Proposal is that hamas would agree to the release of 33 hostages from the socalled humanitarian category. So that is women, it is children, it is the elderly, people with serious medical conditions. And in return, israel would agree to a 40day ceasefire and the release of potentially thousands of Palestinian Prisoners. We should stress at this point all we have is this statement from the political wing of hamas. We do not have the detail of what exactly it is that they have agreed to, and there has been pretty frenetic diplomacy over the weekend involving cia director bill burns who started in egypt, flying to qatar, coming here to israel. It is possible that the framework of that deal has changed over the weekend. It is also worth saying that these deals are often structured in terms of first an agreement on a broad framework and then hammering out of the details. As you know, chris, the devil is often in the detail, but there is positive indication for the First Time Since that last ceasefire deal which lasted only a week, collapsed on December 1st Last year. This is the first time we have heard from hamas that they are prepared to accept a ceasefire proposal. We have heard nothing officially from the Israeli Government. Israel is certainly aware of this statement from hamas. They are studying it. We have not heard yet from Prime Minister netanyahu or israeli officials. Fwhu is a potentially positive sign after these many, many months of bloodshed in gaza and these many, many painful months of the hostages staying in hams captivity. So without anything, raf, from israeli officials, no way to know how this might impact the assault that we are expecting in rafah where about 1. 4 million civilians remain . Early this morning palestinian residents in the east of rafah found themselves with a snowfall of leaflets falling from israeli aircraft with a pretty stark message saying get out of this area, israels military plans to attack. In that area, around 100,000 Palestinian Civilians sheltering inside of it. Thats according to the idf. They were told to flee to socalled humanitarian zones on the mediterranean coast of gaza. At this point no Israeli Forces have moved in to begin that offensive. Its not clear, chris, whether this is the largescale attack that Prime Minister netanyahu has been threatening for months now, aimed he says at destroying the four hamas Battalions Hiding in the city or if this is a more limited operation in response to hamas Firing Rockets yesterday which killed four Israeli Soldiers around kerem shalom. This has caused widespread alarm inside. Packing up their tents, fleeing on foot in sometimes donkeydrawn carriages. Chris, it is also possible that the movement we saw today was an israeli negotiating tactic designed to put pressure not just on hamas, but also on egypt, also on the United States to get an agreement through. We dont know yet what the relationship is between this hamas statement and this israeli escalating inside of rafah. It is notable that hamas saying it has agreed to this deal just a few hours after those leaflets were dropped and very shortly after that phone called wrap up between President Biden and Prime Minister netanyahu. Chris. So i want to make sure i understand because so much of the concern over the last many months has surrounded the hostages. The latest number i see, raf, is that there is 132 hostages, by that i think we can say people who were taken hostage and still missing. Some of them presumed dead. As many as five u. S. Citizens. Of these, apparently 33 would be released under this deal . Reporter yeah, chris, thats right. So israels official numbers, 132 hostages being held inside gaza. That number actually lowered from 133 last week when it turned out a young man who was thought to be held hostage in gaza was actually killed on october 7th. His body found inside of israel. So 132 hostages in total. Officially around 35 or so of them are known to be dead according to the Israeli Government. Israel suspects that the real number is potentially significantly higher than that, and that number of hostages includes civilians. It includes soldiers. So this humanitarian category would be focused on women, would be focused on children, be focused on the elderly and people with serious medical conditions. Now, there are five american hostages who are thought to be alive in hamas captivity right now. We have seen hostage videos, two of them over the last couple weeks. Hirsh goldberg poland, the young man kidnapped from the music festival, his left arm blown off by a hamas grenade while he was sheltering in a bomb shelter on the side of the road and also keith segall, 64 years old, born in north carolina, living in along the gaza border. Hes the oldest known american hostage still alive in hamas activity. Its not clear, chris, Whether Hirsh Goldberg poland because of his serious injuries, keith segall, because of his age, would be included in that humanitarian category or not. We think the priority would likely be the women. There are two young children, the beavis brothers who are unaccounted for inside gaza. Hamas has claimed at certain points that those children are dead. Israel has never officially confirmed that. The priority would be getting the women and the children out first. So this is certainly a moment of hope for the families of israeli hostages who have waited so long. We should stress this statement is from the political wing of hamas. We have not yet heard anything from yahya sinwar, the man believed to be the ultimate Decision Maker in this situation. He is thought to be in the tunnels underneath Southern Gaza right now. Chris, you can bet with their limited internet there are people in rafah right now, potentially people fleeing from their homes at this very moment who are hoping that this is the breakthrough they have been praying for, also, and for the First Time Since december 1st, that there might be a pause in the fighting. The hostages might be coming out and more humanitarian aid might be coming in. Chris. We are watching pictures from earlier in rafah with children loaded onto a cart who seem to be evacuating that city. Let me go to Aaron Gilchrist now. Aaron, in spite of the fact that this has been a very intense and difficult relationship between Bibi Netanyahu and President Biden, the u. S. Has been very actively involved, obviously, in diplomatic efforts to try to come to a ceasefire. What are you hearing from the white house right now . Reporter chris, youre right. Deeply involved in the process right from the very beginning, with the first set of negotiations that went on to achieve that first ceasefire and hostage release. We know cia director bill burns was deeply involved in the process back then and he has been deeply involved in the process up until this point, actually spending this past weekend in The Middle East. As we understand it from our reporting in dohar qatar as part of the last round of negotiations that, in fact, if what we heard today from hamas is true, Director Burns would likely have been involved in that process of bringing this to the finish line if you will. This is something that the Biden Administration has said its been working toward day in and day out since the last ceasefire fell apart, as raf noted, back in december of last year. So today we have not yet gotten a response or a confirmation from the white house. Forgive me for looking down, just to make sure that hasnt come down while weve been talking. We have not gotten that today. But we do know there were indications that this deal was something that could happen. The Secretary Of State, tony blinken was in The Middle East last week and said on more than one occasion hamas needed to take this deal, it was an extremely gracious deal they had put on the table for hamas and something he was pushing for. We heard over the weekend the same admonition that hamas accept this deal that was on the table. At this point after the president having spoken to the israeli Prime Minister this morning before he left wilmington to return to washington, we got the readout from that phone call a little while ago. The indication was the president was updating Prime Minister netanyahu on the negotiation to come to a deal here and that the negotiations were actively happening as the president was speaking to the Prime Minister. Thats the indication we got from that readout, and the president again making clear to the Prime Minister according to this readout his position on raffa had not changed in that the administration said to the israelis they did not want to see a largescale Military Action in raffa until there was a concrete plan to care for the 1millionplus civilians in that area right now, not wanting to see anymore civilian death and the people in rafah, the palestinians there were already suffering so much. So this news that a deal has been agreed to by hamas, one can imagine is something that the administration is looking at as a positive indication and something that the administration has indicated they think this deal, a deal coming together at this point would be something that would allow for more talks to happen with the palestinians with hamas i should say, with the Palestinian Authority. The israelis and all the other players in The Middle East to try to come to a larger understanding about a twostate solution as the Biden Administration has said where the fighting ends and theyre able to create a situation where palestinians and israelis could live together rather sidebyside in two separate states but peacefully in that region. I want to bring in general Barry Mccaffrey. Its always great to see you. To reiterate what we heard from raf sanchez, this is a positive first sign, not a done deal, but very far along from where we had been. If theres a big asterisk, it may be that the leader of hamas, the key Decision Maker, sinwar, we have not heard from him yet. How would you describe this . Would you say cautiously optimistic based on what we know so far . Well, clearly its good news. The next step from the israeli Point Of View was go into rafah and get in the underground tunnels after the remaining hamas leadership. In addition, four hamas Fighting Battalions that are intact. That threat of Military Invasion is the only thing that would bring hamas to the table. I think the israelis have one strategic purpose, is how do they end up with gaza not governed by hamas. Theres really nothing in this that indicates there would be any other authority, the Palestinian Authority and International Arab league that would take over gov vance. I think the situation in the longer run is unchanged, bitter and threatening. Let me also bring in admiral james stavridis. Its been less than a half hour since we first got this reporting. What are you going to be watching for in the coming hours . Three things. Number one, obviously, the situation in rafah. Will the israelis continue to ask the civilian population to evacuate . I think they will. I think as this unfolds, it will be instructive to watch how successful that is over time. Number two, ill be watching for the provision of humanitarian aid, a big part of the criticism thats been directed in israel, in this case appropriately, is on the lack of humanitarian aid coming in. Hopefully some additional good news we might get in the next day or two is that the pira complex instructed by the u. S. Military, army, navy, marine, s. E. A. L. S guarding it, will open. That could bring 100 to 150 truckloads of aid a day, sufficient for minimal survival for much of the population. Ill be watching humanitarian aid and how that unfolds. Third, and i think quite importantly, watch the tunnel complex. I felt for a long time the real Military Center Of Gravity here is actually not hamas. Youll never kill all those fighters. More are being generated every day. But if the israelis can decommission those tunnels, chris, by flooding them, exploding them, sealing them off, that would take away the means by which hamas has been able to train, organize, equip, direct these operations. Im going to be watching the tunnel complex, the humanitarian aid and the movement of civilians out of rafah. Those are three key indicators for me. Im getting new information. I want to make sure that were very clear about this, that this is just a single source. It comes from reuters. We have not confirmed this. But an israeli official says hamas approved a softened egyptian proposal that is not acceptable to israel. Let me go back to you, raf sanchez. You pointed this out i think earlier on. We have to be careful about the details. The devil is always in the details. Again, israeli officials says hamas approved a softened egyptian proposal not acceptable to israel. Do we have any clue what would be unacceptable to israel . Chris, the big, big Sticking Points throughout these negotiations has been whether this is a deal for a pause in the fighting, which is what israel wants or a deal to end the war altogether which is what hamas wants. Trying to bridge that gap which frankly seems like a zerosum situation, has been one of these very, very tricky maneuvers that the mediators have been trying to pull off. So there has been talk over the last week, is there something that hamas could be given, some kind of assurance, that this initial ceasefire of 40 days would segue into something longer, something more sustained, something more permanent. Negotiators have been trying to find creative ways to bridge the gap. As you said, we do not have this confirmed. I could imagine that one of the potential pitfalls here might be that there is language about a potential end to the war in whatever agreement it is that hamas says it has approved of that is not acceptable to the Israeli Government. We should say, chris, that a lot of the Hostage Families have been deeply, deeply worried that Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu does not want an agreement. The Prime Minister has said repeatedly on the record that one of his Top Priorities is getting the hostages out of gaza, but theres a lot of concern among the Hostage Families that his actual priority has been prosecuting the war against hamas, destroying them militarily rather than leaving the diplomatic space for the hostages. Theres also been concern among the families that it may be in netanyahus own political interests to continue the war, that he might be facing elections when the war ends. His polling right now is dire. So that has been a concern among the Hostage Families, that netanyahu might be unwilling to accept a deal. It is worth saying Secretary Of State blinken has said israel has made serious conceptions in pursuit of an agreement. He has described the offer that israel has put forward as generous. We know from israeli officials they went from looking for 40 hostages from the humanitarian category down to 33 after hamas indicated it might not have 40 living hostages that fit that criteria. We know, also, israel has made concessions on allowing Palestinian Civilians to go from the south back to their homes in the north where they were displaced from. But as weve said, chris, over and over again, the details here are fiendishly complicated. We want to hear from the Israeli Government that the proposal hamas has agreed to is also a proposal that israel can agree to. That previous ceasefire which was agreed back in november, as i said, it was approved three stages, the israeli war cabinet, the Israeli Security cabinet and then the full israeli cabinet. That has not happened so far. At this point we dont have anything official from the Israeli Government in response to this statement from hamas. Chris . I want to bring in nbcs andrea mitchell. In addition, andrea, to not having anything official from the Israeli Government and you just heard raf talk about the visit by Secretary Of State blinken, and you were on that trip. You know on the other side of this, in addition to the fact that there is a statement from the political wing of hamas saying they have accepted whatever this deal is, we dont know the details. There are so many hamas factions. So the fiendish details are not just about israel. Theyre also obviously about hamas and who speaks for hamas. And that is so critical, chris. Youre absolutely right. As raf well knows,