hamas has released 14 more israeli hostages today, the third day of the ceasefire, and no word on the american hostages that the white house had believed could be included today. since bibi netanyahu's war cabinet accepted the deal, hamas has now released 40 israeli hostages and the release of 150 palestinian prisoners. of course, we're very happy for those released and their anguished families. net an ya hue stressed the war will continue. >> and assure that the day after hamas, there will be no threat to israel. >> i don't trust hamas to do anything right now. i only trust hamas to respond to pressure. howard: let's stop right there. the media should not fall into the hamas propaganda trap the that a this is some grand humanitarian the gesture blessed by god. they kidnapped the israelis as a bargaining chip, seizing 240 hostages, most of them civilian families including elderly people and infants. think about how barbaric that is. look at that, a 2-year-old, an 85-year-old released friday. here's ohad, 9 years old, being reunited with his father. and hamas, which held up yesterday's hostage release for hours, will use the ceasefire to reset its military and put its fighters in a better position to kill more israelis. netanyahu also came under pressure from president biden and says he'll, after the pause he'll reassume the military campaign to topple hamas which, don't forget, started this war with its brute almas kerr on october 7th. i'm howard kurtz, and this is "mediabuzz." ♪ howard: the hostage deal is drawing sharply different reactions from commentators across the spectrum. >> the problem is you wonder where the hamas fighters are going to go every time you pause. hey, five days? give you 40. give me another five days, i'll give you 20. then give me another -- yeah, give me another 20 days, i'll give you another 10 is. so this is the ultimate leverage. >> it's hard to imagine that the devastation of gaza is what's moving bibi netanyahu to make a deal. it's the political pressure he's under. >> the problem, however, there are four times that number still held hostage including americans. >> bluntly, hamas wins in this particular case. they get the resupply, they get the reportion they get to improve their positions, they get to improve their sniper positions, the use of their ambushes. >> there is no equivalency in kidnapping a 2-year-old and a 4-year-old and in murdering more than 1300 people and what's going on today in this hostage release. it's just, it's just beyond fathomable. howard: we'll go to israel shortly for a live report, but joining us to analyze the coverage in grand rapids, michigan, robby soave, and in san diego, laura fink, ceo of -- communications. robby, good news this finally happened. it seemed like it was delayed a couple hours, not as long as a yesterday, but is the media's natural tendency to portray hostage releases as joyous, you have lives saved, families reunited, overshadowing what a savage act it is for hamas to kidnap civilians? >> you're exactly right. and, of course, it's very theming to be celebratory the about this because families are being reunited with people they feared were dead or, you know, languishing under horrific conditions. so i think it's okay to have some recognition of this as good news for those people and for their families. but we still must be clear-eyed about what a hamas has done, about where the blame lies and about the fact that in a pause -- any pause in fighting can benefit that terrorist organization, that it cannot be trusted, that it violated an existing ceasefire. that's what kicked off this whole war, was hamas' actions on october 7th. so as long as the media must continue to, you know, explain -- these aren't two equal partners at some deal here. this is a terrorist organization that kidnapped people at a music festival, that shot them in their homes and in their cars and at a bus stations, and we can make no excuse for that. howard: could not agree more. one of the israelis released today also has russian citizenship. so, laura, that a has -- hamas holding up yesterday's release for hours claiming israel didn't send enough humanitarian aid to gaza before backing off, kind of muppetting the coverage -- manipulating the coverage as well as the families' emotions. >> well, hamas from day one, even pre-day one has sought to manipulate emotions. we saw that with the fighters pretending that they were exclusively capturing and killing militants and soldiers on the israeli side and then cradling children after killing them just minutes before. so this is a propaganda war for hamas. it's certainly accurate. and i think that, obviously, we should certainly cover it in a way that does not forget or that neglects the atrocities that head to the situation that we are now in. i think also the coverage of the issues of the palestinian people and the casualties involved in the israeli attacks in their efforts to eradicate hamas also has to be covered. and i think we see some of that as well. i want to make sure that we highlight that that is not propaganda, but that is simply coverage of the impact of war. howard: right. yesterday it look looked like the deal might collapse during that long delay. president biden spoke directly to the i myrrh of qatar -- emir of qatar, and then the it was back on. robby, there were protests in israel led by some of the hostage families to pressure bibi to take the deal and free the initial 50, which would be true if we get the further release on the fourth day tomorrow, hostages, women and children. even though that would leave many in hamas' hands. that's the frustration. >> yeah. look, it's very difficult, and you can't really begrudge anyone whose own family members or to loved ones are being held from wanting to do anything possible to get them home. that's something american families have faced when american service members or, you know, people in the middle east have been held by terrorist groups. they want to do anything possible to bring if them home, and the u.s. government, you know, has to act within reason, can't, you know, sacrifice our entire national security for that purpose. so i understand them, and it's a terrible, it's a terrible situation that involves a lot of clear-eyed policy making including, you know, from our own administration, biden messaging to netanyahu and, you know, continuing to say what we think is reasonable given, frankly, how much support we've given to israel. think it's justified for us to do that. but let's not do what the irish leader said, saying that the children released, they were lost and then they're found as if they, you know, got lost on the woods to grandmother's house or something. people of that leftist bent on social media just denying any malice on hamas' part is really sickening. howard: yeah. some people earlier claimed there were no hostages, it was all fake, but now we see human beings being released. laura, new york times says bibi's war cabinet debated for weeks whether to take the deal. some were opposed, didn't want to go along with the ceasefire because, obviously, they were worried that such a stoppage of the bombing and and other attacks would give the hamas military a chance to regroup. >> and that's the balance that they see. and i think one of the challenges in reporting on all of this is that you have the fog of war, and then you also have the fog of negotiations. we don't have the information that these leaders have as they're engaging with militants in tunnels and through the qatari government. so this is a really complex negotiation, and it's difficult for the public to digest it because we don't have it all. now certainly, benjamin netanyahu's government has been rightly criticized for their lapse in judgment and their lapse in security that would have led e to anticipating this attack. he also has members of that cabinet that will be making these hostage negotiation decisions are from the far right, so they have in the past and continue to be heavy, lean heavy into the hawkishness rather than negotiation. and i think that's where the international pressure from the u.s. and others came in to be reasonable and to try to do what is best for the hostages, the israeli people and the palestinians. howard: right. you know, robby, you kind of touched on this earlier, but to expand a little bit, the biden white house leapt the press know that joe biden -- let the press know that joe biden had been privately pressuring biif binetanyahu and -- bibi netanyahu that he wanted a temporary truce given the soaring death toll in gaza. i think that contributed, fairly or unfairly, to world opinion turning against israel. >> right. and, frankly, we have to think about the images coming out of gaza. it is horrific. and we want, you know, israel really wants to be a safe and secure place, we wan america to be safe and secure, and i worry about years from now just beyond the humanitarian toll people who, palestinians who have lost friends and family members, do they turn to terrorism years after this, you know, to continue their war against israel because of the injustices they've suffered. now, hamas is absolutely responsible. they launched this. they attacked, killed, tortured innocent people. but, of course, you know, the bulk of the palestinians are also to some degree hostages of hamas which is an autoa accuratic government that hasn't held elections since before most of them were born today. so is as israel, you know, pursues justice and tries to get its people back, it does need to think, you know, in the long term. we can't, we don't want to make the problem worse, we want the solve the problem, and that's going to take some level of negotiation, but it's difficult because hamas is a bad faith actor x that's something everyone in the media needs to recognize especially. howard: absolutely. and hamas, i would go further than an autoa accuratic government, i would say it's a dictatorship. many palestinians may support it, many may not, but they don't have any if power to do anything. so, laura, this is something of a political win for president biden reinforced by the latest release today. and yet the coverage reflects how unpopular his handling of the war is especially among younger people who dislike israel and favor hamas which means favoring the destruction of israel because that's e in hamas' own charter. it's not speculation by anybody other than the people who use the chant, you know, from the river to the sea. >> well, you know, i haven't heard young people siding with hamas. i think what young people and others who are anti-war feel is that there is a humanitarian and human cost in war, and they have a distenth aversion to that -- distinct aa version having grown up with wars that they perceived to be unsuccessful. so when you look at -- and i think that the data bears that out in terms of the palestinian toll, the toll on children and women which in less than two months has exceeded the number of women and children killed in two years in ukraine. the facts on the ground, the density of the gazan population and the palestinians there, this there truly has been devastating. i think you see that reflected in their anti-war stance. and i think the media has a responsibility to cover that as well as to cover the devastation that we see with the families, with the hostages and the threat to israel's security. that balance is incredibly hard to strike and, certainly, will impact public opinion here, in the arab world now and in the future. howard: well, i'm going to disagree with that because i think there are plenty of young people who show up to pro-palestinian and pro-hamas demonstrations and are siding with the terrorists because that's what's going on here. let me just, you know, there was so much bad publicity about israel's attack on the el shifa hospital, let me put up the security camera footage found on october 7th of hamas rushing two hostages into that hospital. so the idea that the hospital was not used for anything other than medical treatment of sick and wounded patients, i think, was completely disproven by this as well as some of the discovery of underground tunnels. up next, a live report from israel on the ago a nicing hostage situation -- agonizing hostage situation. ♪ from a backed up gut? miralax works naturally with the water in your body to help you go... ...free your gut. and your mood will follow. for 8 grams of fiber, try new mirafiber gummies. >> tech: cracked windshield on your new car? you don't have to take it to the dealer. bring it to safelite. we do more replacements and recalibrations than anyone else. >> customer: thank you so much. >> tech vo: schedule now. >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace ♪ (vo) sail through the heart of historic cities and unforgettable scenery with viking. unpack once and get closer to iconic 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before they are brought back to israeli soil. they will go through medical checks, and search -- eventually, brought to separate hospitals across the country based op you are their medical concerns and their age, and that is where they will be reuated with their families. -- reunited with their families. we just got the official word from qatar, instrumental in the negotiations over the last few days, we just received word of who we are likely to see. so 14 israeli hostages, 3 thai foreign nationals, also hostages taken on october 7th, and and one of the israeli hostages is a dual citizen with a russian citizenship. howard: right. >> reporter: it is worth noting what is specifically different with this hostage, the whole deal was contingent upon releasing women and children, but this israeli russian citizen is actually an adult and a man who was taken hostage on october 7th. and hamas if says this is a gesture to the russian president vladimir putin to show some solidarity with russia's stance on the war. so we will continue to wait to officially see them cross through the rafah crossing. one big question that we've also seen is, is there going to be any potential american release -- howard: exactly. >> reporter: -- true this deal, we are expecting there could be at least one american dual citizen that could be released today, and that is because we expect to see three by the end of tomorrow which is the end of the ceasefire. howard: right. >> reporter: now, we just officially of received word right now as i'm speaking to you that we can officially name those who will be released, so i'm going to read off some of the names for you. abigail, the big news we can confirm, that is the little girl who is 4 years old, and she is the dual u.s. citizen. howard: right. >> reporter: we can talk about her back story after really tragic, what happened to her and her family. but the others, ella, 8 and a half years old. [inaudible] 14. hagar, 40. uval, 8. oria, years old. chen goldstein, 49 years old. emma goldstein, 17 years old. gal, 11 years old, telma, 9 years old. adrienne segall, 82 years old. we're seeing officially the confirmation of these names and also confirmation that some of these families -- howard: yeah, let me just jump in on the 4-year-old girl, because i am so relieved to hear that. at the same time, it's an absolutely tragic story that underlines hamas' brutality because her parents were murdered, correct? >> reporter: yes. so she was with her family on october 7th in this kibbutz, and her parents tried to flee with her, and they were killed. they were gunned down. and one of the neighbors actually found her covered in her parents' blood. and this was a kibbutz, so to give our viewers who don't quite know what it is, essentially, it's like the neighborhood watch. these are civilians who live in these little villages right on the border, and they are armed, they are essentially kind of reservists who will protect their own community. so this person picked up this little girl covered in her parents' blood and brought her to his own safe house and left this child with his wife and with his children, and he went out to defend the kibbutz. and when he came back, all of them were gone, and he knew that all of them had been taken hostage -- howard: what an absolute -- >> reporter: officially -- yeah. howard: i need to wrap here, but what an absolutely horrible story that underscores the sheer savagery and brutality of kidnapping, you know, 4-year-olds and 85-year-olds. thank you for the great work you're doing, alex hogan. >> reporter: thank you. howard: when we come back, the car explosion on a niagara falls bridge that sparked media speculation that it might be terrorism, what was it? ♪ ♪ [sneeze] dude you coming? ♪ alka-seltzer plus powermax gels cold & flu relief with more concentrated power because the only thing dripping should be your style. plop plop fizz fizz winter warriors with alka-seltzer plus. theo's nose was cause for alarm, so dad brought puffs plus lotion to save it from harm. puffs has 50% more lotion and brings soothing relief. don't get burned by winter nose. a nose in need deserves puffs indeed. america's #1 lotion tissue. my most important kitchen tool? my brain. so i choose new neuriva ultra. unlike some others, it supports 7 brain health indicators, including mental alertness from one serving. to help keep me sharp. try new neuriva ultra. think bigger. sleep more deeply. and wake up rejuvenated. with purple's new mattresses- fall asleep 20% faster have less aches and pains and sleep uninterrupted. right now save up to $900 off mattress sets during purple's black friday sale. visit purple.com or a store near you today. ♪ ♪ ♪ we're building a better postal service. for more on-time deliveries. and easier, affordable ways to ship. so you can deliver even more holiday joy. the united states postal service. delivering for america. the serrano name has always been something we're proud of. it's why we show it off on our low riders. and why we wear our name on our chains. [♪] we come from people we can be proud of. from socal to our family in texas, to back home in jalisco. [♪] seeing all the places i come from, i know, if it's a serrano it's something to be proud of. [♪] i take it all with me and i always will. [♪] give the gift of family heritage with ancestry. howard: we just confirmed moments ago that 4-year-old abigail eda a n if who had joint american and israeli citizenship, is being released and is in the process of being released. that is great news. the biden white house has been expecting this. at the same time, tragic story where her parents were murdered and our alex hogan just reported on the details of that. the cable news networks went wall to wall when a car exploded on a bridge on the new york side of niagara falls, and the speculation began. >> the threat environment is, you know, the quote fbi director wray, sort of is high. we know it