to 3:00 p.m. eastern. our coverage continues with katy tur reports right now. good to be with you. i m katy tur. as we speak, we are expecting more hostages to be released including potentially one american. two israeli women have been released today, hours before the extended cease fire is set to end. that is unless there s a deal to keep it going. it is a precarious situation. hamas is claiming three of the captives have died, a mother and her two young sons. a 4-year-old and a 10-month-old. the idf cannot confirm if that s true. trying to keep the lines of communication open are secretary of state antony blinken, headed to israel right now and u.s. envoy for hostage affairs. as the united states tailors its public message, that a resumption of war gives hamas what it wants, which is never ending violence. quote, hamas, unleashed a terrorist attack because they fear nothing more than israelis and palestinians living side by side in peace. there s growing political press
the resuchks of war and families rejoice over being reunited. this morning, i ll speak to a top red cross official about the hostage releases along with prime minister netanyahu s closest advisor. and we re expecting law enforcement officials in vermont to give details on the arrest of a suspect in connection to the weekend shooting of three college students of palestinian descent visiting one of their grandmothers during the break. no person and no community in this country should have to live in fear of hate fueled violence. fulfilling that promise motivates us every day. good day, everyone. 11 more hostages could be released today according to egypt. a truce in the fighting will be extending possibly for two more days creating new hope for the families of hostages still not released and for gaza residents hoping for more. new photos of the 4-year-old, abigail, the israeli american girl released sunday whose parents were killed by hamas on october 7th. she pictured here
to underscore how today could have been radically different in modern history books as we watch what is happening today. what we understand is in a benchmark of progress, 24 hostages have now been released. 13 israelis, 10 thai nationals and one filipino citizen as the israel-hamas hostage deal holds steady on the first of what will be a longnd critical four days. among the youngest israelis freed today, a 2-year-old, 4-year-old, 5-year-old and a 9-year-old. you can see a small child here getting into that bus preparing to go home and leaving their nearly seven-week long nightmare behind. they have since been reunited with their families, given toys and clean clothes as they start the long journey to healing. many of them may not have an understanding of everything that has transpired on october 7th and since and challenges still remain for the families of those who did not come home today yet. as for the civilians inside the strip, the israeli military dropping new leaflets