Positive sign harris gave a thumbs up to the fans as he was loaded into the ambulance. We are staying on all the Breakiking News Out of israel a gaza. Stay with cnn news central. Starts now. Hello, thank you so much for joining us, im kate bolduan with john in new york, sara sidner is in israel. The Breaking News were following right now, u. S. Secretary of state Antony Blinken is back in israel this morning. Blinken has been shuttling around the renal for days now. This morning he met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, hes also meeting with the israeli president and were standing by to see if blinken will be speaking after these critical meetings. One major focus, the horrifying news were learning this morning the idf says 199 are now being held hostage by hamas in gaza, thats a huge and significant jump from what was believed to be the number of people taken after the hamas Terror Attack. The latest from the Biden Administration is that at least 15 americans are still missing. W
that category, two women and one young child. we have reason to believe that one of those americans will be released today. until we see her out safely from gaza, in the hands of the authorities and ultimately in the hands of her family, we will not be certain. let s get right to nbc news correspondent, eric mclaughlin, in tel aviv, erin, thank you for joining us. what more can you tell us about what s expected to happen today? well, we re waiting for a news, still no word on today s expected exchange. there is this new hope that an american could be among the hostages released. this of course follows last night successful exchange of 13 israeli hostages and 39 palestinians. one of the israeli hostages released is nine year emily hand, she was on october 7th, she had been staying at a friend hamas militants, stormed into gaza and initially she had been reported dead, that s what her father says he was told, that was corrected weeks later. last night, we saw, just a he
win, you will be their next target. that s why israel s victory will be your victory. but make no mistake, regardless of who stands with israel, israel will fight until this battle is won. israel will prevail. just part of a defiant speech yesterday from israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu, where he rejected calls for a cease-fire and his resignation. we ll have more of his comments and get a live report from the israel-gaza border straight ahead. meanwhile, aid for israel is a top priority on capitol hill, but the two chambers have very different plans for delivering it. we ll go through that potential funding fight. also ahead, an update on the expected testimony from donald trump and his three oldest children in his civil fraud trial. plus, why a tentative new deal for auto workers is a win for the union and president bide biden. and the continued support for actor matthew perry, with his friends, co-stars, releasing a statement following his passing. we ll r