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One World with Zain Asher

Source: Hamas And Israel Agree To Ceasefire-Hostage Deal; The Israeli Government Expects An Agreement Will Be Announced Today Or Tomorrow; Intensive Pressure Campaign That Trump Has Basically Used As An Intervention In This Negotiation; Source Said That The Israeli Government Expects An Agreement Will Be Announced Today Or Tomorrow; Three American Hostages Are Presumed To Be Alive And Held Hostage By Hamas. Aired 12-1p ET

Aired January 15, 2025 - 12:00:00   ET

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


[12:00:03]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News.

ISA SOARES, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Live from London, I'm Isa Soares.

And we are following some breaking news. This is ONE WORLD. A Hamas official says the group has approved a ceasefire and hostage release deal.

The senior official tells CNN, the group has delivered its response to media aides.

Earlier, source said that the Israeli government expects an agreement will be announced today or tomorrow. And if it happens, implementation of the

deal will likely start on Sunday. This is all developing in the last few minutes.

Of course, we are waiting to hear from the Qataris on this. But let's get more from our Matthew Chance. You are looking at those images there from

Khan Yunis, who has been -- and Matthew is tracking this.

So, Matthew, just -- we are getting more information now. Hamas saying that it's approved the agreement, it's delivered its response. And now we're

hearing from our colleague, Becky Anderson, who says that Israel and Hamas have agreed to a deal. This is according to a source.

What do we know about the contours so far of this deal?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, we know the broad contours of that deal in the sense that it's been the result of a

painstaking negotiation focusing on the release of the hostages that have been held in the Gaza Strip since October the 7th of, you know, more than a

year ago.

And it's the release of 33 of those hostages, you know, women and children, the elderly, the sick or the injured, predominantly, we understand. That

are the part of this negotiation that has been agreed over the course of the past negotiations taking place in Qatar between the various parties.

It's a phased release of hostages that will take place in conjunction, of course, with the release of prisoners, hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in

Israeli jails.

Initially, in terms of the hostages, there will be, we understand, three hostages release straightaway, as soon as the deal, the first stage of this

deal is implemented. That could be as early as Sunday.

Then it will see the hostages released over a period of six weeks in conjunction with Palestinian prisoners from the other side as well. And so

it is going to be a long and drawn out process. It's probably, if our experience of the past is anything to go by, it's probably not going to go

altogether smoothly. There may well be sort of obstacles and hiccups and holdups along the way, so it could stretch out for a longer period than

that as well.

But it is at least the first sign in months of relief to the region, which has been, of course, so severely affected by the conflict that's been

raging in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Hamas and other militant groups as well for the course of the past more than a year.

So that is a very early, good sign of hope, as a result of these painstaking negotiations, Isa.

SOARES: Yes. A moment of hope, a moment of optimism, Matthew, for so many, of course, who have been waiting for their loved ones to return home, who

have been waiting for the war to end, of course, 46,000 killed in Gaza.

Let's talk, though, about this deal from what we know. You've talked about the first phase. We don't want to get ahead of ourselves, the second phase,

because there are concerns about that.

But from what I understand, Matthew, any sort of deal will need to be approved by Israel's security cabinet and full government cabinet. Do we

know how quickly that is done? And do we know whether Netanyahu, Prime Minister Netanyahu, has the support for that?

Because there are a couple of voices, dissenting voices, within his government. I'm thinking of Ben Smotrich and Gvir as well.

CHANCE: Yes, that's right. I mean, Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition is a fragile coalition, and it's highly dependent on support from right-wing

nationalist parties in Israel, many of whom are fundamentally opposed to the release of Palestinian prisoners, particularly prisoners with, as they

would say, blood on their hands, convicted of killing Israelis.

And so there's likely to be, you know, legal changes to the idea that the Israeli state is going to release convicted murderers from Israeli jails.

That's something that could hold up the implementation of the first stage of this.

But there's a sort of a broader objection as well, I expect. And it's one that's been voiced multiple times from the right-wing parties inside

Israel. Just the idea that these hostages should be released in exchange for the continued existence of Hamas the fact the Israeli state would be

effectively allowing Hamas to continue to operate and be the, I suppose, the power, if you can call it that, inside what's left of the Gaza Strip.

Doing any deal with what those in the Israeli right-wing regard as implacable terrorists is something that is going to be very much opposed by

elements inside Benjamin Netanyahu's own right-wing coalition.

[12:05:27]

So as I say, it's a -- it's a positive hopeful sign that it seems that this deal has been agreed in Qatar, but it is not implemented yet and it's

certainly not the end of the road. It could be a very bumpy one, Isa.

SOARES: Yes. And, look, the important for our viewers who are just joining us is that Hamas official saying they have proved a ceasefire and a hostage

release deal. They deliver its response to mediators.

It's important to just highlight here, Matthew, for our viewers that we are waiting for confirmation. We're also hearing from a source they have. Both

sides have agreed, but we will wait, of course, for that press conference when that gets underway, if that gets underway from Qatar.

And do we know, Matthew, you probably, I'm sorry, I'm peppering your questions, but you may not know this at this stage, do we know who will be

responsible for the checks, the making sure that this goes through as it is, that, you know, that the IDF leaves when it needs to leave? Do we know

who will be across this deal?

CHANCE: I think that's the sort of -- that's the sort of detail that has been hammered out, hopefully, in these negotiations that have been so

intensive and that have been taking place over the past several days and weeks in Qatar.

I certainly haven't seen the text of that agreement. But, yes, you're right. The broad contours of it are that alongside a hostage release and a

prisoner exchange from the Israeli side, there will also be a kind of cessation hostilities or at least a hiatus in the bombing campaign by the

Israeli military on targets inside the Gaza Strip.

There will be an Israeli military presence that will be maintained inside Gaza, although the extent of that has been subject to very difficult and

sensitive negotiations as well.

When we come to talk about the sort of later phases of this -- of this deal, phase two and phase three, we're talking about getting the remaining

hostages from Israel and the people who are dead, their remains being returned to their loved ones, allowing hundreds of thousands of displaced

Gazans, who are now in, for the most part, in refugee camps in the south of the Gaza Strip, allowing them to go back to their homes in the devastated

north.

And, you know, ultimately, of course, rebuilding Gaza. You know, what is that going to look like? Who's going to be overseeing that? And who's going

to be paying for it as well. This is the level of detail that we just don't have kind of access to at the moment.

SOARES: Yes. What we do know is exactly what we're seeing on our air right now, Matthew, is families of hostages there in Tel Aviv that we've seen for

the past, you know, two days.

Let me just listen in. Can we just pause for a second?

(CHANTING)

And what it's similar seems to what we saw yesterday, of course, cautious optimism, nervousness, even some of them not wanting to talk on air because

worried, Matthew, that they would derail the deal in any sort of way.

But what I heard from one hostage family member was, you know, that the deal that was on the table, Matthew, was the same deal that had been on the

table since earlier this year. So it begs the question, you know, why now? We were only what couple of five days or so until Trump's inauguration? How

much has that played a part here?

CHANCE: I think that's a good question. And I think that it's, you know, undoubtedly played a role. It is -- it is -- you know, the Trump factor has

been a part of this. You know, he has used intensive pressure, some might say threats, to try and get this deal over the line.

I mean, he said, look, I mean -- I mean to paraphrase him. He said there'll be hell to pay if there's not a hostage deal by the time of his

presidential inauguration on January 20th.

And that certainly seems to have focused minds, not least among Israelis and those in the Israeli government and negotiating team that want to

maintain Donald Trump as a strong supporter of Israel as he starts his second U.S. presidential term.

And it may well be that, that kind of, you know, kind of disruptive, you know, kind of bullying, threatening, intensive pressure campaign that Trump

has basically used as an intervention in this negotiation, that gets it over the line.

[12:10:01]

And, you know, certainly, I think that, you know, we will -- we will undoubtedly see supporters of President Trump, you know, claim this as a

victory for his negotiation tactics.

SOARES: Matthew Chance, do stay with us as we continue to follow this breaking news.

I want to go to our ONE WORLD anchor and CNN senior global affairs analyst, Bianna Golodryga, who is in Tel Aviv for us this hour and who's joining us

from Hostages Square.

And, Bianna, for so many of these families, it's been a long 15 months of waiting. We -- this moment must be nerve-wracking for so many. Just give us

a sense of what you're seeing there in Hostages Square. And what some of these families have been telling you? Because I know how nervous they have

been just for the past 48 hours.

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN SENIOR GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: It has been nerve- racking for the past 466 days for these families. But you're absolutely right, Isa. It is now that it's come down to the wire and it appears there

is a deal in place now that these families are, on the one hand, very relieved to hear about, on the other hand, extremely worried about what the

next few days will look like.

Basically, they'll believe it when they see it, when their loved ones come home. The 33, especially that are part of this phase one of the deal would

include all female hostages, children, men over the age of 50, and those who are ill and injured.

And so speaking with a number of their family members in just the last few hours, I can tell you none of them want to do any interviews publicly. They

don't want to do anything that they think could jeopardize the fragility of this deal.

Again, we've been close before over the last 15 months nowhere near where we are right now and the second hostage release looks like it's about to

get underway in the coming days. The last you'll recall was in November of last year where over 100 hostages were released.

And here in Israel, all the hospitals have been prepared for bringing in these hostages, for treating them both emotionally, psychologically,

physically.

And we recall the images of seeing those hostages that were released last November. And even after some 50-odd days in captivity. They were very

frail. They were dehydrated, malnourished, not to mention the psychological treatment that they are still receiving among those that I still speak with

that were released.

But no one knows what to expect now where you're well over 460 days in captivity. What condition are these hostages in? All of these questions

will be answered in the coming days.

As noted, the 33 won't be released all in one step and all in one day. It will be over a matter of several weeks.

So as I've been speaking to the families, it is understandable that they are in a rollercoaster of emotions right now and don't want to do anything

in terms of jeopardizing where things stand. It's pretty quiet here in Hostages Square now. We will expect things to start picking up over the

next few hours.

But, Isa, I -- you know, we talk about those that are living. We don't know how many of those hostages are dead in Gaza. Israel believes about 30 of

them officially, but that number is expected to be much higher.

SOARES: Bianna, I appreciate as you were talking, we saw two people there in the square, in the protest hugging. You can't even imagine what this

moment means for so many families, of course, waiting for their loved ones to return, to get news of their loved ones. Incredible emotional scenes as

Bianna Golodryga was speaking. Thank you, Bianna. We'll come back to you.

I want to bring in Aaron David Miller. He's a former U.S. State Department Middle East negotiator and a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for

International Peace.

And, Aaron, you and I have spoken on numerous occasions. You know, many of those occasions, we were close to a deal and the cusp of a deal. And it

seems there is this moment right now of hope, as I was saying to Matthew, of optimism.

As we wait to hear from the Qataris, we were just looking at a podium that we were waiting for the Qatari prime minister. But just what is your

assessment of this first phase, first of all, of this deal?

AARON DAVID MILLER, FORMER U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT MIDDLE EAST NEGOTIATOR: You know, I think this deal is happening in large part because Hamas has

been weakened and there's nothing to show other than death and destruction in Gaza over the last 15 months.

I think the Trump administration, the incoming administration, put enormous pressure on an already emboldened Benjamin Netanyahu, who signed on to this

deal believing, I think correctly, that he could essentially keep his coalition together or most of it.

Look, I think we have to be very realistic. This is a human story for the hostages, for their families, for the trauma that they've undergone. For

the people of Gaza, this offers a six-week respite in which you cannot dribble but surge, perhaps, humanitarian assistance into Gaza.

[12:15:06]

But we have to be very realistic about the prospects of moving from phase one, limited hostage release for six weeks, to phase two, which would

compel Hamas to basically release the remaining hostages, the 40 or 50 Israeli defense forces that they hold, both living and dead, in exchange

for a decision by the Israeli government to end the war and withdraw from Gaza. Those lifts, those decisions are going to be extremely difficult to

make. But let's be thankful and it's incredibly hopeful for what's been achieved. It's been long overdue.

SOARES: Indeed, indeed. Aaron, do you stay with us? I want to go to the White House, of course, as breaking news is coming to us.

For more, senior White House correspondent MJ Lee joins us.

And, MJ, as we were going to you. I've just seen that President-elect Trump has spoken on this, saying that a hostage deal has been reached. He said it

would be -- he said, we have a deal for the hostages in the Middle East. They will be released shortly. Thank you. This is what he posted on Truth

Social.

But we do know that both the Trump camp, as well as the Biden camp have been working intensely, certainly in the last weeks, from what we know,

behind the scenes, to get this through the line. Just explain to us what you understand from the Biden side.

MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. You know, you can't underscore enough how much getting this ceasefire in place has been a top

priority for President Biden, but this deal has really eluded the current sitting president, Joe Biden, and his administration for really the last

year plus.

The first ceasefire was two Thanksgivings ago, more than a year ago, lasted only a number of days. Some hundred hostages came out. And since then,

despite the furious efforts, the multiple sort of efforts that were ongoing to revive a pause in the fighting to get the hostages out had been

completely unsuccessful at times, because there was really no will from the Israeli side, including, of course, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin

Netanyahu, who had his own politics to think about back at home. At other times because Hamas was simply unwilling to even come to the table.

But the biggest difference, and probably the single biggest reason that we will be able to point to for this ceasefire finally coming together is the

fact that Donald Trump is about to be returning to the White House.

He has made very clear in all of his public statements how much of a top priority it was for him to have this war end, and not only end under his

watch, after he was sworn into office, but specifically that this conflict come to an end before he was even sworn in, essentially making clear that

he wanted Joe Biden to get the job done.

And that is why we have seen, in recent weeks, really since the election, the incoming president's officials, incoming national security officials

who will work in the new administration actually work hand in hand with the Biden administration to try to get this done.

We've had the current Middle East coordinator for the White House, Brett McGurk, in the region for the last week-plus. He has actually been joined

by the incoming Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, in the region.

And I am told, according to sources, that they have been in conversations together, including with the Israeli prime minister. They have been

intimately involved in trying to help hammer out these final details.

And I think it is sort of the sheer will and the desire by the incoming president, Donald Trump, to want to get this done, that ended up making

probably the biggest difference in the end.

Of course, for President Biden, this is something that was a top, top priority for him. He had wanted this for so long. And he does now get to

say in these final days of his presidency that under his watch this war was able to at least come to a pause.

And we should be clear about that. We are talking about a six-week ceasefire for starters. And then presumably there would have to be

additional talks and conversations about what comes next.

But just quickly on that point, that does mean that whenever the implementation of this six-week ceasefire begins, that is going to fall

entirely almost on the incoming Trump administration. And based on everything we have seen, we have every reason to believe that is going to

be a complicated and difficult process. But again, that is going to fall on the Trump administration.

[12:20:00]

SOARES: And, MJ, what I've been hearing for the past kind of 24 hours or so from hostage family members, but also from analysts on our airs, that the

deal that's on the table is very similar that the deal that had been on the table from earlier in the year.

So I wonder what, from the Biden administration perspective, why it's taken so long. Because we have seen both President Biden, as well as Secretary

Blinken face with protesters on this, right? They put a lot of pressure on this. So why now?

LEE: Yes. I mean, I think it is precisely what we were just talking about, you know, all along when we have asked the question to U.S. officials, you

know, you say you're getting close, we know that you're doing a lot of work on this. There have been moments of optimism. Why isn't the deal coming

together?

I think the answer that we heard most frequently from U.S. officials was the political will isn't there. Again, whether that is the political will

on the Israeli side or the will within Hamas.

They have said, the two parties that need to agree to this deal, that they simply are not interested or that's not where they are.

I think the fact that the politics had changed so much here, state side, and the relationship that President Joe Biden has with Prime Minister

Netanyahu, being so different from the relationship that Donald Trump has with the Israeli Prime Minister, that really ended up making all the

difference.

One thing that, you know, you were talking about the hostages, and the hostages being released, we should just really note, since we are speaking

from the White House that, you know, one of the most important things for this president and this White House is, of course, the release of the

remaining American hostages.

There are seven remaining American hostages. Several of them have been declared dead. We don't know yet in terms of the final details whether any

Americans are for sure going to be a part of the initial few dozen hostages that are to be released.

SOARES: And we know that President Biden, MJ, is expected to address the nation later on tonight. Do we have a sense of whether this will be part of

his final message.

LEE: It would be shocking if this was not addressed by the president, whether it is in that farewell speech, which has, you know, been on the

calendar for a while now and is meant to be sort of an overall goodbye speech to the country, or perhaps now that the news is out there, the

president ends up making remarks separately first on this news.

Again, because this has been such a top priority for this president, I fully expect that he is going to do whatever he would like to do to take a

full victory lap once he is ready to do that.

SOARES: Yes. I mean, as you were talking, MJ, we are looking live images coming to us from Tel Aviv, where the time is 7:22 in the evening.

Protesters have been there. For hostage family members have been there. We saw similar scenes yesterday, of course, waiting for word that their loved

ones are coming home. It's been long 15 months on both sides for the Israelis, as well as for the Palestinians.

I want to bring in Jasmine El-Gamal is a Middle East analyst, a former Pentagon Middle East advisor. And, Jasmine, you and I, we have spoken on so

many -- on so many occasions about getting to a deal, how close potentially we are to a deal, being the cusp of a deal?

This seems like it may be it. We are waiting to hear from the Qatari Prime Minister. We've heard that Hamas and Israel have agreed to a deal. We're

waiting to hear from that press conference as soon as it gets underway. We're showing live images from Doha. We will bring that to viewers, so

apologies if I have to interrupt.

But just from what we've heard so far, the contours of the deal, and there's going to be a whole choreography to it. What is -- what is your

take of what we know of it?

JASMINE EL-GAMAL, FORMER PENTAGON MIDDLE EAST ADVISOR: So, I mean, the deal is pretty similar, Isa, to the deal that President Biden first laid out

back in May. It involves three stages, and the first stage will include a cessation of hostilities, a surge of humanitarian assistance into the Gaza

Strip, the release of a certain number of hostages, and a release of a certain number of Palestinian prisoners, including women and children, on

either sides, right?

So the parameters are largely the same. The question that a lot of people are asking is if the parameters are largely the same, why did it take eight

months for the two sides to agree to a deal that was already on the table?

And so that's where the a couple of factors come in. One is obviously the additional pressure that the incoming Trump administration has put on the

parties, particularly on Prime Minister Netanyahu, given the U.S. relationship with Israel, and a weakening in the position of Hamas and the

prime minister of Israel, both domestically and internationally, the sense that the pressure has been growing on both parties to stop the deal.

[12:25:09]

SOARES: And then we know that it still needs to be approved from Prime Minister Netanyahu's cabinet, of course. We know also, Jasmine, there are

some dissenting voices and we do not know whether they will back that, right? We do not know whether the likes of Ben Gvir or Smotrich will

support that and what the quid pro quo would be of that.

Talk to that aspect of the politics of this. I know this is very much a human story right now, end of suffering for both sides, but politics plays

a huge part as you just outlined there for us.

EL-GAMAL: No, absolutely. I mean, politics has been -- has been the reason why the deal has not been signed as of yet. The internal Israeli politics

have been so fraught with these power plays that you're referring to.

You have Prime Minister Netanyahu who's really been trying to -- you know, he's stuck between two forces inside of Israel. The majority of Israelis

who want this deal and want to see their hostages home and end to this war.

And then you have the right wing that's represented by the ministers Ben- Gvir and Smotrich that are absolutely against this deal, that see it as a capitulation to Hamas' demands and ultimately a victory for Hamas.

And so we know that Ben-Gvir is absolutely against the deal. He has stated that he will not support the deal, which has caused a lot of anger within

Israel and particularly amongst hostage families that he still, to this day, does not want to do a deal, despite so many hostages still being in

Israel.

SOARES: Yes. Yes.

EL-GAMAL: Smotrich, I think, is more willing to compromise.

Jasmine El-Gamal, appreciate the fast-moving, breaking news story, of course. We're looking -- thank you, Jasmine.

We're looking at live pictures for us of celebration there in Tel Aviv, Israel, of course, as people wait for confirmation. Final news, of course,

of this deal that has been agreed between Hamas and Israel.

Our Christiane Amanpour joins me now from Washington with much more. We are waiting, of course, to hear from the Qatari Prime Minister, Christiane. And

we've heard from Hamas calling on its citizens not to move until official start of the ceasefire.

Just your reaction first of all -- first of all to this deal.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Well, my reaction is the commentary from Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who I interviewed this

morning as this was going on. And we can tell you right now that a senior U.S. administration official has told us, CNN, officially, that this deal

has been done.

As you know, it requires confirmation or a vote of passage by the Israeli parliament, but it is done and it is, in the words of Tony Blinken, the

same deal just about, if not identical deal that President Biden offered last May.

So to that point, it is great that people are getting out of their terrible, terrible conditions, both the hostages and the prisoners and the

humanitarian needs in Gaza. But this is something that could and should have been done months and months ago when less lives, you know, would have

been lost.

Here's what Tony Blinken told me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONY BLINKEN, UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF STATE: We're on the brink. And it could, it should happen in the coming hours, but until it actually does,

we're not there.

But if and when it does, two things. It'll be on the basis of the plan that President Biden put forward back in May and that we rally the entire world

behind. And ever since then, we've been working to negotiate the details, the implementation. It's been delayed and derailed by different events. But

we're, I think, finally at the point where this gets over the line.

Once that happens, here's what happens. First, the firing stops. Hamas, Israel stopped firing. Israel pulls back its forces. Hostages begin to be

released. Prisoners come out of Israeli jails and go back and we surge humanitarian assistance to people who so desperately need it.

All of that happens during a six-week period. But also during that six weeks, we have to negotiate the understandings to get to a permanent

ceasefire so that Israel pulls all of its forces out of Gaza, Hamas doesn't come back in and there's the necessary governance, security, reconstruction

arrangements so that Gaza can move forward.

AMANPOUR: is that sorted?

BLINKEN: That's not sorted. We've worked on it intensely for the last six or seven months, intensely, but quietly, with our partners, with others, I

think there's some basic understandings that we've reached. But the ceasefire itself, hopefully, would concentrate minds and get people to

agree on what's necessary to get that day after or post-conflict plan in place.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AMANPOUR: So, Isa, clearly, we had done the interview just hours before it was officially confirmed. So just to repeat, the U.S. senior official,

administration official confirms that this deal is done. It then takes a few more steps by Israel and then, you know, maybe they've talked about the

weekend when this thing could start.

[12:30:09]

But remember, it's only apparently about 30 Israeli hostages, including maybe bodies. There are, in that number, there would be 70 or more still

left inside Gaza. We understand. Or we were told by Secretary Blinken, that they had been keeping the Trump administration, the incoming administration

fully abreast. They worked with, they discussed and kept them in the loop on everything on this first phase of this crisis, which is this latest

ceasefire deal, partial ceasefire, partial hostage release.

And interestingly, Blinken told me that he had been talking about this and other issues with his successor, Senator Marco Rubio, who is undergoing his

own confirmation hearings here in Washington today.

But remember, this is just a first phase, and there's a lot more to be done. President Trump-elect agrees with this first phase. We do not know

what the incoming administration will do or say about the parameters of an actual end to this war.

SOARES: Yes. And that's why so many hostage families, Christiane, have been calling for all the hostages to be released, because they're worried of

what, say, phase 2 may not come. That is their concern.

Can I just pick your brain very quickly, Christiane, now that I've got you here? You mentioned that this is a deal, according to secretary, that was

on the table since May. Why then it's taken so long?

AMANPOUR: Well, it's a jolly good question. And to be frank, there have been a lot of obstructionist whether it's Hamas who's blamed whether it's

the Israeli government. You heard Ben Gvir himself, the --

SOARES: Yes.

AMANPOUR: -- extremist firebrand who props up the Netanyahu government, tell the Times of Israel that he and Smotrich have worked for the last year

to torpedo and obstruct any ceasefire agreements because they don't want it to happen, they just don't want it to happen. And he was going to try to

torpedo this one as well.

So from both centers of power, one is an actual legitimate government, Israel, the other is a non-state actor, Hamas, there have been

obstructions. But for Ben-Gvir to admit publicly that on the Israeli side, he has tried to torpedo deals that would bring Israelis home from this

catastrophic torture that they've been undergoing since October 7th is a revelation.

And it tells you, answers your question about why this has not happened from both sides' perspectives.

SOARES: Christiane Amanpour there for us in Washington D.C. with a perspective and important with Secretary Blinken. Thank you very much,

Christiane.

If you're joining us, we are following breaking news. Hamas and Israel have agreed to a ceasefire hostage deal. This will be phase one of the deal. Our

Matthew Chance is in London. He's monitoring all for us. Of course, we are waiting, as I told you, in the last 10 minutes or so to hear from the

Qataris, the Qatari prime minister, for more details.

For the viewers who are just joining us, Matthew and Christiane was talking about this, the importance of just highlighting this is phase one only.

Just talk us through the contours of this deal and really the choreography as we know it so far.

CHANCE: Yes. This is -- this is phase one of a what we think is a three phase peace deal, but this first phase is the one that is going to involve

the release of hostages who are still believed to be alive for the most part inside the Gaza Strip.

There's about 33, 30 or 33 hostages that will be released over the course of the next six weeks. We understand that three individuals will be

released initially. And then the rest of them will be sort of dripped out on a piecemeal basis over the course of the following six weeks.

At the same time, there'll be mass releases of Palestinian prisoners being held in Israeli jails as well. So that's the quid pro quo in terms of the

hostage prisoner swap arrangements that have been made.

It is a long process. If the past is anything to go by, there are likely to be obstacles, roadblocks, holdups, things like that. So it could well sort

of test that timeline, if you like, as we move slowly through it.

But it is at least the sort of glimmer of hope for the many families inside Israel who have been sort of watching this process anxiously, fingers

crossed that their loved ones would be amongst those who come out in the first phase of those releases.

We don't know yet the names of the people who will be released. That will probably emerge as they are transferred into Israeli custody.

On the other side of the divide, of course, lots of Palestinian families as well, waiting for, you know, their relatives to be released from Israeli

jails. A very contentious issue inside Israel because many of those individuals have been convicted in Israeli courts of killing Israelis. And

so that's a big political issue, which those on the right side, the right wing of the political spectrum in Israel will be very angry about, if not

outright opposed to as well.

[12:35:27]

And so, again, this is the start of a process which is going to be very slow and probably a very bumpy road as well, Isa.

SOARES: Yes, indeed. It's the first phase, the first step, but some optimism here. As you were talking, we are seeing live pictures from Tel

Aviv in Israel. It was time of 7:35 in Khan Yunis. And really the divide of two people who have gone through so much, of course, so much death so much

war unknown and heart-wrenching for both sides, of course.

So many people, so many hostages taken on that horrific day. And 46,000 people killed in Gaza following Hamas' horrific attack on that day in

Israel.

Let's bring in our CNN national and political security analyst David Sanger who joins me now. And, David, you're joining us. I'm just seeing that

Trump, President-elect Donald Trump, has spoken on this. And he's saying that he's arguing that the hostage deal only happened because he was

elected. No surprise perhaps hearing him take credit for this.

But I have spoken to some who said there was a Trump factor in this. Just your thoughts.

DAVID SANGER, CNN NATIONAL AND POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I think there was a Trump factor. And I think one of the most interesting elements of this has

been that President Trump's national Mideast adviser along the way here, Steve Witkoff, has been basically traveling with Brett McGurk, President

Biden's Mideast envoy. And they've been doing this side by side.

Now, they had to, because as you've seen, the first deadline on this comes up in just six weeks. So, obviously, this whole thing is going to spill

into the Trump administration. And they're going to have to make a decision about what to go do.

But what's been remarkable to me is when you consider the venom between these two incoming presidents and President Biden's team, everybody has

been sort of in agreement that this has worked out as a pretty smooth handoff.

And I think the pressure of President Trump has end of this, this has probably been somewhat helpful. I mean, clearly, it's the lead here has

been the Biden administration.

But, you know, I'm not entirely sure that President Trump's threats, vague as they were, weren't somewhat helpful.

SOARES: Yes. I mean, the -- one of the threats will be held to pay. Those were his words. I'm just reading what he said here on Truth Social, David.

We have achieved so much without even being in the White House. Just imagine, he says, all of the wonderful things that will happen when I

return to the White House and my administration's fully confirmed so they can secure more victories for the United States.

And, of course, important point out, this is the first phase of a three- phase deal, as we heard on Matthew Chance says. First phase one six weeks 33 of 98 hostages. We still have several phases to go, of course. And that

will be interesting to see how this new incoming administration solves that.

But, you know, speak to the relationship. And I know this is a human story, but politics intertwine, heavily intertwine here, as you just highlighted.

Speak to the relationship between, you know, the new -- between President- elect Biden -- Trump, pardon me, and President Biden, because that relationship has been somewhat fraught.

SANGER: Oh, it's been more than fraught. Just to back up for a moment, on that announcement of 98 existing hostages. We don't think, sadly, that all

of those 98 are alive. And part of what this agreement is going to call for is the return of the remains of those who died.

I've heard different estimates, but I think the 33 who are going to be released after that, there may be 15 to 40, you know, additional who are

alive. But I think we have to keep our expectations low.

The relationship between these two have been, you know, so poor that, you know, they could barely speak to each other on this topic. They didn't

interact very much. You saw Jimmy Carter's funeral. They've had one meeting since President Trump was elected, and it was superficially perfectly

friendly.

[12:40:06]

But I think the bigger question here is going to be what the relationship was between Brett McGurk and Mr. Witkoff. And from every sign I've seen,

that's worked pretty well.

SOARES: And what we don't know at this stage, and then for viewers just watching, and we are a split screen right there on your T.V. of Khan Yunis

in Gaza, Tel Aviv, people celebrating in many ways you could hear. Let's just listen for just a second.

(CHEERING)

Fifteen (INAUDIBLE) runs, of course, for so many countless lives lost. So much waiting, of course, for so many as well, for hostage members and so

many airstrikes, so much destruction we have seen.

What we don't know, David, at this moment and we are waiting for more details, is the implementation of this first phase.

What is your sense of who will be across that?

SANGER: So the 33 are supposed to be women, children, injured, and so forth. I think the ones who are being held longer are those of military age

among the hostages. And as you heard before from Matthew and others, those will probably be dribbled out as prisoners are released in Israel.

I think the big question that we don't really understand yet is, what's the mechanism under which Israeli troops will stay in at least border areas of

Gaza and for how long? And that's been the big sticking point, as you heard Secretary Blinken say in that -- in that interview before with Christiane

Amanpour. And that's going to be the area where I think you're probably going to see the most delicacy.

Of course, the hostages are the last piece of leverage that Hamas has. And Hamas once guarantees that as soon as the hostages are released, the

Israelis are then not going after whatever remnants of Hamas there are.

SOARES: And as you're talking, we are seeing live pictures, David. That banner there from Tel Aviv, I mean, told my colleague's speech keeper of

course. It says, get out. Well, is it that banner there? Get out of Gaza. Just obviously these live images coming to us on both sides. We -- thank

you, David. Appreciate it.

I want to go to our Jeremy Diamond on this breaking news story. Jeremy has been across the story for months on end. We've been here many times,

Jeremy, but it looks like this is it.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: It is after 15 plus months of war, you know, 466 days today of captivity for those hostages, we finally

have a ceasefire deal.

There were so many points over the course of the last 15 months when it seems like we might get to an agreement, when it seemed like the parties

were making progress, only for those talks to break down because of a lack of political will on one side or the other.

We know that there have been times when it is the Israeli prime minister who has stood in the way of this deal. We know there have been times when

Hamas has stood in the way of this deal.

But finally, today, it appears that both sides were able to get on the same page, to have the political will to move forward with an agreement that is

going to deliver 33 hostages out of the Gaza Strip, the majority of whom are expected to be alive.

It will finally deliver a long-awaited and much-needed reprieve from Israel's bombardment of the Gaza Strip for the people of Gaza, but it

obviously has not come without a cost.

Over the course of the last 15 months of war, more than 45,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. We have

now seen multiple studies indicating that those numbers are likely an undercount to the true death toll inside of Gaza.

And we know that over the course of these last 15 months, many of these hostages who have been held by Hamas have not seen the light of day for

months on end. And there are significant questions about the kind of condition in which they will emerge once they do, perhaps as early as this

weekend or as early as next week.

The last time we saw a ceasefire agreement that saw the release of hostages was in late November of 2023, 14 months ago. And at that time, you were

talking about 50 some days of captivity. We are now talking about over 466 days of captivity. And so there is no telling what kind of state they will

be released in.

[12:45:01]

I do think it's important to also talk a little bit about the government choreography that we're going to see here in order for this deal to

actually go into effect. Because first of all, as of now, we don't have an official statement from the Israeli government confirming this deal. We

expect that to come perhaps later tonight.

Tomorrow, what will most likely happen is the Israeli prime minister will take this deal before his security cabinet. And then once that happens, he

will take that vote -- that agreement before his full cabinet. They will carry an up or down vote on this agreement.

And we know that even today, the Israeli prime minister was still meeting with his far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, to try and ensure

that Smotrich did not leave the government over this deal which he opposes.

Netanyahu has been highly concerned about the fate of his governing coalition. And for many months, there was a concern that he was not

agreeing to this deal out of fear that his coalition might collapse.

And so even today, as these negotiations were happening in Doha to finalize this deal, the Israeli prime minister appears to have been busy wrangling

with a far-right member of his own government to ensure that his government doesn't collapse over this deal.

Assuming that it does not collapse over this deal, we could see this agreement be implemented as early as this weekend. Sunday has been a target

date that some of my sources have talked to me about.

And that means that if Sunday is the day, we will likely see three Israeli hostages released on that first day. Palestinian prisoners released from

Israeli jails in exchange for them. And you will also start to see humanitarian aid beginning to make its way into the Gaza Strip.

This agreement calls for 600 trucks of aid going into Gaza, which of course speaks to the scale of the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip after 15

months of war, during which we have learned that no place is safe in Gaza, where we have seen the majority of the buildings, of the structures in

Gaza, be destroyed by this war.

People living in tents, people living on the street at a time when the winter rains have arrived. There's no question that that aid, that this

relief from this war will be much needed for the people of Gaza as well.

SOARES: Without a doubt, as you're talking, we are seeing images coming out of Khan Yunis, coming out of Tel Aviv, of course. We are seeing many in Tel

Aviv with banners, stop the war. Get out of Gaza.

And this is something that we -- you know, we've been hearing the last 24 hours or so, many hostages, families of hostages basically saying that they

are worried that there may not be a phase two. They are worried that their loved ones may not be part of this phase one, these 33 hostages that you

were talking about.

Do we know -- at what point, Jeremy, this is -- at what point will these families be informed if their loved ones are part of those 33?

DIAMOND: Well, we already know that there has been a list of 34 hostages that was circling over the summer that was reportedly distributed by Israel

given to the mediators. It was published in recent weeks. And that appears to be the basis for the 33 who will get out.

One of those on that list was a hostage whose body was recovered last week by the Israeli military, which a source told me is why this number is now

33 instead of 34.

That list is not confirmed, we should note. And then what we also don't know is exactly which hostages will get out on which day.

If past this prologue, the way it happened last time when we had that week- long ceasefire at the end of November of 2023, the families were often finding out the very same day. Sometimes hours before their loved ones were

released, that their loved ones were actually on that list.

But for so many of these families, regardless of what the government is going to tell them about their loved ones being released on any given day,

many of them are simply not going to believe, you know, what they are told until they actually see their loved ones, until they're actually able to

embrace them, a process that will likely, as it was in the past, take place at hospitals, most of them here in Tel Aviv.

We watched last year, of course, as these hostages, many of them emerged from the Kerem Shalom crossing from Gaza into Israel.

From there, they were either bussed or sometimes helicoptered directly to hospitals in Israel. And then we saw those absolutely beautiful reunions

between those hostages and their loved ones.

But again, keep in mind that this time, we are talking about, you know, almost 10 times as long that these hostages have been in captivity, and

therefore these scenes of reunions are likely going to look quite different.

Will these hostages be in a condition to walk of their own ability? What will their mental condition be? Will they be able to interact with their

families? These are all question marks to which we do not yet have the answer.

[12:50:10]

And then, of course, the biggest question mark of all is which hostages are actually alive. Because, as I've reported, we expect that some of these

hostages who will be returning will be returning in body bags and not alive, but we don't know exactly which ones yet. Hamas has not provided a

list of the living hostages up until this point.

SOARES: Yes. The hostages, Palestinians, they've gone through hell, so much trauma, really on both sides.

Jeremy Diamond, appreciate it. Thank you very much. Do stay with us for breaking news.

I want to go to Bianna Golodryga, who joins us now from Hostages Square in Tel Aviv. And Bianna, as you're joining us, I'm just seeing here that we

understand that three American hostages are presumed to be alive and held hostage by Hamas.

What do we know at this stage about these three American hostages?

GOLODRYGA: From what I'm hearing, I have no further update as to their status or whether or not they will be included in the first 33 in phase one

of those that are released.

Obviously, so many of their family members have been pressing both the mediators in Qatar, the Israeli government, Hamas, and the United States,

especially to do whatever they can to make sure that their loved ones are part of this initial release in phase one.

What we know about phase one, as Jeremy noted, was that it would include female hostages, children, men over the age of 50, and anyone who is

critically ill or wounded.

And as Jeremy also noted, very important as an asterisk here to note, is it's unclear how many of these hostages that will be released will be

released alive. So that is something that is of concern here for Israelis, first and foremost for family members of the hostages.

Somebody told me that you could cut the tension here with a knife. What a rollercoaster this has been. And that's a perfect way to describe sort of

the solemn mood here. It's a bit subdued at this point in the evening. Perhaps we'll anticipate more people coming out at Hostages Square tonight.

They've been here for 466 days.

A bit surreal, Isa, to know that hopefully within the next few days, the first round of those hostages, the 33 will be released.

Now, as has been reported, they will all not be released at one time. This will be over the course of several weeks. But I think that's why so many of

these families, understandably, are not wanting to speak at the moment, because they don't want to do anything to jeopardize the fragility of the

deal in place.

We've been close to a deal before, only to see them fall apart. And now their top priority is finally seeing their loved ones come home and be

reunited with them at the hospital, what that reunion may look like, the state of their physical, their health, their mental well-being.

One can only imagine how difficult that will be for the families to endure and see, as we remember, how difficult it was after just 50-plus days in

captivity last time we had a hostage deal.

Nonetheless, this is a big momentous moment here in Israel. It has been something that Israelis said they were desperately in need of for some sort

of closure, some sort of way to move forward.

And as you know, and as we've been reporting, they've been pressing, not only Hamas and world leaders, but their own government to get here.

SOARES: Indeed. Bianna Golodryga, thank you very much. Bianna in Hostages Square.

Well, you are looking at live images there from Tel Aviv. You're seeing people there saying -- banner saying, stop the war, get out of Gaza.

Slightly more muted scene in Khan Yunis in Gaza.

Of course, people waiting for any more details of the ceasefire hostage deal. Of course, we've been not never this close, of course, in the last --

in the last several months. There's certainly a sense of optimism, a moment of hope for both sides, of course, for both sides there.

Let me bring in political and national security analyst, David Sanger, who joins us. And, David, I think it's so important to point out that this is,

while we have talked you and I about the politics of this, this is what it comes down to. It's just a cessation of hostilities. For one side, hostages

returning home for another. It's about the people. And this has -- this negotiation, negotiation have been so fraught.

SANGER: That's right. And look, I think that once the hostages, the 33 are released, it's going to be a huge emotional moment. It's going to be joyous

for some families. It's going to be soul crushing for others who discovered that their family members didn't make it.

[12:55:09]

And it's going to be anxious for a third group that believes and knows that their relatives are alive and are hoping that this whole thing holds

together enough to get every one of those hostages out.

But it's going to be fraught. And you could tell because the fact that this has delayed for so long that we've been up the hill here and down it so

many times, tells you that Hamas and the Israeli government have both had, you know, huge reservations about this.

Hamas is going to be very reluctant to give up the very last hostages because that's their only leverage. The Israeli government is going to be

concerned that Netanyahu's government would fall after this happens, which inevitably at some point will happen. And so this is going to be a joyous

couple of days and weeks. But we're a long way from the end.

SOARES: Yes. And, you know, something that Christiane mentioned, anything it's important to point out, is that this is a phase one of the deal. The

second phase, the third phase, will fall under President-elect Trump's mandate here.

What are we likely to see you think on that? We've got about a minute left over here.

SANGER: Sure. So, you know, assuming -- this is the reason that the two groups, the Biden group and the Trump group have been so tied up, because

obviously, this agreement falls across the numbers. It's the way the Iran hostage release did back when Ronald Reagan was being inaugurated. We're

just going to have to see.

My guess is that President-elect Trump wants to see this completed and doesn't want to see Bibi Netanyahu get in the way of that.

SOARES: Yes. And, of course, this is something we will wait to see what we hear from President Biden a bit later on as well.

We already had comments from President-elect Trump taking some of that credit. Dueling presidents here on this issue. Appreciate it. Thank you

very much, David Sanger.

I'm Isa Soares. Our breaking news continues with "AMANPOUR," next.

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