of the middle east. today, a third group of hostages was released as part of a four-day temporary truce between israel and hamas. we learned one of those hostages is american toddler abigail mor edan. who turned just four years old on friday while in captivity. now she is free. as the deal stands right now, 50 total hostages are promised to be released in exchange for 150 palestinian prisoners. this is the first truce after weeks and weeks of fighting. and a rare moment of positive news since the start of the war. tomorrow is day four of this four-day pause, the question is, what happens on day five, day six, the seven? the israeli military has urged civilians who fled to southern gaza not to return home, and has warned them that the idf is still preparing for the next phase of the war once this pause ends. already -- in gaza. according to health officials there. this is allowed hostages to leave gaza and much needed aid to be brought in. but a trucks of entered gaza under the protection of the cease-fire bringing some relief for civilians who have been suffering as their supplies of food, water, and medicine run short. although some aid is making its way in the world health organization says that much more is needed. right now even during these moments of some joy, major questions remain about the family still awaiting the, hostages still held captive and the civilians still trapped in dire conditions. today president biden spoke about the release of these hostages including four year old, abigail, i want to play a portion of those remarks and i'm with top two security adviser, jon finer, on the other side. >> two days ago, two days ago, one of our fellow americans, a little girl named abigail turned four years old. she spent her birthday, that birthday, at least 50 days before that held hostage by hamas. today, she's free, jill and i give -- are praying for the fact that she's going to be all right. she's free, she's an israel no so, those who are now wrapping abigail and loving compare, give her the services she's needs, she's been through terrible trauma. her mom was killed in front of her when her kibbutz was attacked by hamas terrorists on october the 7th. abigail round were dad and, who then was gunned down, gunned down as well while using his body to shield a little abigail. she then ran to a neighbor for help, where they were all taken hostage, the entire house of neighbors taken hostage by hamas. and they were held for 50 days, what she endured is unthinkable, abigail was one third -- released today from gaza. under the brokered and sustained though intense of u.s. diplomacy. she's now safely in israel and we continue to press, expect for additional americans to be released as well. we won't stop working until every hostage is returned to their loved ones. as i said when i spoke about this on friday, this has been the product of a lot of hard work, weeks of personal engagement, for me and my team. we've been in close contact to the leaders of qatar, egypt, in israel, speaking with each one of them repeatedly over the past few weeks to help secure this deal. we spoke again yesterday with the mayor of qatar, who i owe special thanks to to keep the hostages released on track and push for abigail to be part of the release. i'll be speaking again shortly with prime minister benjamin netanyahu, will continue to remain personally engaged, personally engaged to see that this deal is fully implemented and work to extend the deal as well. for weeks, i've been advocating the pause in the fighting. for two purposes, to increase the assistance getting into the gaza civilians who need help, and to facilitate the release of hostages. and we know that innocent children in gaza are suffering greatly as well because this war that hamas has unleashed is has such consequences. thousands have been killed in from the earliest days of the crisis, i work closely with president sisi of egypt, israeli government, king abdullah of jordan, and leaders throughout the league are -- critical humanitarian assistance to help innocent palestinians in the aid who are not part of hamas. under the deal, it's been pop fighting in gaza has been paused for three days, over that time 58 hostages have been released including the thai, filipino, and russian nationals. dozens of families have been reunited, we worked urgently, urgently to take advantage of the pause, to search aid in gaza, we've moved 200 aid trucks into gadget each day, loaded with food, water, medicine, fuel, and cooking gas. more is needed but this deal is delivering lifesaving results. critically needed aid is going in and hostages are coming out. this deal is structured so it can be extended to keep building on these results. that's my goal, our goal, to keep the pause going beyond tomorrow so that we can continue to see more hostages come out and we surge more humanitarian relief into those who need it to gaza. we've seen this is a day-by-day approach, nothing is guaranteed, nothing is being taken for granted. and it's proof that this is working and worth pursuing further yes and every smile, every grateful clear that we see on the faces of those families who are finally getting back together. and the proof is little abigail, more than 20 other children, 18 years and younger have been released, released through this deal as well. they've endured a terrible ordeal, they can now began a long journey toward healing. i'm gonna continue working with the mayor of qatar, president sisi of egypt, prime minister netanyahu of israel to do everything possible to see the hostages are freed, all the hostages. i'm grateful for the personal partnership as we pursue this deal. as we work together to see all this implemented and now to try an extended further. we'll continue to work with all our partners to take the hard necessary steps to build an integrated, more prosperous, more peaceful future in the region. a two state solution, it's the only way to guarantee a long term security of both israelis and palestinian people. and to make sure that israel and palestinians alike live an equal measure of freedom and dignity, won't give up on working towards that goal, we thank you very much, thank god she is home. i cannot imagine the enjoyment, i just wish i were there to hold or. >> mister president gavin update on the other americans being held in any sense to when they will be released? >> we are hopeful, but i don't have anything firmly to tell you at this moment. >> reporter: sir, do you expect if you use this momentum to extend the pause, do you have guaranteed fears about proof of life of other hostages or any expectations on you can push this pause? >> look, the deal calls for every ten hostages released we extend another day, i'm hopeful this is not the end, it's gonna continue. but we don't know, i get a sense that all the players in the region, even the neighbors who haven't been directly involved now are looking for a way to end this so that hostages are all relaced and hamas is completely, how can i say, it no longer in control of many portions of gaza. >> joining me now is principal deputy national security adviser, jon finer. john, thank you for joining me this afternoon. i know this must of been a hectic morning for you, i want to start just with the news of the return of four-year-old american abigail mor edan, who is among the hostages as the president just talked about who is returning home. i wanted to ask you, know there's nine other americans who are held either by hamas or other militant groups. do you anticipate tomorrow when there is another day of this pause of there could be additional americans released? >> thanks, jen, as you say it's a rare bit of good news in a situation that remains very difficult overall. as you said, israeli and other families including american families are still worried about their loved ones in harm harms way -- including abigail's family who had her back but some warning that the murder of her parents by hamas. an incredibly difficult circumstances for palestinian families, many of whom have lost family members. in terms of where this all goes from here, we know there's two other americans who meet the criteria, the agreement is based on, women and children, 50 women and children who can come out in the early days, four days of agreement between israel and hamas. but were reluctant to make predictions about exactly who, and when. we're dealing with a terrorist group so there is no trust involved in this, we need to see who ends up getting transferred to the red crescent, red cross, and then moved out of the country, until we see those people the president said we don't to get ahead of any of this because it's not fair for families to indicate confirmation of things until we actually know what has happened. >> what you're saying, john, as you believe it when you see it and you don't want to get too ahead of where the process of this point in time. i want to ask about where these hostages could be held, the numbers have been around 244 sometime, about hamas saying about 100 could be held, but other militant groups the president was asked about this, do you have confirmation of how many are with hamas and how many are with other groups, how confident are you about hamas's ability to work with these other groups to get these hostages back? >> so, one of the difficult aspects of this whole arrangement is that we don't have a lot of fidelity, clarity, about the condition of the hostages or exactly where they are held. we believe a large number are held by hamas but we think there is a significant number of hostages held by other groups, palestinian islamic jihad is one and there might be other hostages in custody of other smaller armed terrorist groups inside gaza. the sheer logistics of assembling all these people in one place, transferring them to the red cross, and then transiting them across the border either into egypt or israel is something that takes hours, and hours of work there, they're snags that occur every day during the course of trying to execute this. we work through those tags with our partners in, the qataris, egyptians, and israelis, and others. and we try to get done what has been agreed and will do that same thing tomorrow. and if the deal is extended, and i'm asked is willing to transfer more hostages which we urge them to do if they like to maintain a degree of calm and pause in gaza, will continue doing that day after day. the president has said, it's our priority to get as many of these people out as we absolutely can. >> the president during his remarks that clearly, our goal in the goal of the united states is to keep this deal going as long as hostages are released. the end of the deal is tomorrow. do you anticipate at this point that it will continue until at least tuesday? >>, so i can't improve on what the president said of us, it's exactly right, as long as hamas is [inaudible] can be extended and will be extended. whether they're willing to do that remains to be seen. i've seen the comments made by the government of egypt. we've also heard indications that it is possible that they will be willing to continue releasing people beyond the end of the deal which as you said is tomorrow. but again, until that is agreed, until that is executed, i don't want to get ahead of things and start making predictions. that will be an intense focus of our time and the presidents time, i can't overstate how personally, directly involved he's been in every aspect of this and will remain so again until all these people are out. >> i want to ask about that. he talked about his diplomacy, his engagement, we've seen the readout of calls, what the president said about the desire to continue this deal, or continue the pause, is that also the view of prime minister netanyahu and the israelis? >> the president has spoken almost daily, -- about this. our understanding is that the israelis are open to continuing the pause if hamas agreed to continue transferring prisoners. only the actual confirmation of all this to the two parties, at the negotiation again is ongoing, will continue, it's our view that if hostages continue to go east and the postured continue. and for the presidents involvement as you just said, it's important to know, something that happened the other day when the president was asked during a news conference he was given after he met with xi jinping of china for an update on the hostage deal, he said, well, i'm reluctant to give you any more details because i've been tied up for the last four hours so i don't have the latest. he was tied up talking to president xi of china, but that gives you some indication of how closely he's following this that for hours goes by and he believes he needs even further up to date information before he can comment. he's really following this hour by hour. >> i've been there not for this, obviously, but for past moments where the president has been very engaged in diplomacy. give us a sense, if the spending hours in the situation room back and forth, oval office, getting ten updates a day, six updates today, constantly on the phone. what is happening behind the scenes? >> yeah, so, as you can probably picture very well based on your experience, the president's national security team has been in and out of the oval office, providing updates during the course of the last few days during the thanksgiving holiday, providing him with near constant updates by secure phone, when we get information we transferred to him, we get his guidance we think it is useful for him to make a phone call to push or to council one of his foreign counterparts, fellow heads of state. and he has made as you said a number of calls directly on this issue to try and make sure things stay on track and for him, it's gonna have to continue over the days ahead if we're going to finish the execution of this first phase of the deal and ideally extend it. >> one of the arguments that prime minister netanyahu made publicly is that the military campaign put the necessary pressure on hamas to release hostages, he was making this argument in the lead up, is this an argument that the united states agrees with? >> however it and getting done we think the military campaign played a role, diplomacy probably has played the largest role behind the scenes, quiet diplomacy but firm, direct. we're in a place that many people don't think we could be which is a genuine pause in the fighting. and its neighboring by the way, not just the release of the hostages but also the significant expansion of the amount of humanitarian assistance that is going into gaza. we've never condition that assistance on a hostage deal, we said that system should go in, and go in a significant amount regardless. the fact that there isn't any fighting going on in gaza over the course of the past few days has meant a dramatic ramp up in assistance that's making lives easier for the palestinian people in gaza, including thousands of people as you know that have been displaced from their homes. we've had more than 200 checks of assistance cohen over the last few. days >> that's far more than was the case -- we'd like that to be able to continue as well. >> one of the many challenges as the lack of visibility into what's actually happening on the ground. they've been a range of reports and casualty numbers, including estimates of up to 15,000. does the united states have an estimate at the number of casualties in gaza at this point of time? or is that information we don't even have from the government? >> we candidly, sort of like what i said about the hostages and their condition themselves, because we are not on the ground in gaza, and because we don't speak directly with authorities there, we don't have the ability to give accurate estimates that we can verify of things like casualty numbers. what i can say is we believe, as has been reported everywhere, that the casualty numbers are historically high, beyond the level that we have seen and other conflicts in gaza, and that there are large number of innocence, tragically, who have been killed in this conflict. and that is something that all of us, i think, take incredibly seriously, that we speak directly to the government of as a real about in terms of how they're prosecuting the war, and how they may continue prosecuting this war if and when the cease-fire that has been called for the last four days, this pause, ultimately ends. but is quite obvious to everyone, the level of suffering is quite high. i should also say, the predicate for this phase of the conflict, what occurred inside israel, 1200 or more israelis who were killed by hamas terrorist attack, is also and historically high number. a predicate that is really unprecedented after previous -- severe situation right now. >> white house principal dak vt national security advisor jon finer, i know this is a very difficult situation with this for cold questions, but some moments of joy. -- bringing some of these hostages home. for those of you who are just joining us, we're continuing to follow breaking news out of today's hostage release and gaza. 40-year-old american abigail edan is now back in israel. she's one of 17 hostages released by hamas. the israeli government confirmed that in the last hour. i want to bring into people who've been involved in these types of negotiations on behalf of the u.s. government. joining me now, john brennan and former deputy national security adviser to president obama ben rhodes. brandon, i want to start with you. we all want to understand what happens next year. and there are nine americans who remain hostage. some may be by hamas, some by outside militant groups. you're an expert on the region, i should say. what happens now with these negotiations between hamas and the qataris and the egyptians and also these outside militant groups, as we're trying to get these americans home? >> well, jen, i think the effort is to build on these first three days, which is a very hopeful sign, because it appears as though both sides have appeared to the terms of the agreement sufficiently to allow it to the other side to follow through with its obligations in terms of releasing hostages as well as releasing prisoners. so i do think that is president biden so directly stated, it is the intention of the u.s. government to extend this pause for however long is possible to try to get out more hostages, including the other americans that are still being detained by hamas, as well as maybe by some other palestinian militant groups. so i do think the good well, if i can use that term in this situation, has been built up in terms of the adherence to the agreement so far by both sides. it's something that the qataris, the americans, the egyptians and the israelis can capitalize on, and see whether or not there can be an extension of this in addition to being able to bring more humanitarian aid into gaza so the people who have been suffering for the past seven weeks are able to get some relief. >> hamas is claiming, as i was just asking doctor brandon about, but they don't have control over roughly 100 hostages. how confident do you think the u.s. government can be -- everyone's trying to understand who these groups are, and how actually we can get these hostages back. >> well, we really can no. as john said, and these types of situations, the only thing you know is whether or not the party are dealing with can deliver on something they say they're going to do. and so, you're testing with each agreement, with each day, essentially, what hamas is capable of delivering here. i think this is a multifaceted circumstance, right? we're not a lot of people have a lot of bias and gaza. and particularly when the military operation is ongoing, it is truly a chaotic scene, and the capacity to locate and colocate hostages, and to move them out