hopes there would be good news soon. president biden weighing in this morning. >> we're now very close, very close. we could bring some of these hostages home very soon. i don't want to get into details. nothing is done until it's done. new numbers from our nbc news poll showing strong bipartisan support for border control far exceeds support to fund wars in israel or ukraine. as holiday travel rush kick into high gear, tom costello looks at the life of the airplanes we fly all day. ♪♪ good day. i'm andrea mitchell in washington. new indications thasrael and hamas could be getti closer to a deal. a deal for the release of 50 women andhildren in exchange for 0 palestinians held in israel. this could you include a halt in fighting to permit fuel and other aid to get in. a key u.s. dend israel's prime minister netanyahu is meeting with his war cabinet. they would need to sign off any deal, which sources say could be imminent. officials in qatar who have been brokering the deal say it's in the critical and final stage. the president of the international red cross was in qatar to meet with a senior hamas leader mond. that organization brought the four previously released hostages to israel while having no role in the negotiations. we will start with nbc's raf sanchez in tel aviv and senior white house correspondent gabe gutierrez. raf, first to you. >> reporter: as we speak, prime minister benjamin netanyahu of israel is scheduled to be wrapping up the meeting of his war cabinet, the small three-member committee that is in charge of this war. he is due to sit down with the security cabinet. this is a larger body, but it's not the full israeli cabinet, which is due to begin meeting one hour from now. it's the full cabinet that will need to vote to approve this tentative deal that has been struck between israel and hamas. every indication we have is that prime minister netanyahu has the votes to approve this deal. we have heard from at least one member of the far right in his cabinet, who has said he is not yet committing to voting for this deal. it will depend what's in it. we expect that it will pass through. as we have heard from president biden, from u.s. officials all the way down, nothing is agreed until everything is agreed. it remains a highly fluid situation inside of gaza where fighting continues between israeli forces and palestinian militants. i can tell you that in the last hour, there has been a large barrage of rockets from gaza here into central israel. counterintuitively, that may be a good sign. what we often see in the final hours before these cease-fire deals come into affect is these palestinian groups, hamas, palestinian islamic jihad, firing increased rockets, trying to get their last punches in before a cease-fire. the broad outlines of the deal, as described to nbc news by a number of sources, is that this would involve the release of 50 women and children in exchange for around 150 palestinian prisoners being held in israeli jails right now. we also believe that israel is agreeing to several days of cease-fire and to allow hundreds more trucks of humanitarian aid to come into gaza. the release of the hostages, likely to be staggered over four or five days. we expect something like ten hostages every day. hamas has been saying it does not have all these hostages in one place. it needs to get them together as part of any exchange. one element is israel is reportedly prepared to agree to the suspension of overhead drone flights for several hours every day over gaza so that hamas can move hostages around without feeling that it is exposing its senior commanders. as you know very well, these cease-fires are hard to agree. they can be even more difficult to uphold. we have a situation right now where there are thousands of israeli troops inside of northern gaza, just streets away from heavily armed palestinian fighters, and so making sure those two sides do not come into conflict during the course of the cease-fire will be one of the many, many complicated elements at play here. >> that's terrific reporting from the team. thank you so much. gabe, what are we hearing from the white house? we saw the president earlier, very unusual in that roosevelt room event, i think it was about fentanyl, he would have this statement with careful written points. these are delicate times. >> reporter: exactly right. you played some of his comments off the top. the president saying that we're very close to a deal. quote, things are looking good at the moment. re-emphasizing what the administration has been saying now for several days, that nothing is final until it's final. the president yesterday asked the same question, he said that he believed a hostage deal was near. he crossed his fingers. they are careful not to get ahead of the process in israel right now. he just heard raf lay out the outlines of this potential deal based on several sources. yes, something that the administration has been emphasizing over the last several days is this idea of getting humanitarian trucks into gaza, in addition to the hostages. we understand from a person familiar with talks in the region that israel would choose which palestinian prisoners it would release, pending a security check. yes, the idea that there would be a suspension of overhead drone surveillance in order to allow the hostages to be consolidated, because as we have been reporting now for several weeks, hamas does not -- may not have all of the hostages within the group. there's another group, palestinian islamic jihad, for example, that could be in possession of the hosthostages. wasn't to mention that right now as all this process is unfolding and the israeli cabinets are meeting, the ones waiting for word with bated breath are the families of the hostage. i spoke with a great aunt of a 3-year-old hostage. she said that the 3-year-old will soon turn 4. the family has not heard yet from the state department with regard to this potential hostage deal. i want to play some of her interview with lester holt last week, just a reminder of just what's at stake here. >> abigail was in her father's arms. as they ran, a terrorist shot him and killed him. he fell on to abigail. she crawled out from under her father's body. full of his blood, went to a neighbor. they took her in. she went in the bomb shelter with this family. the husband went out to try to protect them. he was injured and didn't come back. the last thing we heard was somebody saw the terrorist taking the mother, the three kids and abigail. that's all we know. >> reporter: as we are hearing the reports of those potential hostages that would be freed as part of this potential deal, it involves 50 women and children potentially held by hamas, among those that young girl just 3 years old. her family right now is waiting for any sort of word. they have not heard from the state department just yet. >> of course, the state department trying to avoid false hopes, being very, very cautious about anything. as you and raf have been pointing out, and as the president said, nothing is final until it's final. even after it's final, there could be lone wolves firing and setting something off, either side, both sides. >> reporter: absolutely. very tenuous situation at this point. something that we have been hearing and continue to hear this morning from u.s. officials. >> thanks to gabe and to raf. joining us now, david ignatius. you have been reporting intensively on this, not just recently but you were just there in israel with military officials. you were in gaza. you talked to people there. let's talk about how fragile this is. it doesn't deal with the day after, the future of who is going to run gaza and how they are going to coexist with israel and the u.s. and israel very far apart on that. >> this would be a blessed event, just listening to the hostage family testimony about the one little girl, you realize how meaningful this would be for the families. in no way does it resolve the basic issues in this gaza war, which is going to continue. i would briefly summarize for your viewers the history of the hostage release deal. two days before the ground invasion started on october 27, the basic elements of this deal were already in place. the ground invasion changed that. hamas pulled back. when i was in doha, about two weeks ago, to meet with the qatari prime minister, again, the basic elements of this deal, the numbers pretty much what we're talking about now, 50 plus israeli women and children in exchange for a like number, probably more, palestinian women and minors, a pause of some days. at that point they were talking three to five. those were in place then. the negotiations then got stalled. the hamas leader drew back, couldn't be reached for some days. now it seems to be very close. the essential deals that israel has been struggling -- details israel has been struggling with is this pause to allow hostages to be collected and delivered to safety. israel does not want a pause in its campaign to destroy hamas. in this case, it's going to have to. i think for israel, as i have talked to israeli officials, there's a benefit in being seen for a brief period to be really focussed on humanitarian issues. we should expect big aid convoys going into southern gaza to help gazans who have severe problems of malnutrition, medical issues. i think hamas will try to use the pause, but israel will try to use the pause as well, to shore up its public image. i have been told that this announcement could come as soon as the next hour, sources in doha and qatar tell me. we will have to see. it's fragile until the moment it's announced. there's every sign it's going to happen after many weeks of delay. >> david ignatius, thank you for your superb reporting. fingers crossed about all of this coming together and holding. thank you, david. >> absolutely. high level meetings happening in israel as we have been discussing, with the prime minister and the war cabinet. stay with us. you are watching "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. a mitchell reports" only on msnbc. t relieves pressure and instantly adapts. sleep better. live purple. right now save up to $900 off mattress sets during purple's black friday sale. visit purple.com or a store near you today. have you ever wondered what an icon,... ...a legend,... ...a legacy,... ...a pop star,... ...and a tight end all have in common? they all got this season's updated covid-19 shot to help better protect them against recent variants. got it? ( ♪♪ ) got yours? whenever you're hungry, there's a deal on the subway app. buy one footlong, get one 50% off in the subway app today. now that's a deal worth celebrating. man, what are you doing?! get it before it's gone on the subway app. ♪♪ as we have been reporting that a deal to free dozens of the hostages kidnapped from israel on october 7 in exchange for a multi-day pause in the fighting could be eminent. nothing final yet. israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu has been meeting with his war cabinet followed by his security and full cabinet meeting in the next hour. joining us is a spokesperson for the israeli government. thank you very much for being with us. what can you tell us about what is being viewed by the war cabinet? i know it's not final until it's final. the outlines of what we have been reporting. >> we are certainly hopeful the hell that so many of our children have been through will be coming to an end soon. the details of a perspective hostage release deal are being discussed by the war cabinet. as of when it approves that, it will progress so the security cabinet and at 8:00 in the evening here in israel, to the full government. families of any victims of terrorists in israeli jails will be able to present an appeal to the supreme court. they will have 24 hours to do that, to petition against the release of anyone who might be -- any prisoners who might be released in the context. deal. as soon as we have confirmed details, we will announce them to the world. >> would the hostages be released contingent upon release of the palestinian hostages? would that delay a hostage release in the imminent 24-hour period? >> as i said, the details are under discussion by the war cabinet. we're a democratic country. there are hoops that have to be jumped through before we complete the deal. we are hopeful many of our hostages will be able to come home. we think this vindicates israel's strategy over the last few weeks of putting unrelenting pressure on hamas to release hostages. hamas hasn't suddenly decided to be nice humanitarians and release them because it realizes it's evil to hold a 10-year-old baby for nearly 50 days in a tunnel hostage. it's been begging for a breather because it's getting clobbered. we plan to continue putting unrelenting pressure on hamas until we secure the release of all of our hostages, all 240 of them. of course, this war will have to continue until the total destruction of hamas so it can never again perpetrate a massacre like it, perpetrated on october 7, and like it's telling us it wants to do again. >> israel would agree to these pauses of as much as four days, perhaps five days in order to get, sounds like, triple the amount of fuel and aid in, 300 to 400 trucks in a day? >> the prime minister is saying throughout the course of this war that we will, of course, be open to a temporary cessation of hostilities to faciliate the release of hostages. as for the specific details, these are being discussed by the war cabinet. we will announce decisions and be able to put them into practice as soon as possible. >> benjamin netanyahu said his goal is the destruction of hamas and the second is the return of hostages. this frustrated families. in this case, you see the two goals are not in conflict? >> exactly. that's not a prioritization. those are two goals that go hand in hand. destroy hamas and facilitating the release of the 240 innocent hostages, including children, including babies. we want to get them out. we are getting them out by putting pressure on hamas. putting military pressure on hamas and by rallying global opinion to put diplomatic pressure on hamas and on its supporters to release those hostages. the same terror organization that on october 7 burned, butchered, torture and raped its way through southern israel hasn't discovered a conscience. it's begging for a breather. we are putting pressure on hamas and we will continue doing that. we hope to get all of our hostages safe and sound. >> without diminishing the horror of that on october 7, which i do not, can you respond to pressure and criticism in the u.s. and the u.s. senate importantly, even in democratic senators who are long supports of israel and around the world, the u.n. and elsewhere, about the devastation in gaza, the high number of civilian casualties that this has cost? the world health organization saying it's appalled by the latest attack on the indonesian hospital, protests against the u.n. schools. the u.s. is not -- nbc cannot independently confirm the source of those attacks. i'm just talking about the results. can you respond to that? >> the humanitarian suffering in the gaza strip as a result of hamas' decision to declare war on us and to fight that war from inside densely populated area is heartbreaking. uninvolved civilians are involved. this is a war. war is ugly. this isn't a war we started. it's not a war we wanted. it's not a war we expected. it's a war hamas declared on us. it's a war that we are trying to end. a war we are trying to end in such a way that hamas can never again perpetrate attacks against us. if this war ends before the total defeat of hamas, you and i will be here in the studios again in six months when hamas attacks us again. the u.s. administration knows that. president biden has said very clearly that he stands shoulder to shoulder with the people of israel in this fight. it must end with the total destruction of hamas. hamas is a genocidal terror group that openly says it wants to perpetrate more and more october 7 massacres. we are doing everything in our power to minimize casualties within the gaza strip. hamas is doing everything it can to maximize casualties by fighting out of densely populated areareas, preventing civilians from evacuating. we have been urging civilians to get out of harm's way. we have been facilitating humanitarian corridors. we are exposing evidence of how hamas is embedded deep in civilian areas, building tunnels and command centers under hospitals. we revealed an anti-tank missile under a baby's crib. it's hamas, the terror organization that perpetrated the october 7 massacre that bares full responsible for all the suffering we have seen in israel, of course, but also inside the gaza strip. >> let me ask you this. you brought up president biden. it's clear he said the toll on the civilians is too high. other officials have said publically that the war should be accomplished by israel by better targeting, by using smaller munitions, by not using the bunker buster bombs in the initial weeks in the refugee camp. there is a growing dispute -- it's hurting israel in our congress, with public opinion, and around the world in terms of funding and support and political support is important. for the level of casualties versus the level of hamas terrorists that have been gotten. >> we don't want to see civilians being hurt. we thought too many civilians were hurt on october 7 when hamas massacred 1,200 of our people. before the ground operation, we urged an evacuation of the northern gaza strip. we think it's tragic and outrageous that international agencies, including the world health organization, resisted israel's calls for an evacuation. we were saying, we want to get civilians out of harm's way. international agencies resisted. now they are calling on israel -- >> they said -- sir, in fairness, i watched this happen. i reported it deeply. the corridors were not always clear. there was a long delay in getting those corridors that were. sending people south when they were still striking in the south. now saying you will move south. where are they supposed to go now? >> we designated special humanitarian safe zones where we have been coordinating to deliver the provision of hugh -- humanitarian aid. hamas has been embedded itself in civilian areas, building its command centers under hospitals, tunnels under people's homes, storing weapons in mosques and schools. hamas's strategy is based on using human shields. their strategy is based on hiding behind women and children so that it can perpetrate attacks against israeli civilians and then retreat behind them and make it difficult for israel to exercise its legitimate and right of self-defense. that's why we have spent so long urging civilians to get outof harm's way. we surrendered the element of surprise. we could have gone in stronger, faster at the beginning. it's very important for us that civilians not be hurt, because this is a war against hamas. this is the war that hamas declared against us, not against the palestinian people, not against the people of gaza. they know that. that's why israel placed over 30,000 phone calls, individual soldiers calling palestinians, warning them that the ground operation is coming telling them to get out of the way. >> for a good part of that time they didn't have cell service because there was no fuel delivered to generate the telecom companies were down. i take your point about human shields and the embedding and the tragedy on both sides. >> really cynical and twisted. >> we can all pray and hope that this deal holds up and comes through. thank you very much. >> absolutely. we're hoping. thank you very much. follow the money. where do voters want to spend their tax dollars? mark murray has the numbers after the break. you are watching "andre