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Hamas And Israel Agree To Ceasefire-Hostage Deal; Some American Hostages Expected To Be Released During 1st Phase of Ceasefire-Hostage Deal; Qatari PM Speaks As Gaza & Israel Reach Ceasefire-Hostage Deal. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired January 15, 2025 - 13:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[13:30:00]

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN SENIOR GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: -- is it's not yet clear how many of these hostages are alive.

And so that is yet another hurdle for these families to have to endure now, not only wondering whether or not they will see their family members come home, and whatever physical, mental condition, one could only imagine the hell they've been through these past 466 days, but whether or not they'll even come home alive.

And another point I would make, Dana, is that what is likely going to be inevitable and very painful for these families.

It's a horrible club to be in, to be families of these hostages over the course of the last 15 months who have grown very, very close, as one might imagine, in rallying together and trying to get all sides, including their own government, to agree to a deal.

There are concerns about what happens to those who are not in the initial phase, because that's where things become much more complicated. Obviously, Hamas could just release all of the hostages, and that's what they've been asking for, all 98 hostages out at once.

Sadly, that's not going to be the reality. And so the concern is for those other family members that are going to be very happy and joyous to see 33 of these hostages come home.

But then, of course, a lot of concern and trepidation about their own family members who will remain in Gaza. The majority of them male soldiers and those over the age of 18.

So therein lies another tension point here that it's going to be very painful, as you spoke with Michael Oren there. This is a moment everyone's been waiting for. But at the same time, it comes at a very, very heavy price.

DANA BASH, CNN HOST: It sure does.

Bianna, thank you so much. It's so incredible to have you there on the ground. Appreciate it.

We have so much breaking news, and the developments are coming very fast and furious. Of course, the headline is that Israel and Hamas have agreed to a deal that will pause fighting in Gaza and lead to the phased release of hostages, as Bianna was just talking about, in exchange for Palestinian prisoners being released as well.

Stay with CNN. We have some new information to bring you on the other side of a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:36:44]

BASH: Welcome back. And the breaking news is a ceasefire deal reached between the Israeli government and Hamas.

The agreement would pause fighting in Gaza and lead to the phased release of hostages. And the release in exchange for the hostages in Gaza, Palestinian prisoners in Israel. And that could start as soon as this weekend.

I want to bring you new information, and that is sources are telling CNN that American hostages are expected to be released during the initial phase of the ceasefire, that we just described.

Now, it is not clear which American hostages will come out as part of this first group released, whether some or all of those released are alive.

Our panel is here.

And, Alex, we've been talking since we got this news. Just staying on this topic of which hostages will come out, the understanding is that it's women and men who are older. The women could include IDF -- female IDF soldiers.

But that younger men, particularly IDF soldiers like Edan Alexander, whose parents we have talked to many, many times, who was serving in the IDF, is serving in the IDF and was when he was captured, is not likely to be in this first phase.

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: The way this deal has been structured for a long time, since President Biden announced it last May, is that this first phase would be what they're calling the humanitarian cases.

So essentially not men of fighting age, not men who are in the IDF, but everybody else, women, both civilians and in the IDF, older men, people who have been injured and some of the deceased.

One of the big questions we're trying to figure out right now, Dana, is, who will be among those 33? And I think that's why you're seeing a bit more of a muted event.

BASH: Yes.

MARQUARDT: I don't even really want to call it a celebration yet in Israel, because there are -- there is so much uncertainty about who is actually going to get freed in this first phase.

I think it is quite notable we have not yet heard any sort of victory or claim of credit from the Biden administration just yet, because it sounds like, you know, we are treating this as a done deal, and I think it will be soon, but it's not quite there yet.

We just heard from the prime minister's office in Israel, talking about how there are several unresolved points that remain. I was just speaking to a diplomat who is familiar with these talks, who tells me that this is almost done.

Once this is done, I think we're going to see a lot of these claims of credit. We're already seeing them from -- from President-elect Trump and those around him. We'll probably see the same from President Biden and others.

I mean, I'm reminded of the expression that success has many fathers and failure is an orphan. We've been following this -- these talks for months and months, every twist and turn, and there's been a lot of finger pointing to go around.

Now we're going to be -- see a lot of people taking credit. We've already seen celebrations breaking out in the streets of Gaza and Khan Younis, in particular, in that southern city.

And I think we -- you know, as everyone, all the diplomats and officials take credit, we need to remember the people who are being affected here. You have two million people in Gaza, who have been living through absolute hell, tens of thousands of people who have been killed over the past 15 months.

You have all of these families in Israel who have been suffering with questions about where their loved ones are, whether they're alive, whether they're dead. Of course, now they're waiting to see who's going to come home.

[13:40:07]

There are a lot of questions that remain. If I had to guess, the --and I'm certainly asking these questions about these outstanding points, probably about the ratio of hostages to Palestinian prisoners and about the withdrawal of the IDF.

We know that they're not going to fully withdraw from the Gaza Strip, but they will be withdrawing to certain areas, certain strategic areas. That's been a major point of contention between Hamas and Israel.

So even once this deal gets underway, and we believe it's going to be a six week pause in the fighting, there is still a lot of questions that are going to need to be sorted out that will be negotiated during those six weeks and beyond.

BASH: Yes. And just to reiterate what you're hearing from a diplomatic source, despite what the prime minister said in the statement publicly, which, you know, we have to understand that it is not a done deal.

We haven't seen him come out, announce it and announce it. We haven't seen anybody in Qatar or President Biden come out and announce it yet.

I'm also told I was communicating with a source who said that there are some details that are not totally finalized. Details really matter. We know this the hard way after so many fits and starts here, but that it will get done.

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Yet, there are certain things that we're supposed to be decided in the second phase of this deal. This first part is a trust-building exercise that the Israelis pull back and allow Gazans in the south to go north.

But they remain -- the IDF would remain in a buffer zone where they could be targeted by Hamas or Palestinian Islamic jihad, other fighters, terrorists who don't answer to Hamas. And that could break things down in the weeks to come.

In this second phase, that's when they're supposed to talk about how the rest of the hostages and the remains of the hostages, who have not survived, would be released. And that could still all get upset, and we could have it fall apart again.

BASH: You know, and I just want to go back to one of the things I was talking about with former Ambassador Michael Oren.

Which is, this whole time, these brutal 467 days, are part of the -- the biggest part of the challenge has been that what the Israelis and the Americans and the Qataris were trying to do was to get Hamas to agree to a diplomatic solution that will lead to its demise as -- as a leader in Gaza.

Because that obviously is the ultimate goal, because Hamas is a terror organization that is making life hell, not just for Israel, but for so many of the Palestinians living in -- in Gaza.

So it's just interesting that they got them to this point, even if it is just phase one. And that perhaps is part of the struggle --

DOZIER: Well --

BASH: -- in getting to phase two and beyond.

DOZIER: In this deal, there's a carrot and a stick. The carrot would be all of the aid that will hopefully get in, 600 trucks a day, to the Palestinians who've been without food, water, et cetera.

But the stick is that the Trump administration is believed to be much more willing to go along with whatever the Netanyahu government --

BASH: OK.

DOZIER: -- wants to do with the future disposition of Gaza.

You have the Palestinian Authority prime minister speaking just now, as all of this is happening, in Oslo, saying that the Palestinian Authority should be in charge of Gaza in future.

But, you know, the last Trump administration broke relations with the P.A. So the question of what happens in Gaza in future is unclear.

And surely the Egyptians, the Qataris are telling Hamas, if you want us to be able to support you existing in any way in future, you've got to say yes to this deal.

BASH: Now, let's talk -- Jeff Zeleny is here now.

Nice to see you, Jeff.

Let's talk about this moment that we're in. I mean, there are going to be reams and reams of -- of paper that go into books and books and books, assuming that people still read those -- let's hope they do -- about this moment

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

BASH: -- in history, this -- this historic transition between the Biden administration and the Trump administration and the way that they appear to be working together to have, as Audie said earlier, this common goal and this strategy that dovetails.

Which doesn't happen very often. And it not only is happening now, but all sides understand that common goal.

ZELENY: Without question. I mean, the first historical guide here, as we've talked about, is, of course, the 1980, 1981, the Iranian hostages, which we're finally released in the opening moments of the Reagan administration.

That is what some Biden officials had been worried about. Obviously, they -- they want a deal regardless of when it happens. But that is one of the extraordinary things.

[13:45:05]

I was down in Florida last week talking to Trump officials and the president-elect had his Middle East envoy in the room, and he brought him to the podium to talk a bit about what they've been doing.

And -- and we've since learned that the Biden administration and the Trump incoming administration have been working hand in glove on this.

And one of the new dynamics in all of this -- obviously, these talks have been going on for months and months -- it is the incoming Trump administration.

And Steve Witkoff has been very aggressive -- he's the Trump Middle East envoy -- very aggressive in trying to push this forward.

Again, we expect President Biden to speak at some point. He's obviously scheduled to speak this evening, likely will speak before then, if there is something to finally address. But for history, as you said, it will be the -- this contentious,

contentious campaign between these two rivals that, in the final days here, their advisers and aides are working together behind the scenes for the greater good.

Now, there obviously will be a rush to sort of take advantage of this. And the Trump administration has been already, you know, saying that it was them that brought this to the fore.

But should this happen, I think it will be one of those moments of actually Trump and Biden teams working together, which I can't think of another example really, across the -- the policy front.

AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR & CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And one thing I think we all understand about Middle East politics and the history there is it's indifferent to what's going on with the domestic politics of the U.S.

This is going to be a tiny chapter in the story of Mideast relations, but I think it will still be one of those inflection points.

Every time there is a war, the resettling that happens after the shifts that happen in societies, especially in Israel, specifically, they're really profound. And they reverberate long after whatever little moment in time that was.

And so much of this -- you're listening to Michael Oren was really incredible because you were getting at the schisms within Israeli domestic politics that have been revealed by this moment.

And even on our tiny scale for Democratic politics, right, there were schisms revealed within the Democratic Party. So it really can shift how people think about these things.

And, and the sort of that's how I'm looking at the history that there's going to be this moment where people will say, the cards we're tossed in the air, and when they came down, what direction did we go in?

BASH: You know, it's so true. One area where I do think that domestic politics in the U.S. -- and it wasn't just in the U.S., in other Western countries -- did matter in this conflict, was the way that you saw the protests in the streets.

I have not talked to an American official or an Israeli official who did not say that Hamas felt emboldened and that they had leverage because of the support.

I'm not saying that the support was for Hamas. In some -- in some places, it was, unfortunately, so. But the support for ending the war.

And so what Hamas saw in the streets was, OK, well, if we just ride it out or we push back, we've got some leverage because of public opinion and domestic political turmoil in Western countries.

(CROSSTALK) BASH: First and foremost in the U.S.

CORNISH: -- ideas. I mean, the discussion over when to use the word "genocide." The discussion over sort of, what does it mean for Israel to protect itself?

I feel like there was kind of an international dialog, again, about these very big and sort of philosophical questions. And now, the rubber is going to meet the road about what that means going forward.

BASH: I want to go to Frank Lowenstein, who is a former U.S. special envoy for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations from 2014 to 2017.

Thank you so much for being here.

What is your takeaway from what we see right now?

FRANK LOWENSTEIN, FORMER U.S. SPECIAL ENVOY FOR ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN NEGOTIATIONS: Well, I would just inject a cautionary note. It does seem all indications are suggesting that we'll have a deal in the very near future.

But I worked on one of these ceasefire negotiations with Hamas and Israel with Secretary Kerry in 2014. And we thought --

(CROSSTALK)

BASH: Frank, I'm so sorry to --

(CROSSTALK)

BASH: Ambassador, I'm so sorry to interrupt you.

We do have word that the press conference is starting in Doha. We're going to listen in.

SHEIKH MOHAMMED BIN ABDULRAHMAN AL THANI, QATARI PRIME MINISTER (through translation): -- the new president-elect and Mr. Brett McGurk, whose efforts have contributed to push the negotiations forward to reach this agreement.

I would also like to thank all our colleagues and our colleagues from the Arab Republic of Egypt and Minister Hassan Rashad, who have contributed and worked hard in partnership with their Qatari brothers to achieve this achievement -- this agreement, the two sides agreement, both sides agreeing.

[13:50:04]

We are continuing to go through all the other procedures throughout the night. After that, we will take measures within the Israeli cabinet. After that, the agreement will go into effect on Sunday, the 19th of January. The date -- exact hour will be determined later.

As to the details of the agreement, the first phase is 42 days, will see a ceasefire and a withdrawal of Israeli troops to the east, far away from populated areas, to regroup along the borders.

An exchange of prisoners and hostages according with a mechanism and exchange of the bodies of the dead ones and the citizens to go back to their -- to their homes, also facilitating treatment for injured.

Also, the first phase will cover entering humanitarian aid all across Gaza and rehabilitation of hospitals and clinics and bakeries, and allowing civil defense equipments, fuel and other equipments to help the displaced people to go back to their homes.

As soon as Hamas will release 33 hostages, including civilian women, elderly and some elderly people, in return for a number of Palestinian prisoners.

As the details of the second and the third phase, they will be agreed upon during the implementation of the first phase.

The state of Qatar emphasized the importance of both sides to implement all the agreed upon throughout the three stages to avoid bloodshed and to prepare for achieving a comprehensive peace.

And just Egyptian state of Qatar and the Egyptian Republic and the Arab Republic of Egypt, the United States will continue to work with all parties to ensure that the agreed upon phases will be implemented.

We will look forward to other international partners to help with the international effort and the United Nations to help with the delivery of humanitarian aid inside Gaza.

The state of Qatar will not shy away from putting all efforts to put all the effort it can to alleviate suffering of the people of the Gaza Strip.

Throughout the past period, the state of Qatar has not -- has worked hard to help -- to help with all, whatever we can do, to achieve this moment, to reach this moment.

Ever since, the negotiation has been succeeded in stopping the fighting in last November and achieving an exchange of prisoners and hostages, we would still continue to reach an agreement to stop the war and to return hope to our age so peace and stability can prevail.

For 411 days, meetings have continued with our partners and both sides, and today we have reached this desired moment. The responsibility now stays with -- the both sides and with the help of international partners. That is where our efforts in the next phase will focus upon.

I would like to thank all our regional and international partners who helped us in these efforts, and all the way till the point we reach an agreement.

I also would like finally to think -- to tell our brothers and our friends in the Gaza Strip that the state of Qatar will always continue to support the Palestinian people. His Excellency, the emir of the country, will -- is of utmost

importance to him and will continue to follow up all time to ensure the implementation of this deal.

We thank God we've reached this phase. We hope that this will be the last page in the time or the days of war.

I hope that all parties will fulfill their obligations in this agreement and will continue to implement these measures in accordance with the agreement.

The state of Qatar will always work together with its partners to make sure that this agreement is implemented fully. And in durable calm to go back to Gaza and will never give up Gaza.

Thank you.

Any questions?

Yes. The first question from Sky News.

YALDA HAKIN, REPORTER, SKY NEWS: Prime minister, Yalda Hakim from Sky News.

Congratulations. This is a huge moment.

[13:55:01]

You, as you say, have been working on this deal for -- for many months. And the question is, why now? Why this moment? And was it pressure from the incoming Trump administration that got it over the line? Thank you.

AL THANI: Well, thank you very much for this question.

Actually, we've been raising the question of the right moment for the entire period since the collapse of -- of the first phase. But we have seen a momentum that started to build in the last month, and we kept pushing for that, working together very closely with our partners.

And I can say that what we have seen from the U.S. in the past few days, seeing a collaboration transcending both administrations, was a clear demonstration for the commitment of the U.S. to reach to that deal.

And I really would like to thank both the envoys who are here with us in the last couple of days. And they played a vital role in reaching to this moment.

And, of course, for us and Egypt, this is something that we are a stakeholder in that conflict, that we have to do it and we have to help and to support.

But we have seen the steps that's been taken recently from the U.S. has -- has yielded to this moment.

CNN?

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Becky Anderson, CNN.

Congratulations to you. And to Steve Witkoff, who -- again, this is from CNN. Congratulations to you, and Steve Witkoff, who is also here in the room.

How much confidence do you have that the deal will progress beyond phase one, Sir?

AL THANI: Well, we have faith, Becky, that brought us to this moment. And I think that's -- that's the most important part that we are committed. We will continue to do everything we can, everything possible to -- together with our partners, to ensure that this deal is implemented as it's agreed.

And this deal will bring us peace, hopefully, at the end of it. I believe that it all depends on -- on the parties of the agreement and acting in good faith in that agreement in order to ensure that no collapse happening to that deal.

ANDERSON: Can I just follow up? What mechanisms are in place to ensure that neither side breaks the ceasefire?

AL THANI: There is a follow-up mechanism that Egypt, Qatar and U.S. are going to handle. It will be placed in Cairo. And this follow up actually will be a joint team from the three countries that will monitor the implementation of the agreement.

And everything has been agreed upon and will be in place, hopefully on the day of the execution.

ANDERSON: Thank you.

AL THANI: Reuters?

ANDREW MILLS, REPORTER, REUTERS: Thank you, Prime Minister.

Congratulations. Andrew Mills from Reuters.

Can you talk a little bit more about this follow-up mechanism? If -- if elements of the agreement put in place tonight are violated, what will happen?

Who is it that is going to report and that that that a violation has happened? And how will that violation be communicated to the parties, the world, the-- the guarantors of this agreement?

AL THANI: Thank you. Well, this is -- this is what I have just mentioned to Becky. There is -- there will be a follow-up mechanism that all the parties will be placed in Egypt, and they will follow up the implementation of the agreement.

There will be a reporting mechanism for any violation. And those violations will be addressed at a very early stage. Look, we expect from the parties to adhere to the agreement. We expect

the parties to -- to stay committed to what they have committed themselves to in that agreement.

But we know that these kind of -- of agreements are very complex and will have some issues down the line. And we are ready and we are we will stay committed to address those -- those issues ahead of time.

MILLS: And, Prime Minister, just as a follow up, the -- the last truce that was in place in November 2023 did fall apart on the eighth day. What has changed in this agreement that will ensure that this is less likely to fall apart than that agreement was?

AL THANI: Well, the agreement on November was to build the momentum in order to lead for a longer-term agreement, which we have today. But unfortunately, the agreement in November was very transactional. So it was like a day by day.

But this agreement has a clear mechanism for the first 42 days, and there is a clear mechanism to negotiate phase two and three.

[13:59:57]

And all the details of the agreements will be published in the next couple of days once the details are finalized.

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