♪ ♪ you're watching "cnn news central." i'm boris sanchez in washington. wolf blitzer is in israel where they're ten hours away from an expected truce. after a one-day delay, the hostage trade will be releasing some women and children who have been held captive. the israeli government has a list of hostages and says they've notified their families.

it's unclear if americans are included. president biden is saying his fingers are crossed one of them is a 3-year-old american toddler. >> reporter: as part of the deal, israel will release 150 palestinian prisoners and allow humanitarian aid into gaza. the fighting now continues. the israeli defense minister said he expected it to last another two months at least, but the qatar government says it's hopeful hostilities will stop with this deal. listen. >> we are hopeful. i don't know if i should say confident, but we're very hopeful. the commitment we've seen from both sides leads us to be very positive to deal with this positivity. we're seeing a good level of committee. the details have been hashed out. the first -- we're working

towards it. >> we've got live team coverage on the ground in israel. jeremy diamond is near the gaza border. matthew chance is here with me. matthew, what can you tell us about how the hostage release can play out? >> reporter: new information from israeli sources who are briefing us. it's not altogether clear because it's difficult. lots of moving parts. the thrust of it at the moment is they're expecting -- they have the list of 13 israeli hostages in front of them who they expect to be released tomorrow at some point, probably in the afternoon tomorrow here local time. what the israelis are saying is they intend to release three palestinian prisoners from israeli jails for every one israeli hostage. we reported on that before. that comes to 39 if all 13

israeli hostages are released, as is expected. 39 palestinian prisoners. they're not going -- i just got this this evening. they're not going to be releasing those palestinian prisoners they say until the israeli hostages are in israeli hands. so that's a slight difference from what we were hearing earlier. they're going to wait to see what hostages come out before they start the process of releasing palestinian prisoners from israeli jails. >> matthew, you've been speaking to some families of the hostages. there's a lot of anxiety. tell us what you're hearing. >> reporter: the anxiety, the stress about what's happened and the waiting game they've been sucked into as well. i've spoken to several families who have relatives who -- toddlers, children, wives, sisters, daughters who are potentially part of this 13 people, certainly part of the 50

hostages expected to be released, women and children, over the next coming days. the israeli authorities said they spoke to each one of those families. >> there are going to be people they haven't spoken to and that must be awful for them. >> reporter: we don't know who's on the list yet officially. if we did know, we wouldn't report it anyway. this is a stressful, anxious moment for all those people waiting to see what happens. >> our heart goes out to the families. i want to go to jeremy diamond, not far from gaza. jeremy, just hours before the truce goes into effect the israeli said it struck 300 hamas targets in gaza in the past 24 hours. what more are you learning about what's happening on the ground there? >> reporter: that's right, wolf. i don't know if you can hear it, but we're hearing very loud explosions coming from the northern part of the gaza strip. it appears to be coming from the

area around the refugee camp. you may have seen a flash just then. we know that israeli forces told us -- israeli military told us their forces have been encircling the refugee camp and fighting hamas militants there. that's one of the areas israeli forces have been focussed on in recent days. we're hearing heavy activity. you saw that flash just then at this very moment. all throughout the day we've been hearing heavy explosions outside gaza and machine gunfire and military activity. this as the israeli military makes clear they'll continue to fight inside gaza up until they get the order to stop, up until that 7:00 a.m. truce that is expected to go into effect in order to allow for the release of hostages over the next several days. this is certainly the most sustained bombardment we've been hearing all evening, what we're witnessing at this very moment. what's also clear is that, after

the pause in fighting ends, israeli leaders, the prime minister as well as the defense minister, making clear this war is not over. this is not a permanent cease-fire and the fighting will resume. tonight the israeli defense minister saying fighting will continue for at least -- at least, he said, two more months in order to achieve the military aims of this war which are not only to secure the release of all of those nearly 240 hostages, but also to eliminate hamas from its power in the gaza strip. >> very significant statement from the israeli defense minister. jeremy, thank you. matthew, thanks to you as well. the israel/hamas hostage deal means critical humanitarian aid can be delivered to gaza. a convoy of truckis has lined u at the rafah border ready to

bring food, water and medical supplies. the international committee says it welcomes the pause in the war, but warns it's not enough time to address the dire humanitarian crisis that continues in gaza. eleni is there for us. this four-day pause should be used to increase supply deliveries and a sustained effort is needed inside gaza. how essential is this aid? >> reporter: it is deeply essential. we've been hearing warnings from humanitarian organizations for weeks now about the deteriorating humanitarian situation. we are talking about people going without food and water, some without food and water for weeks, working on rations of

bread. we've been hearing from the health officials in gaza. the vast majority of hospitals in gaza are in operational. they're working on a first aid basis. some carrying out surgeries without anesthesia. we've been hearing from dogctor carrying out amputations without the proper equipment or medication. this will be vital. we've been hearing those calls for a sustained pause to allow agencies to get in gaza to get the aid to those in need. at this current point and time, there are 1.7 million people inside the gaza strip now displaced. we've seen hundreds of thousands of people as part of the mass exodus evacuating south. we've heard the warnings from the israeli military telling civilians in the north to move south because the bombardment has intensified in the north.

many people are living in large tent cities, the u.n. run shelters are beyond capacity. there are fears for the safety and security of civilians now living in the tent cities. it is getting colder. it's raining more often. winter is looming. we heard from the norwegian refugee camp saying more needs to be done to protect the civilians in the south. it's an unlivable situation according to the u.n. there's still ongoing air strikes in the south. the situation there is dire. the hope is that, once the aid is able to get in over the four-day truce, this will provide much-needed humanitarian respite for the civilians and allow for doctors to provide care with new equipment and replenished medical resources. as you heard from jeremy, this is a situation that cannot be sustained over just four days. we've been hearing from aid groups saying they need more

time. many of them are calling for an out right cease-fire. that is not on the cards of the moment. benjamin netanyahu vowing this war will continue after the truce is over. the fear is we'll see the ground fighting pushing further south and, of course, we've heard warnings for civilians being told to move. with the gaza strip under a blockade, the fear is there's nowhere for these civilians to turn. wolf? >> i want to go to cairo right now. we have an update on the plan to allow aid trucks into gaza from egypt. the egyptian government is saying it's not clear what kind of aid or how much will be allowed. what are you learning? >> reporter: we have been

learning there's an enormous amount of activity going towards the rafah border. our team has described dozens and dozens of trucks headed toward the border crossing in anticipation of the four-day truce and the much-needed aid that needs to get into gaza immediately. there's an aid organization that's been ringing alarm bells about the dire situation playing out in gaza. i want to remind everybody what the u.n. said yesterday. when it comes to the number of trucks, the amount of fuel, fuel a fuel, food and water, it comes down to negotiations with israel. israel has the final say. there's the priority to get hostages out and this is opening

an important corridor to get aid into the region. you have to remember the bigger picture here. if you're in gaza right now, the only way you can get out is if you're a foreign national or you have a critical injury that can get you into egypt. the list of people in gaza right now, the palestinians are facing huge shortages, as well as water shortages. there's harrowing scenarios and decisions people are having to make on a day to day basis. >> talk about some of the experiences of people who have successfully evacuated from gaza. i know you met with one american family at your hotel who painted a very, very grim picture. >> reporter: we knew many

foreign nationals and dual passport holders were hosted at our hotel. we bumped into a family with three young children. the children were completely numb and not smiling. you could see the trauma. spe speaking with the parents, they were sharing a scrap of bread and very little water for days. we've seen people at the rafah border describing -- there was one elderly man who talked about being pulled out of the rubble and losing most of his family. he basically had no food and water. he talks about the fear. wolf, listen to what he described to us. [ speaking in a non-english language ] >> translator: we prayed. the fear, this fear, i can't

describe it. we die every night in this war. we hear the sounds. they're about to strike. we don't know where it would hit. a missile destroys a block. imagine what happens when we're hit with three missiles. >> reporter: what we've heard from qatar today as they describe what's going to play out, they say humanitarian aid is part of this deal. it's an important part of this deal. they emphasize it's only a fraction of what gaza needs right now. they're hoping for a protracted cease-fire or a truce to get more aid in because it is just that dire in gaza right now. >> certainly is. eleni, donna, thanks to both of

you so much. we could be less than 24 hours from seeing the first group of hostages released from gaza. there is absolutely no room for error. anxiety on all sides is sky high right now. we're getting new details that are pouring in by the second. cnn's special live coverage will continue after a quick break..

welcome back. i'm wolf blitzer in tel aviv. we're just hours away from the first hostages being released from hamas. a lot is at stake. let's discus with dan o'shea. also joining us daniel sanger of the new"new york times." dan, what do you make of this framework for the first releases? >> well, this is -- it's a tenuous situation. ultimately this deal was not

struck across the table between israel and hamas. it was done through third parties. there's a high level of distrust. anything can go wrong. really, this first time period that kicks in at midnight, local time in israel -- midnight here. 7:00 a.m. your time. it will be critical that the first batch of hostages that it comes off smoothly and hopefully the cease-fire will hold and the hostages will come home safely. it's a tenuous environment and anything can go wrong. we need to proceed cautiously. >> key words, anything can go wrong. let's hope it doesn't. we want to see this hostage deal go forward. dan, israel has notified the families of the first 13 women and children who are about to be freed. are there risks in doing that and not holding on to that

information until these people are actually out of hamas' hands? >> 100%. i can tell you being on the coordination of over 400 kidnappings in iraq, the last thing you do is give families hope because nothing is certain, especially in these environments, until that hostage is safely and securely brought out of harm's way. anything can go wrong. that is the biggest challenge because these families have been -- they've been going through hell. it's been a nightmare for the families, in addition to what the hostages are going through. you don't want to give undo hope for folks. if something goes wrong, the level of anger and outrage the families will respond with will be a lot to handle. >> good point. david, let me get to you. is there a worry that groups other than hamas may seek to try to sabotage this so-called pause or take advantage of it?

>> you know, the biggest focus, of course, is on hezbollah to the north. they are not covered by this pause and they may well see an opportunity to go cause trouble. of course they're iran backed and there have been a lot of warnings, including from the chinese, going to the iranians about keeping that part secure. you know, just to build on what dan said, i think part one of our concern is obviously tomorrow and a smooth start to this. the bigger mystery to me, wolf, is what happens at day four and five and six. obviously if this goes well, there will be a great interest in extending it, trying to get more hostages out.

the price for them, for the military, that will go up. remember, hamas will still have more than 200 hostages in hand. the next part of that is israel will face a fair bit of condemnation for restarting the bombings, assuming they do that, after you had a period of four or five or six days of relative peace. i'm not sure they politically figured out how they'll handle that. >> i suspect you're right. dan, let me follow up with you. the hope is that the deal will be extended and result in more than 50 hostages being freed. the hostages are leverage for hamas. how do you get them to

relinquish what for all practical purposes is the only card that hamas has? >> well, david hit at it. the fact that the calculus for the hostages, it's easy for them to let women and children go and presumably the elderly should be in the next traunch. the males and females of age are still in the israeli reserves. the only thing protecting hamas are the hostages. they'll hold on to them to the bitter end. this will get dragged out. there will be tremendous pressure on netanyahu to extend the cease-fire if the first four days goes smoothly. good knows what will happen in four days. there's a lot of things that can go well, but it doesn't make anything easier for the idf who

wants to resume the offensive versus hamas who wants to survive another day. >> let me follow up, dan, with you. what happens to the hostages after all this, months from now, especially the kids? what kind of care and treatment is needed? you've dealt with these issues before. >> they're going to go through repa repatriotriation. everyone will be checked out physically, but the most important will be the mental health. these challenges and the lasting repercussions on -- especially these young kids. these kids have been held probably in a tunnel for the last 47 days. there could be a lifetime of issues for these young children and the shock and trauma they've been through. they're potentially looking at a

lifetime of health care on the mental health aspect side of this. >> so sad indeed. david, we learned that president biden played a pivotal role in getting the deal done. that's significant because over the years he and the israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, haven't always seen eye to eye. talk a little bit about that. >> well, their history has been a choppy one, wolf. you've seen those tensions really come out in the past few weeks. in part this is because the israelis have two strategic objectives that are in contention with each other. one is the defeat of hamas. the other is to get all the hostages out. you're seeing the shift assuming this goes ahead tomorrow toward getting the hostages out. president biden has been pressing netanyahu in 13 phone

calls, at least 13 that we know about, to begin to think more heavily about the long-term costs of whether or not the bombing of the palestinians at this level, with this level of casualties, is in israel's long-term interest. on that they have a fundamental disagreement. the u.s. has not come out publicly to denounce them, other that secretary of state tony bryn blinken's that there have been far too many palestinians killed. that's the source of contention here. president biden says, help us help you get to a longer-term solution. you heard president biden talking about this to get to a two-state solution. you've never once heard prime minister netanyahu utter those words since october 7th happened.

that you'll see play out after the releases are complete. >> we'll see what happens. david, dan, guys, thank you very much. family members anxiously awaiting to see if their loved ones will be released from gaza. some have been notified. many have not. the first round is strictly women and children. could others soon follow. stay with cnn's special live coverage. we'll be right back.

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information about an increase in cases among children. chinese officials are blaming the surge in part on easing covid-19 restrictions. let's discuss with dr. jonathan reiner. doctor, thanks for being with us. what's your level of concern over this spike in cases in china, some of them undiagnosed? >> boris, right now it's more of an interest than a concern. in china and the united states and most other places around the world, we see seasonal waves of respiratory illnesses, particularly in the fall and early winter when people are moving back indoors and kids are back into school. in china we're seeing an exaggerated wave of those illnesses. the question is whether this is some kind of new undiagnosed pathogen or is this just the usual but maybe augmented wave of illnesses like rsv and

influenza, npneumonia and even more covid. the w.h.o. is asking for more clarity. china has the zero covid policy which locked people in their homes for extended periods of time and had a very aggressive, you know, tracking and tracing of cases. when they finally released that policy last december, people finally were able to exit their homes. that generated what's called an immunity dip, which is preventing people from being exposed to illnesses over much of the prior three years. it's thought perhaps what we're seeing now is the response to people not being exposed to these illnesses for an extended period of time. time will time. we'll have to see. >> doctor, we're at the start of

virus season in the u.s., maybe about a month or so in. how much do we need to worry about a similar spike here? >> well, i think we've already had a bit of that already this fall. what people should know is that we have tools to fight these illnesses. we have a booster which is much more effective against the current strain of covid, yet only about 15% of adults have availed themselves of this. we have a new seasonal influenza vaccine. last numbers i saw were 36 to 38% of americans have got vaccinated with the new shot. we don't have to be helpless agnsillnesses. we have the availability to t tenuate the effects. i would urge everyone to talk to here health care providers about

covid, rsv and flu. >> there was a recent survey that found most u.s. adults aren't worried about catching covid during the holidays. more than half aren't taking any precautions to avoid getting infected. two thirds say they're not concerned about spreading it to their loved ones. what else other than what you mentioned, getting vaccinated against covid and flu, what else can be done to avoid getting sick this holiday season? >> well, that will go a long way. i think another major point is, if you are sick, if you feel like you're coming down with a cold or even covid, then you really should stay home. i think if you're going during thanksgiving today or during the christmas season to visit family, particularly in multi-generational homes where some of your older relatives might be much more fragile than you, you're not doing them a favor if you come sick and you

get them ill. i would encourage people to exercise some discipline and some insight and to stay home if you don't feel well. >> doctor, i hope you enjoy some turkey and football. thanks for joining us. >> you too, boris. >> thanks. the countdown is on. we're hours away from the release of the first group of hostages from gaza. we'll tell you what we're learning how all this will play ouout when cnnnn's special cove returns.

i'm wolf blitzer in tel aviv. we're following breaking news on the israel/hamas temporary

truce. 13 women and children are to be released tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. eastern. the first group of hostages to be freed under the agreement set to begin at midnight tonight. families with loved ones held captive are reacting to the news. i'm joining by two people whose son was taken hostage by hamas on october 7th. our hearts go out to you. how are you holding up? what's going through your mind amid this news of the expected release of at least some hostages? >> hi, wolf. honestly it's been a very difficult week and day for us. traditionally thanksgiving is all about family. for us right now there's a gapping hole in our family. there's nothing to celebrate really. you know, we're happy that there's some traction. we're happy to hear, and we're

hopeful, crossing our fingers it works and the first group comes out tomorrow. it can't stop there. >> this needs to be -- >> your son -- go ahead. >> no. our son is probably not going to be in the first group of people that will be released of the hostages. but we're hopeful this is the start of the process. it may take some time. everybody needs to be resilient and we need to bring all the hostages back, including our son. >> your son, ronan, joined the israeli army after deferring his college enrollment in the united states. how concerned are you that part of the agreement with hamas now does not appear to include the release of israeli soldiers?

>> well, we know that this is not going to be easy. we are actually in israel right now meeting with officials. we are also in discussions here and we feel that soldiers should be included with all the future steps, together with other hostages. there should not be any separation. our son was guarding the border the morning when terrorists broke in and took him. our expectation is that he, together with all the hostages, will be returned as soon as possible healthy to our arms so we can celebrate the future thanksgiving together. >> let's hope that happens. orna, how do you feel about the truce overall?

do you feel it was the right thing to do and do you want to see it extended? >> if hamas holds their side of the deal and brings out additional hostages, it should be extended. i think there's an understanding about that. we want everyone to come out. >> honestly, we're not politicians and we're not experts in negotiations. we're just worried parents that want their kid back home. that's all we care about. take the hostages back. >> ronan, tell us a little bit about your son omer. >> omer is a fun american-born kid on long island. grown up in the jewish community. became quickly a leader, a captain of his volleyball, captain of his soccer, even

captain of his basketball teams in school. everybody loves him. he's a quiet, fun leader that people like to follow. he decided to do a gap year after he was accepted to bingingham university in upstate new york. his grandparents were holocaust survivors. came to israel and liked the country. like other jewish people understanding this is the country that needs to be defended as such, decided to join the israeli army and do his part defending the country. >> he felt that's what he had to do. you know, he's an american kid. he's very social. he's always very inclusive.

he's optimistic. he felt that it was his duty to do his share in protecting and that was his motivation to do what he decided to do. but ultimately -- >> orna, i want to say, ronan, thank you for joining us. let's hope you're reunited with your son and reunited very soon. appreciate you joining us. >> thank you. >> thank you and happy thanksgiving. >> we'll have more of cnn's special live coverage just ahead.

in iceland a volcanic eruption has been looming for several week, and now we're learning that officials are considering a plan to pump water into any molten lava that reaches the surface, trying to cool it down and steer it away from nearby towns and infrastructure. cnn's fred pleitgen is there with a bird's-eye view at the evacuation zone. >> reporter: taking off straight to the emergency zone. we're on a mission with iceland's coast dpaguard to the already affected area of what could soon be a massive volcanic eruption. the authorities are doing everything they can to save the town and save the infrastructure. the town is called -- massive cracks in the roads show the places where pressure from an underground magma stream has already burst through the earth's crust. the ground now uneven as the crew says they've been observing

the rift widening in the past days. >> we see differences between days. we see -- sometime we see the crack a little bit wider. >> reporter: it was evacuated and could soon be completely destroyed by hot lava, authorities fear. from up here you can already see just how extensive the damage already is to the town. and the crack that you see runs all the way to the ocean. iceland is in an area of massive volcanic activity. while this part of the country had been dormant for around 800 years, scientists say, in the past two years volcanic activity has come back to life with several major eruptions. we flyover the most repeat one. past the mouth of the volcano and over seemingly endless lava fields still steaming hot even months after the actual eruption ended. on the ground, crews are working around the clock to try and build a berm to protect this

geothermal power plant. and we also see the world famous blue lagoon hot springs. normally a major tourist attraction now closed down and also evacuated. the economic toll already immense. what do you think it means for the people there? >> i can't even imagine. you know, losing houses and maybe their work, their whole life -- just it's crazy. >> reporter: iceland's government says a major eruption here remains highly likely, and it could happen in a matter of days. iceland's coast guard aviators say they are on alert all the time. >> in case the volcano starts, then we flyover the area to help evacuate people. >> reporter: fred pleitgen, cnn, iceland. >> our thanks to fred interest that report. so we are now just hours away from potentially seeing the first hostages released from gaza, but right now the war is

still raging on, and anxiety is sky high. how could all of this play out? when cnn's special live coverage returns.

you're watching cnn news central. it is the top of the hour. i'm boris sanchez in washington alongside wolf blitzer in tel aviv. we're just hours away now from the start of the temporary truce in the war between israel and hamas. at midnight eastern time tonight, 7:00 a.m. local time werewolf is, a temporary truce is set to begin. and later tomorrow the first