people total, if this all goes through, could get out of gaza today as part of the two parallel deals. griff and molly. >> griff: you talked about the two options, will they be flown or driven in a bus. orient for our viewers the proximity to the air base where you are and where the expected release of these hostages is taking place at the egyptian border? >> great question. i want you to visualize a map of israel. in the southwest corner you have the border with the gaza strip and then you have the gaza strip. on the southern part of the gaza strip you have the rafah crossing, the second largest crossing between egypt and gaza. and so they will be released into the hands of the red cross there. cross into egypt and then head east with the red cross. this will be all monitored by the israelis, cross into israel through a crossing that's normally used to evaluate trucks and security crossing for goods. they will come into israel and at that moment the decision will be made, based on the condition of these hostages, to either fly them to the air base where we're at now or drive them. this is an air base that sits outside of the southern israeli city ofber sheba. it takes an hour to drive from the gaza border to this location and then from here they will either go by ambulance or to helicopters and taken to regional hospitals. the bottom line is israeli officials want to make it as comfortable as possible for the hostages. we understand they'll have a soldier assigned to every individual hostage. the soldiers are all women from what we understand. they want to insure they aren't putting these vulnerable mothers and children in a situation where they would fear any additional fear than what they've already experienced, the true hell on earth over the past 50 days being held inside gaza. when they get to the further medical treatment, they will have psychologists and also have doctors around the clock making sure they're okay. a note from my producer right now. according to israeli media the hostages are now with the red cross. they aren't yet in israel but they are with the red cross. it means the plan is moving forward as expected. they will go into the hands of the red cross where we understand according to israeli media they are now. that update coming in. they will be delivered into israeli custody and able to make phone calls once they arrive at the air base to loved ones. something to note israeli media reporting that family members have been notified. we don't have the names of the hostages yet. later in the day we will. family members are notified and on the way to the hospitals now in central israel. it will be just a moment of relief for the entire population here that truly has experienced a collective trauma but also for these family members waiting for seven weeks for any information about their children and their loved ones. >> griff: significant news there, trey. hostages on move in the hands of the red cross as this plays out. the truce that went into motion at midnight here in the east coast now has been holding for some nine hours. i just want to ask you one big picture question, trey, because we spoke with the former israeli consulate spokesperson a few minutes ago and he said look, make no mistake, when this process is over, it does not deter the israeli government and prime minister netanyahu's ultimate goal of eradicating hamas. >> absolutely. look, the bottom line for the israelis is they've made very clear once this cease-fire is over, they'll go back pushing forward with their military plans inside the gaza strip. i want to give you color from inside gaza talking with civilians today inside and they say this is a moment of relief for the more than 2 million palestinians who are living under hamas rule still in the southern part of the strip. and now that the israeli air and ground campaign has been paused, they are in the streets going to some markets and even some images of palestinians going to the beach today just to have a moment of clarity and a moment of relief. there are so many civilians there caught amid this war. with that said, israeli officials, we were with military officials and soldiers inside the gaza strip a couple of days aggregateing a firsthand look at the battles are remaining on high alert. they understand the lull in fighting could be an opportunity for hamas and islamic jihad to organize and move assets and weapons to different parts of gaza using the tunnel network beneath the strip so they're prepared when the cease-fire ends to start ambushing izturisly forces. a few thousand hamas fighters have been killed since the world war ii began seven weeks of ago. tens of thousands remain who have moved to the second and third largest cities in gaza and hold up in tunnels, shelters, bunkers. it is critical to talk about this here. when we look at the big picture we look at a temporary pause in the fighting. a pause bringing much relief to the civilian populations on both sides of the fence and as we reported here 13 israeli hostages at least coming home today and more to follow with a total of 50 if it does go forward. the fighting will resume. four days from now if the extension is not put into place and more hostages are released, israel will resume their air and ground campaign against gaza to find the rest of the hostages and destroy hamas leadership. >> griff: talk to us about the fighting that you laid out there. in the northern part of the gaza strip you have gaza city, that's where you did incredible reporting in the tunnels. but the southern most city where you say a lot of the fight may go, how will that fighting differ perhaps to what we've seen in the north? >> largely we've discussed gaza city as being a hamas stronghold. israeli military early in the war told us 80% of hamas fighters and leadership was in gaza. the majority moved to the south understanding israeli forces have spent weeks operating in the northern part of the strip. they're going block by block and infantry to secure that area. but remember the leader of the military wing of hamas, the man behind all of this responsible for organizing and carrying out the october 7th massacre. he is known as the butcher, the second largest city and believed to be in that city now with fighters in that network of tunnels beneath the ground preparing for the battle ahead. so when we look at the days and weeks ahead, we're looking at a difficult battle for israeli forces. remember they've told more than 2 million citizens to leave and they are now in the southern part of gaza. israel has to look at their map and plan right now and they will use these four days to do so to figure out what comes next and how they will operate in that heavily populated area to go after hamas leadership. griff and molly. >> griff: trey yengst on the ground on the air base where fox news confirmed hostages are on their way. trey, we'll check back in with you as news breaks. thank you. molly. >> molly: a glimmer of hope. we go to mark meredith live in washington. we've been watching this all unfold this morning and getting the good news now that the hostages are at least on the move, a bit of baited breath as we wait to see as they safely reached israel and got to hospital and soldiers waiting to be part of the greeting team. i want to go to you. the biden administration has played a role in this. the president making calls all along. here we are in the midst of watching this history unfold and hopefully some of these hostages coming home today. your thoughts. >> good morning to you. you're right. the white house watching these developments very closely and to your other point, yes, the white house has been actively involved ever since the terrorist attack in early october. we think of the multiple calls and trips officials have made to qatar and other u.s. allies in the region basically trying to get to where we are today. the question, of course, for the white house is going to be what kind of response they officially offer once we learn more details about those people who have been released, will we see the white house say okay, step one, what do we do next? not necessary plea take a victory lap because it has been so tragic but is it more of a muted sponsor hear from the president directly? he is up in nantucket for the thanksgiving holiday. yesterday when he visited first responders he indicated he may speak today. we don't have a time of when it would happen. he crossed his fingers when saying what will happen with the hostages, are they close, will the deal come to fruition? that was something we saw earlier this week during the white house turkey pardoning on monday reporter shouted to the president what about the hostages? the president chose his words very carefully and crossed his fingers. the white house has been careful not to say too much. they didn't want to complicate the negotiations any further than they already were. we hear from administration offices when they would go to the podium would say that we are simply allowing this process to play out offering some guidance and insight but they weren't going to be doing it in the public sphere because they didn't want to jeopardize the lives of the people being held. saying too much could complicate the process further. a lot of interest to see how the white house handles some of the bitterness that we've seen from members of the democratic party urging the white house to be more forceful against the israelis. basically to stop the fighting, to stop retaliation because the civilian death toll had grown so large. whether or not we see the white house have to face more political pressure from those lawmakers back in d.c. after the holiday is a big point. even bernie sanders from vermont had suggested that any additional aid to go to israel would need to have conditions placed on it. they didn't want the money just to be a blank check, if you will. they wanted to insure that israel would have to comply with certain safeguards. molly, for the white house certainly watching these developments and live pictures coming out of the crossing. i would also imagine we'll wait several more hours until we hear from the president directly and monitoring to see what his team may have to say about this. they have been involved speaking to qatar and others trying to get to this point. >> molly: no one wants to be the big name public official that puts a snag in everything. israeli officials describing it as very complex and we are starting to see the dominoes come together as we begin to watch, still watching the rafah crossing. mark meredith, thank you for your insights this morning. a reminder of the broad geopolitical challenges involved in this beyond the hostage exchange that we're beginning to watch right now. we are live in israel with all of the breaking developments on this first hostage prisoner exchange. more on this when we return. with the money i saved, i started a dog walking business. i was a bit nervous at first but then i figured it's just 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now is florida congressman corey mills. thank you, sir, for chatting with us as we're watching his re unfold here. so many families will have their prayers answered today but so many others will not. we must remember who hamas is and continue to hold other hostages. your thoughts now as we're watching this very complex as put by israeli officials operation that is beginning to get underway with the somewhat good news that some of the hostages appear to have been released thus far. your thoughts. >> certainly a very complex issue. you have roughly 50 hostages being held by hamas and the negotiations that was in part done by qatar but also we have to give credit to the irc. the international red cross, icrc who has been great trying to help to act as a mediator or recipient of hostages. 150 are demanded by the israelis to be released. as we see the first 13 will go forward. i expect that those will be broken into independent groups at the rafah bridge as they go into egypt. the elderly or those older israeli prisoners will likely go straight to the hospital for debriefing and medical. the younger will be immediately united with their parents. and a sense of comfort and try to take them to the hospitals you talked about. there is no real details as of yet on how the hamas hostages will or prisoners will be released. so i'm still curious to see how it all works. i want to reiterate one thing which is that i'm always very pleased when there is these types of incidents where innocent combatant or innocent individuals in a combatant situation are released or are unharmed as we hope. but unfortunately, this doesn't mean the end. as we've seen from the spokesperson of hamas, they said that they intend to continue to fight. and so this cease-fire to do a prisoner exchange is great and hostage release, but i would be curious to see the details as it moves forward and if it continues. >> molly: several great points including the red cross deserves a lot of praise here. throughout the course of these negotiations, there has been an effort to get perhaps members of the red cross or some entity in to see the hostages that remain. we haven't been able to see that occur. we don't have a lot of information. we perhaps will be able to get some information about the conditions of the hostages, how they've been held, who is still being held from these first people that are being released. as you mentioned, a delicate situation. they still need to be medically evaluated and a mental health aspect being held in captivity for so long. what do you think? >> that's right. we have to start thinking about the aftermath of all this. the post traumatic treatments that will be necessary. but you make a great point about the icrc being able to try to get in to do an evaluation on what the conditions of the actual hostages are. i think that's pertinent especially as many reported that some of the hostages taken had received injuries, gunshots, etc. so a proof of life of sorts would have been something very helpful but getting the necessary medical treatment. i'm sure that not all of the hostages are being treated in a very good way when you think about the barbarism and horrendous things the hamas organization has done in israel. it is a lot still to unfold here. hostage negotiations are tricky and exchanges are trickier. we have to be ready for anything and happy that the first 13 will safely get back to their families and get the recovery their need but we see the complete release of all hostages and continue to try to secure israel as a free state. >> molly: you spent a lot of time in the middle east in iraq and afghanistan. part of what's happening is a propaganda war, a big propaganda war going on here. we know the hostages being released are aware that perhaps their mothers,s brothers, other family members are left behind so we should be conscious that they may not be able to speak completely freely about what they experienced. your thoughts on these coming days and what they may be able to say and perhaps not say. >> well, i will say this. you talk about a propaganda or misinformation campaign going on, the warfare that is being led ahead. we have to pay attention here at home domestically where that's going on where we know social media platforms like tiktok and others are being utilized to create a pro-hamas and pro-palestinian movement within our own nation. this is not something that's just going on overseas or abroad. it is happening on our own soil and need to be cautious about this. we know there is a geopolitical alignment, if you will, between china, russia, iran and north korea. china is the leader with russia and misinformation warfare. the igc and others are getting this. a lot of the hostages, given whatever type of traumatic incident or events have taken place, many will be very sheltered and many will need time to heal, to counsel, to feel comfortable again. one of the women that i had rescued in afghanistan in 2021, this mother miriam and her three children. it took us 11 days to get her. we did the first successful ground evacuation out of afghanistan with her. after the fact, she had to go to numerous doctors appointments and such to try to figure out how to try to sleep again. she would wake up thinking she was still there and hear some of the same things going on around her during the failed afghan withdrawal by the biden administration and there is a lot of things that will continue to try and come from this and there be tremendous amounts of treatment necessary especially for those not trained for such things. a lot of us in the military, especially whether tier 1 or 2 or even pilots, we go through school that teaches you what to expect and what to go through when it comes to survive, escape, resist, evade. a lot of these haven't had that training. the mental impact will have long term is something you can only evaluate once they are released. >> molly: one of the things you talked about there was the rescue of hostages. a very complex situation. even now we're seeing a prisoner exchange. it is described as israeli officials as very complex. it is happening in stages. your thoughts on the potential of what that means. does it offer a greater possibility that things could go wrong or is there such an incentive here on both sides they both want to see prisoners released, hostages released, palestinians want these prisoners that are convicted of terrorism and all sorts of things released as well. >> well, i predict this first exchange of the 13 hostages are being held will be transferred into the custody of the israel government should go fairly smoothly. the reason why is because i expect the hamas will try to negotiate for a much larger thing on the second and potentially third and fourth rescue, exchange. i think the first one will be while complex and needing to be in stages where they can verify one side is not trying to fool the other. i think the first one will go the smoothest out of all at the end of the day. it's new, fresh, unforsen variables. hamas wants to negotiate for larger terms down the road. on the next exchange. they are holding 50, only releasing 13 in this event. in this next exchange they'll have a lot more demands. as the israeli defense force continues to be successful in clearing out hamas in gaza and other areas, which i fully support israel's right to its own defense and elimination of terrorist organizations, we have to understand there will be a larger ask when it comes to the next exchange. >> molly: great point. appreciate your insights as we are at the beginning potentially for a very precarious days. thank you very much, congressman. griff. >> griff: molly, we continue to watch the crossing there in rafah in egypt where we understand fox confirming that the hostage exchange is underway. we want to go to nantucket now where lucas tomlinson is living following the president spending the holiday. what are you hearing? has the administration or any of the president's staff weighed in yet? >> they have, griff. recall not long after president biden arrived in nantucket tuesday night before midnight the president put out a statement saying this hostage deal should bring additional americans, some americans home from this deal. we find out this day american citizens are not part of this first tronch. a short time ago a u.s. official tells me glad to see the process moving forward. we're doing all we can, including to secure the release of americans. we're focused on it hourly and just yesterday president biden was asked about the hostage deal and this is what he said yesterday. >> any up dates? >> president biden: i'm not prepared to give you an update until it's done. >> are you expecting the 3-year-old girl to be among the hostages released? >> president biden: i keep my fingers crossed. >> just like the rest of us citizens are watching the hostage release to see who comes out today and also who comes out over the next few days. this is a four-day process. the white house is watching this hourly. president biden is receiving updates on this deal, griff. >> griff: lucas tomlinson. we continue to watch the rafah crossing. we confirm the hostage transfer underway. we'll be back after this break. 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(vo) learn more. it's your vision, it's your verizon. >> molly: we are watching this hostage release in realtime right now. the israeli media is reporting the hostages have been transferred to egypt. all eyes there on the rafah crossing. we've been watching that all morning waiting for further word. we don't know their precise identities and waiting to hear when they reach an air base and potentially later on a hospital for evaluation. at this point in time, we have confirmation that the process is getting underway and much more to learn and to watch in the hours ahead. griff. >> griff: molly, back here at home pro-palestinian demonstrators are planning another day of disruption. this time hoping to shut down black friday shopping as they continue calling for a complete end to fighting in gaza. the cover of today's "new york post" calling protestors bloody idiots after they tried to block the macy's thanksgiving parade by gluing their hands to the street. cb cotton is live in new york city with the latest. hi, cb. >> good morning. the protest is happening here in new york city's washington square park. people here calling for a permanent cease-fire in the israel/hamas war. across the country other pro-palestinian organizers calling on people to shut down black friday. this happening right now in boston. we have a live look. people gathering outside the puma store speaking out against the sport company's reported ties to the israeli football association following other pro-palestinian rallies we saw here in new york city yesterday. one interrupting the macy's thanksgiving day parade. police had to step in. watch. and again this massive rally happening, another massive rally happening after the parade. hundreds marching from madison square park to the macy's store in harold square people shouting when you're shopping bombs are dropping. the new york public library was also vandalized. as the rally gets underway we're watching how the hostage release will affect people's interactions here. i can tell you there is a small counter protest starting to develop pro-israel. people waving flags and things like that. we're closely monitoring these developments, griff. >> griff: quickly, are you aware, are protestors aware of what's taking place, the transfer of the hostages, the cessation of fighting temporarily? >> right now, griff, i can tell you people aren't really talk about that. i'm not hearing that in chatter. when speakers start to make their way to the podium we'll listen for that news. >> griff: cb got onlive in new york city. thank you very much. ol