russian, we are waiting to see who will come back home. it's crazy. we don't have names yet. only speculations that it's going to be mothers and their children. and it's tough, very tough. >> have you allowed yourself to think about what you might say to her the first time you see her? >> i don't think i will speak, i will just hold her and hug her and i won't ask questions, that's for sure. and i just want to hold her. >> that is the mother of a hostage who is being held by hamas right now. she may soon see her daughter following a significant diplomatic breakthrough in the middle east. there's a tentative deal to release dozens of people captured by the terrorist group more than six weeks ago. we're going to get a live report from tel aviv in just a moment. this all comes as the u.s. military is becoming more aggressive in its response to attacks against service members in the widen region. retired four-star navy admiral, james stavridis joins us with expert unless on that and much more. also ahead we're going to go through the new donald trump dilemma for democrats, they seem to be switching the strategy on how much coverage they want the former president to receive, not that they have a say. good morning, and welcome to "morning joe." it's wednesday, november 22nd. we begin with that breaking news. israel and hamas, agreeing to a deal to release some of the hostages kidnapped during last month's deadly terrorist attack. qatar, which has been mediating the negotiations made the announcement last night. the terms of the agreement include a four-day pause in fighting. during that time, 50 women and children will be released in stages. in exchange, 150 palestinian women and children who are being detained in israel will be freed. more humanitarian aid will also be allowed into gaza during the pause in fighting including fuel trucks. all of this is likely to begin tomorrow. once israeli judges revw any potential legal challenges to the prisoner release. prime minister benjamin netanyahu's office confirmed the agreement last night in a statemt,xplaining that if the pause in fighting is extended, an additional ten hostages will be released a day. but netanyahu warns, his country's mission is not over. writing israel will quote, continue the war in order to return home all of the hostages, complete the elimination of hamas, and enre that there will be no new threat to the state of israel from gaza. joining us now from tel aviv, nbc news chief international correspondent keir simmons with more. keir. >> reporter: i think there's a sign of the political and national angst here in israel. it took nine hours of meetings of the israeli government for israel to decide that it would sign up to this four-day pause. they may extend at this point, what we understand about the deal is that there will be 50 hostages, women and children, civilians released in exchange for 150 palestinian women and children released from israeli jails. that there will be a pause in drone flights over gaza. there will be humanitarian aid, including fuel, a lot of it, maybe 3 to 400 trucks going into gaza. the deal is now pretty clear. it's been mediated by qatar and egypt and overseen by the u.s. and overnight, actually in the early hours of this morning, president biden praising those two countries, thanking prime minister netanyahu who pushed through this deal overnight with the message that you described, mika, of saying that just because there's a pause, it won't mean that the war is over pushing it through with his party and pushing it through despite the objections of the right in the israeli government. but as your sound in the beginning of our interview showed, for the families, the situation is pretty much the same, they are still waiting. we had a chance to speak to the aunt of abigail, the 3-year-old american-israeli hostage, her parents were killed, but the rest of her family, just hope that she will be released in time for they are 4th birthday on friday. take a listen. >> i think about her brother and sister who both watched their parents be murdered on october 7th. abigail coming home for the grandparents, for the family, is that one hope to have her back, embrace her. her birthday is on friday. she's turning 4. and to, like, just imagine that she comes home and is with her family is our light right now. in such a very dark and terribly horrific period. >> reporter: hamas is saying that that pause will begin tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. here. that hasn't been officially announced yet. the israeli have put out a list of the palestinians they plan to release from prison, and it is up to the victim, people who view themselves as victims of those prisoners to go to the supreme court if they object to palestinians being released. i think it is partly also a moment to reflect, isn't it, that 1,200 israelis and others died in those terror attacks on october 7th, and according to the health ministry controlled by hamas, we are now at more than 14,000 people killed in gaza. and right now what we have is a four-day pause in which hamas has attained the release of 150 prisoners. >> nbc's keir simmons, thank you very much. and, joe, i mean, this deal, it's not perfect, but it provides a tiny glimmer of hope in what has been a brutal six weeks. >> it provides so much hope for israelis that have seen their families kidnapped, thrown into tunnels, and there is -- there has been debate in israel over whether this was a deal that was worth giving a terrorist organization who seized children, some as young as six months from their homes and women, family members, and kidnapped them and threw them under tunnels, all knowing, again, all knowing this day would come. this is the "wall street journal," i want to read from the "wall street journal" editorial this morning on the israel-hamas hostage deal. this is what they say. the hostage deal that israel and hamas reached today is going to spare the life of some 50 israelis and that is a great relief to the innocents and their families. the cost is a short-term cease fire that hamas will exploit, and 3/4 of the 236 hostages will remain in terrorist hands. israeli leaders believe the trade is worth it, and that is not our place to second guess their judgment. in exchange for returning israeli children and women, hamas is set to receive a four-day pause in operations and a release of 150 of 18 female operatives from israeli prisons. israel will allow more fuel and aid into gaza. the pause might extend longer if hamas gives up more hostages, ten for each additional day. the deal, again, shows the moral gulf between the two sides. hamas kidnapped israeli children as young as nine months to use as hostages. israel takes military risks to vets citizens. hamas risks palestinian civilians to save itself. let's bring in the former supreme allied commander of nato, retired four star amiral james steve stavridis. david ignatius, and white house bureau of "politico," jonathan lemire. an extraordinarily happy day for israel and the children of israel. let me ask you as a military commander, what are your concerns? >> number one, the re-supply, which hamas will take enormous advantage of. they'll bring in ammunition, command and control devices. they'll bring in fuel. all of that is simply unavoidable. number two, it gives a psychological boost to hamas. in other words, they will say in their council of war, look, our plan is working. we gathered up these israeli civilians, and now we will parcel them out like chips at a casino to get what we want back, which is a break in combat operations. and then thirdly, hamas will use this period of time to move their fighters around through these tunnels, so i'm absolutely thrilled to see this deal go through as a human being. as a military officer, you have to recognize the downside, and i know that the israeli military high command is going to grapple with that. they'll do everything they can to neutralize these factors. they will then continue. and, joe, i'll close with this, the principle military objective here is rescuing hostages, finding and eliminating the top ranks of hamas, but the physical military objective are those tunnels. 300 miles of these tunnels, it's given hamas its reason to live, its ability, you're showing them now, multiply that by hundreds of miles under gaza itself. the israelis are not going to stop this operation before they eliminate the military capability of those tunnels. so bottom line for the israeli military, a lot of work ahead, and everyone will celebrate, and it's thanksgiving day here in america tomorrow. i think we'll see some hostages come home, but, boy, militarily, it's a tough one. >> yeah, an extraordinary day personally for these families. militarily, it has to be a tough one because think about this, i mean, hamas has not only played israel. they have applied the world like -- played the world like a fiddle since the beginning. they knew they could go in rape, burn, slaughter, execute israelis on october 7th, take hostages flee back to gaza. they knew before the attacks were launched that they would hide behind civilians. israeli would try to bring justice to the people who killed their grandmothers and who shot their children and burned their babies in their cribs, raped their women. hamas knew that israel would then go after them so they did what hamas always did, hid behind civilians. hamas also knew before this began that at some point they would strike a deal to give hostages back and do it through qatar. they knew this beforehand, and they knew that israel would have to do it, why, because, well, the israelis like so many others outside of hamas value life, and so they're going to do it. t make no mistake, hamas knew this was going to happen. they knew this day was coming, and they knew they would be able to refuel, rearm, reload during any cease fire that was given to them. so that of course is all balanced, david rohde with the fact that 50 hostages are going free. 50 families are going to see their children and their mothers, their daughters, their family members again, that they never thought they would see again. it's a hell of a balance, but what an extraordinary day for these families. >> it's awful but welcome to the horrific world of hostage taking. hamas is monstrous. the scale of the kidnapping. this has never happened, roughly 230 people kidnapped, you know, elderly people. this 3-year-old american girl, abigail will hopefully be freed as part of this deal. it's horrible. it will benefit hamas in the short-term. i think hamas will be crushed. i think those tunnels will be destroyed. i have been surprised at the success of the israeli military in terms of taking control of north gaza. they have lost dozens of troops, that's a terrible price but hamas has not been putting up this tremendous house-to-house, block-by-block resistance that was expected. that's one small positive thing. on one level, this is a good thing for the biden administration. they have pushed hard for this hostage release, and i think in the long-term it will help israel. it was mentioned by keir simmons, the death toll is 14,000, an estimated 5,000 children have died. the arab street, which is furious, and focuses on the palestinians, this is a good thing for israel. lastly, this is what happens when the world sort of ignores problems, and lets groups like hamas fester. i'm part of a group of former hostages how do we stop the accelerated practice of hostage taking and part of it is eliminating or not allowing radical groups to have enclaves, areas where they can take hostages. it's a good day, a small step forward, but a huge challenge remains. >> david ignatius, you and i have done reporting as to how this all came together. biden officials believing this was proof their approach has been working, applying subtle pressure on israel and of course also within israel, netanyahu getting intense domestic pressure, particularly from the families of the hostages to make an agreement. even over objections of military commanders. david, take us behind closed doors here about how this deal came together and what third parties were involved. >> so, jonathan, i wanted to start with the human mention of this. when you read the testimony of a woman like myan zin who has two daughters who have been held saying i want to go to gaza to die with them. i can't bear the life i'm living separated from them. you can't help but rejoice that some of these children and mothers are coming out. it's really an extraordinary achievement. people have been working very hard. i am struck by several aspects of it. first, when this war began, israel was just so shocked and stunned by what hamas had done, there was a feeling, we got to go all the way, all out combat. we just have to put the hostages aside in our mind and go after the tunnels. there may be hostages in the tunnels. we have to pound, pound, pound, week by week, as the hostage families became clearer and louder, as their pictures, if you travel around tel aviv, their pictures are everywhere. travel down the roads toward gaza, every settlement has got pictures of its hostages displayed. there was a realization for the government that they were going to have to think of a way as they pursued this war against hamas to also get hostages out. what they have create instead this deal that's interesting is a positive dynamic where the more hostages hamas releases, the longer the pause it will get, and so in the initial phase, the 50 women and children that hamas actually holds, it can identify them, it can describe each person in detail, will come out over four days. there are another 20 that they think they can get easily. they won't hold them, but they can get them. if they release the 20, they will get a further pause. another 30 men and women, can they find them and get them out. maybe. israel is holding out the promise, what about male civilians, can you get them, for each of them, we're prepared to add additional pauses, additional humanitarian aid, so israel has created a dynamic that's going to put the hostages and their release first. i don't think to speak to admiral stavridis correct question that israel in any way is altering its fundamental determination to destroy hamas's political power but has chosen a route that is going to the greatest extent possible get these israeli citizens and foreigners out if it's possible. if hamas can be convinced to do this more for more exchange. >> and of course, admiral, we never know where all of this leads. we never know what at the end brings down hamas other than the israelis and others who hate terrorism, continue fighting them. but, you know, the passing of rosalynn carter, of course, brings into sharper focus the legacy of jimmy carter. again, a legacy that much like truman will grow through the years with historians, with an extraordinary middle east peace process, the normalization of relations with china, the aiding of afghanistan and beating the soviets, driving the soviets out, the promotion of human rights that eventually led to, you know, helped lead to the fall of the soviet union and the ramping of the military in the last year. i say that all to say, when you look back at jimmy carter a dark mark on his presidency was the iranian hostage crisis. i must say, looking back, though, all of these years leader, it's remarkable the restraint jimmy carter showed in not responding to every call for an invasion or turning iran in a parking lot, if if anybody was around in 1979, that was the common refrain, turn ran into a parking lot. destroy them, if hostages die, hostages die. this cannot stand. the restraint he showed, he may be one of the only presidents who actually had the humanitarian instincts to save every one of those lives. what may not make military sense today may make a lot of sense ten years from now. i know i've got on a bit on this. i know you understand this. speak to this, if you will, how everything that seems so clear today may not be so clear even five years from now. >> oh, i'd love to, and just one quick note of before the presidency and after the presidency, i think you know this, joe, but he's our naval academy graduate who became president, so all of us annapolis graduates and military naval officers, very proud of jimmy carter who's a nuclear submariner, we can all agree, what a host presidency life, full of character, writing beautiful books, building homes, so really, a sterling life lived. in terms of the hostage situation, yes, i agree with you. in retrospect, perfectly handled in so many ways. by the way, let's not forget, he did something that the israelis, i think, may attempt, which is hostage rescue. he launched a hostage rescue attempt that failed. fortunately the united states military was able to learn lessons from that, and pull back from it, but he then pursued the diplomacy you see occurring right here, and to your point, joe, he resisted that urge to simply go in and flatten teheran. and by the way, i know david ignatius, having traveled recently in the region in the immediate aftermath will tell you israelis were saying go into gaza, simply flatten it. destroy the entire thing. they chose not to. they chose to take this path using precision approaches to include special forces. the only reason hamas did not kill 7 million jews on the 7th of october is because they lacked the military capability to do so. israel could have killed 2 million gazans on october 8th, killed them all, they chose not to because that's not who they are, and those, i think, are something we should bear in mind is the false equivalency you sometimes hear. >> you know, admiral stavridis, as you were speaking about the mood in israel, i'm just remembering what i heard. there was after october 7th and continues to this day a deep rage. it seems everybody in israel knew somebody, knew a family that had been touched by this, had lost a person killed or taken hostage. everywhere i went in israel, i kept encountering that, and there was a desire to flatten gaza, just to, you know, go all out. and i think what we're seeing in these recent days is that the, as i said earlier, the passion to save hostage lives has been competing with the desire to really go after and destroy the power of the enemy, and with this hostage release, israel's decided it's going to pull back. it's going to slow down its offensive, something that's hard to do in a situation where you've got the momentum, you're moving forward, but you say we're going to slow down. we're going to create an incentive to release as many hostages as possible. don't think for a moment that the israelis have stopped in their campaign against hamas. i promise you, talking to israelis yesterday, they still have the most ambitious and intense plans. but they do want to get as many israelis as possible out before we get to the end game of this war. >> as we close the conversation here, david, any thoughts given everything that has been said, and also in this deal, what stands out to you? is there any way of assessing the status of the remaining hostages if the first 50 are released in waves? >> there will be no men, an american citizen, ten americans, hersh, his hand was blown off when a hamas militant through a grenade into a shelter. i hope he's released. i'm not sure he will be. so a joyous day for some families, but not all the families, and just so much pain. >> so much pain. >> you know, jonathan lemire, before we go, we should state what is obvious to those of us around the table but may not be obvious to those at home watching, what an integral role the biden administration played in all of this, working with allies in the region, working with qatar, same with obviously antony blinken and of course jake sullivan, the entire national security team, so engaged with this since the morning of octob