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you're watching cnn newscen. after 45 gruelling days in captivity, the nightmare could soon be over for some 50 hostages being held by hamas and other groups in graz. as we speak, top officials in the israeli government are meeting to consider a deal that would see roughly 50 hostages released from gaza in exchange for about 150 palestinians imprisoned in israel and a temporary pause in the fighting. >> we should note that would still leave close to 200 hostages behind. we have just learned one more key piece of this potential agreement. those who are not released will be visited by the red cross in

gaza. this has been a demand for some time from the families. they want to know if they're safe and well, what their health is like. the deal still must get an up or down vote in the full israeli cabinet. that vote could happen at any minute. they've been meeting now. we want to bring you our team of reporters across the globe. oren liebermann in tel aviv. you mentioned how there are many steps, the war cabinet meeting, now the full cabinet meeting. how soon do we expect them to come to a final decision? >> reporter: effectively depends on how long the debate inside the full cabinet meeting goes. that's expected some time in the next few hours and, perhaps even sooner than that. we are at the final stage of this process from the israeli legal and political perspective. we're through the very small war cabinet meeting. we're through the larger security cabinet meeting. now we're at the full cabinet meeting, which includes all the ministers and other members that have to make a decision here. it doesn't have to be unanimous, if i'm not mistaken.

it simply needs to be a majority there. from everything we're seeing, everything we're hearing, it will have a majority vote. there are some far right parties within the coalition that have come out against it but they don't have the numbers to sink this agreement. we saw a video released from the israeli prime minister's office in which netanyahu made a strong case to have this approved. he called a pause in the fighting would be a difficult decision but said it was the right decision. all the security bodies within israel, the israeli fbi, the military and other security bodies have all approved this step and they support it, even though it involves a pause in the fighting. as you pointed out we also learned from inside the cabinet meeting that netanyahu told the other members of the cabinet that the red cross will be able to visit the 190 or so hostages who will not be released. that has been a key demand from the very beginning since international law requires the ability for red cross visits. we expect a vote soon.

we expect the results soon. it looks like this is moving forward. >> please stand by. we have cnn's alex marquardt with us as well. you've been reporting on the contours of this deal. what are some of the specifics? >> we should note, guys, this deal will not be finalized until israel agrees to it. oren just laid that out perfectly. so, we are waiting for israel to officially confirm that they are going ahead with this. we have a statement from the qatari government saying the proposal, the outline was given to the israelis in the early hours of this morning. they are awaiting the results of the israeli government's vote on the proposal. when this is agreed to, we will expect an announcement from the israelis and qataris, the main mediators when it comes to these weeks of hostage negotiations. what do we expect next? there will be, if this plan goes ahead, four to five days of a pause in the fighting. that will give time to hamas to round up this group of, we

believe, 50 hostages that they've been holding for more than a month now. and release them. so, this will probably be taking place on a rolling basis, say, ten to a dozen per day. there is also a chance that if things go according to plan, if things go well and there are no violations in this agreement, that the pause could be extended by several days, that more hostages could be released. we have been given assurances, we have heard there are assurances given by hamas that this group of 50 are all alive. that is a big question. of the 236 being held by hamas, we don't know who's alive and who's dead. the other major component of this is this is an exchange, a prisoner exchange. so, if 50 come out, around 150, we understand, palestinian prisoners being held by israel and israeli prisons will be released at the same time. a three to one ratio. we've seen previous israeli prisoner swaps with hamas that were far bigger than that.

one person for more than 1,000. if more hostages get released beyond these 50, you can imagine that more palestinians in israeli prisons will also be released. there's a question about aid going into gaza. hamas has asked for hundreds of trucks of aid per day. it sounds like the various authorities are trying to figure out the implementation, the mechanism. >> the 1,000 prisoners, enormous amount of concern inside israel who you release. there's an enormous amount of pressure, public pressure, not just from families of hostages but from others in israel to get them their freedom, get them to safety. you travel around israel, you see their faces everywhere you go. you've been speaking with family members of this potential deal. i wonder, what's their response been? >> reporter: well, you see, i'm right in the middle of tel aviv

right now, outside the museum of art where there is a -- virtually what's become a permanent kind of protest, if you like, or memorial to the 236 people that are still hostage inside gaza. you see this big table laid out behind me. there are children's places, adult places. every place representing one of the people that is held still inside gaza. it's a place of pilgrimage as well. where the families of those hostages, their friends, just supporters from israel come to pay their respects and to put pressure as much as possible on the government to do what it can to secure the release of those people. you can imagine, there are very mixed feelings here tonight because, although people are to some extent excited, that it could be a release of 50 or more hostages, that this deal goes through, as looks likely. there's also sort of business weakness to it because everybody

here knows that even though 50 plus may be released, there's still going to be a lot more, many more israelis, many more others that will still be held hostage inside gaza as well. so, people are very disturbed by that ongoing trauma that has deeply affected people in this country, particularly here in central tel aviv where people are paying their respects and sort of making a pilgrimage to pay their respects to this location. there's a lot of criticism as well, jim, about the way the israeli government under benjamin netanyahu conducted this operation, prioritized the rescue or the release of these hostages. many people here i've spoken to saying, look, the emphasis is on destroying hamas, not on freeing israelis. it should have been the other way around. we should have got our people out first and then done whatever you like with hamas, is what people are saying to me here tonight. nevertheless, some people,

again, obviously many people here, everybody, very happy that some people soon could see freedom. >> that's the brutal arithmetic to this that some people will get relief and many more will not. matthew chance in tel aviv, thank you. we want to dig deeper with a former hostage negotiator and middle east director for the international communities organization 37 joining us now is gershan baskin. you helped radio negotiate that deal. is there any doubt in your mind that this is going to get through the full cabinet and potentially how soon can we see hostages released? >> it will definitely get through the cabinet. there will be a majority vote. it won't be unanimous. we're all supporting it and the head of the intelligence

authorities in israel are supporting it. it will go through the cabinet. it will take another days of logistics to get it done. there's a legal procedure in israel that has to happen where names of prisoners on a website and people can submit objections to it. the supreme court never intervenes in these cases so we just need to see the logistics on the ground with the red cross and egyptians helping facilitate the release of the hostages, and eventually the release of the prisoners, who i imagine will be released to the west bank and not to gaza. >> it strikes me that you told cnn this morning that this is essentially the same deal that you proposed during the first week of the war. why do you think it's moving forward now? how much has to do with that internal political pressure that matthew chance was just describing by the hostage families? >> i think that's part of it.

israel is really in the hands of the hamas. hamas is the deciding body. they decided how many they would release and under what terms. the israelis could either say yes or no. the israelis were hesitating over most of this past week because they didn't like some aspects of the deal. in particular, aspects of the cease-fire or the pause in the fighting, requirements to stop drone surveillance over gaza, some other aspects of the deal. they pushed back. and the americans pushed hard on the qataris and the egyptians were also working behind the scenes. these kind of deals just take time until the sides are ready to make it. galid shalit was six months after he was abducted and it took five years before the sides were ready to sign the deal and get it done. >> you mentioned the interpretation and intelligence gathering by the idf. how seriously do you think that can have an impact on israel's goal of eradicating hamas?

>> i don't think it will have much of an impact. the aim is for hamas to be able to move the hostages out without having their places of hiding be known to the israelis. this does not mean the israelis won't still be watching and collecting intelligence information. there is a necessary redeployment of israeli forces during the pause or the cease-fire. in any event, the israelis have to pull back from some of the places they've already taken. i'm sure it's not that big a deal. there's a massive amount of israeli soldiers and army materials in the gaza strip. and after this is done, as many hostages are out as possible in this deal, the israelis will proceed further south to attack the main areas where the hamas leadership and military commands are hiding. >> there is concern, you mention the release of ga lid shalit in 2007. some of those terrorists who

were released wound out carrying terrorist attacks. how close do you think israel is going to monitor those prisoners 150 or so palestinian prisoners, mostly women and people under the age of 18, how closely are they going to be watched by the israelis? >> i think a number will be watched very carefully. amongst them, they're all from the west bank. there are no really important hamas people. there are none that have killed israelis, although several have tried. and i think those people will be watching very carefully. let's realize there's nothing to prevent israel from rearresting them once this deal is done or once all the hostages are out that israel can negotiate their release. there's also, should they engage in terrorism, there's no problem for israel to actually take care of them permanently. >> sure. i'm also wondering whether you think this potential cease-fire from four to five days, according to our reporting, how likely do you think it is to hold and how much does iran's

influence on hamas decide that ultimately? >> i think iran is not having direct influence on hamas in this deal. no doubt iran supported hamas and trained them and provided money and weapons, but hamas is not a push button operation that iran tells them what to do. they're really independent in their actions and what they will do. whether they will keep to the cease-fire, this is a big question. israel has to be on guard. the army will be sitting inside of gaza in very vulnerable positions and they need to be careful. there's no trust between the two sides. israel doesn't trust hamas, hamas doesn't trust israel. there are no third-party peacekeepers on the ground to keep these parties separate and protect them. everyone's going to be watching. there's an interest in getting this done.

hamas wants prisoners freed and they want to get to a bigger deal once they negotiate the israeli soldiers and they will demand much more from israel in terms of prisoner release at that time. >> we have to leave the conversation there. we very much appreciate your perspective. >> thank you. >> we have much more on this potentially imminent hostage deal after a quick break. stay w with cnn.

as we're watching what's happening in the middle east, cnn learned the u.s. has fired on and killed hostile forces in iraqi. the strike followed an attack on u.s. and coalition forces at an air base in rack. >> iraq. >> it's not the first of those. natasha, first of all, those attacks have been racking up. i believe 64 to date on u.s. forces in iraq and syria.

in this one our understanding is these forces used a close-range ballistic missile. exactly how big of a munition are we talking about here? >> reporter: yeah, pretty large escalation here. we don't know how large the munition is but the u.s. says it did not cause much damage and there were not significant injuries from it. previously, to put this in context, these iran-backed militia had been using small rockets and drones to launch on u.s. and coalition bases across iraq and syria. so using a close range missile is certainly an escalation here. the u.s. has been responding to these attacks. we're told by deputy press secretary earlier today that the attack the u.s. launched on a vehicle in iraq was in direct response to that ballistic mifl attack yesterday. they launched this on a vehicle believed to carry out these attacks that killed a number of militants inside the car. however, it is unclear just how

many of those militants were killed. it really follows a series of strikes that the u.s. has conducted in the region in syria as well to try to deter these groups from attacking u.s. forces again. clearly, it hasn't worked. as you mentioned, jim, these iran-backed militias have carried out 64 attacks to date against u.s. and coalition bases and it has resulted in scores of injuries among u.s. personnel, including two dozen traumatic brain injuries. the question now that the u.s. continues to face is whether its approach is working in terms of striking these iran-backed groups in an effort to deter them from launching future attacks and degrade their infrastructure and military capabilities. it does not appear like they are backing down at this point. and the u.s. has repeatedly warned iran it expects iran to rein in their proxy groups. clearly, iran is not getting these messages or these proxy

groups are continuing their attacks, thinking they'll be unable to be deterred because they still have, of course, these capabilities, jim. >> serious risk of escalation by those in the region. thank you for the reporting. we still have much more on our breaking news ahead. the israeli government meeting to consider a hostage deal with hamas as fighting conditions in northern gaza. we'll bring you the latest straight ahead.

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a hamas official is describing this time as, quote, critical moments. this is the terror group on the verge with israel of a deal to exchange dozens of survivors kidnapped on october 7th back to israel. the full israeli cabinet has been meeting for more than an hour, discussing this possible exchange. hamas is not doing this for free. they want something in return. >> during this delicate discussion, explosions were felt in gaza. we have jeremy diamond with us. we just heard details of what benjamin netanyahu said to the full israeli cabinet, including saying that the war will continue. >> reporter: that's right, boris. as the israeli prime minister made the case to his cabinet at the beginning of this meeting to support this deal that could potentially see 50 hostages freed from gaza in exchange for a four to five-day pause in the

fighting and also the release of three palestinian prisoners for every one civilian hostage, the israeli prime minister also making very clear to his cabinet, which includes a lot of right-wing elements, that this war, which is still ongoing, will continue after the pause in the fighting ends. the israeli prime minister making clear that the war will continue so long -- until, rather, until every single israeli hostage is returned to israel and until israel meets its goals to destroy hamas inside the gaza strip. the israeli prime minister is also arguing this is a difficult decision for the cabinet, but he says it is the right decision. he said that all of the security establishments in israel supports this. he also talked about his conversations in recent days with u.s. president joe biden, saying that he spoke to president biden and asked him to help improve the terms of the deal and bebe netanyahu arguing that was successful. this deal comes at a lower price

than the one that was being contemplated nearly just days ago. what is also clear is that if the war will continue after this truce is over, it is also continuing right now. throughout the day today we have been hearing explosions. we have seen smoke screens being deployed indicating active fighting still ongoing in the northern part of the gaza strip. >> you've been speaking with families, boris, any time you speak to families of hostages, it's just gutting, difficult, frightful several weeks they've been through. now, some have hope they might see their loved one again. what are the families saying to you about the outlines of this potential deal. >> this has been an emotional roller coaster for so many of these families. for weeks they have been reading news reports about this potential deal. they have seen the different parameters that have been discussed. they have waited and watched to see whether their loved ones

would be part of this exchange. even still tonight as i spoke a few hours ago with the families of people who have -- with people who have family in gaza, notably children in gaza, and therefore could likely benefit from this deal, pe still don't know whether their family members, these children will be part of that deal. i spoke in particular with the family of shira, her cousin -- she was taken hostage with her two young children who are 10 months old and 4 years old. her cousin, told me tonight, we want to hold them in our arms and then i'll be able to say they're home. until that happens, she doesn't want to get her hopes up too high that her family will be part of the latest deal. >> we can only hope that all of them get that good news at some point. we hope that some of them get it in the next several hours. thanks so much. still to come on "news

central," the egyptian government says 12 of those premature babies evacuated from gaza were in very critical condition. up next we'll speak with a spokesperson for the agency that evacuated those newborns.

as we await record from the israeli cabinet about a hostage deal from hamas, we're getting details about what that possible deal could look like. cnn has been told that it calls for 50 women and children released from gaza. a four to five-day pause in

fighting. three palestinian prisoners for every hostage in gaza, roughly 150 or so palestinian prisoners to be released. the newest detail, the red cross, will have access to the hostages that remain in gaza. that coming from prime minister benjamin netanyahu a short time ago. >> so key for the family members of those remaining hostages. they want to know if they're alive, safe, what their status is. cnn spoke to a family member whose cousins are being held hostage in gaza. he pleaded with far right members of israeli's gorning coalition not to introduce legislation that could potentially, in their view, endanger the hostages. here's what she said. >> first and most important question is the government giving you information? do you know where the process stands right now? >> actually, we don't really know. we know what you know. the government isn't talking to us specifically about this. there have been meetings with

members of the cabinet, but not in the last 24 hours. >> there have been -- as rumors of a deal and reports of a deal become more solid, and we expect votes tonight on a deal, there are two parties in the coalition that have already come out and said we're going to vote against it, some of the far right elements of the governing coalition. does that worry you or do you believe if a deal is in place, it will get there? >> i was with two of these party members yesterday. i know they're against it. i believe that we have the word of the people from the cabinet, of ministers from the cabinet who say, we're going to make it happen. we're going to make the deal happen. we're going to bring people home. not going to be all of the people kidnapped but we're going to bring them home. we're very hopeful and we think it's going to go through. >> just as importantly, you have the vast majority of the support of the country.

there was a meeting at the defense ministry not too far from where we are right now. your family members, you told me, were in that meeting. what did they hear from the war cabinet? >> they didn't give them any specific updates about how this is going, but they were very optimistic. this sits really well with what we're seeing now. it seems like there is a deal, which is good for us, even if my relatives aren't released right now. the fact there is a deal and the trust can be built is very important to us. it's important -- every deal opens the door for the next deal and the next deal and the next deal. and what we want, we're going to keep on fighting until we see everyone back home. all the hostages, all the abductees. >> that, of course, is the hope. let's go to doha, cnn's becky anderson there. as you've been covering these negotiations since the beginning, qatar has been a key

mediator given its contacts with the hamas leadership. there are benefits and starts, moments of hopes, and then those hopes were dashed. this one does seem to be, based on your reporting and others, likely to happen. i wonder, what made the difference? why this breakthrough or this likely breakthrough? >> the last time i was here on the ground was october 27th. and while i was here and we were discussing with the qatari officials on air here how the negotiations were going, the israelis announced the second phase of their offensive. and at the time the mediators here said it's going to be very difficult without a period of calm to get these talks across the line. indeed, they became more complex and more complicated, as i understand it, over the subsequent weeks. if you look at it from the

israeli perspective, the parameters of this deal, as i understand them, are very similar to that which we were discussing four weeks or three and a half weeks ago. the israelis, from their perspective, have had time to carry out, you know, some of their objectives, at least in principle work towards their objectives, which was to dismantle hamas and its infrastructure, get rid of its military assets and also free the hostages. they haven't got all the hostages freed. nor will they get them all freed tonight. what they have done is effectively locked down more than gaza. very much sort of denigrated the hamas command and control. so, from the israeli perspective, they're in a different position. they wanted to squeeze hamas. from the israeli perspective, that is what is now happening. the israelis had said the only thing hamas will understand is

pressure. that's from the israeli perspective. from the hamas perspective, we are looking at a deal that we understand, according to multiple sources, has a sort of three to one ratio in it. for every israeli or dual citizen released in this first phase, and we're looking at 50 in this first phase, there will be three times as many palestinian women and teenagers released from israeli prisons. that number could be as much as 150 in the next few days. the demand from hamas that israel open the border to more aid and specifically fuel is something that the israelis have conceded to at least on the aid side. as i understand it, this is not the opening up of the border for more fuel, but more aid. that's significant. 300 trucks a day of aid is a

significant amount of aid coming in through that border that we haven't seen for the last 45 days. so, i think the period of time this has taken, the mediators have said they needed a period of calm, they haven't had it. it's made it a lot more difficult for everybody. ultimately, perhaps that is why we've got to where we got tonight. i'm told by the qataris they have delivered this proposal 24 hours ago to the israelis. they are just waiting for it to be approved now by the israeli government. that coming from the qatar mediating team in the last hour to us here at cnn. this proposal was delivered 24 hours ago. and they are waiting for it to be signed off on. it is in the israeli's court now. hamas has already approved the deal as it stands with the israelis, as we speak. >> that deal apparently imminent as we await word from the full cabinet on their vote. becky anderson from doha, qatar.

i wanted to share with our viewers, we got a full statement from benjamin netanyahu, the prime minister of israel. this is before the cabinet meeting that we are watching unfold. we should point out a very significant part of this statement because netanyahu mentions speaking to president joe biden. he thanks him for his intervention in order to improve the outline. it was, indeed, improved that would include more hostages and less prices. he's saying the talks bore fruit largely thanks to joe biden. >> it's notable because the relationship between netanyahu and biden has not -- they've known each other for decades. there have been differences on a number of things, including treatment of the israeli settlement in the west bank, but that's quite a amount of credit to deliver to joe biden for, he says, improving the deal, the exchange in the end. we'll continue to monitor the comments from netanyahu and the latest developments on this potential hostage deal. we are learning new details

about some of those still suffering inside gaza every day from this war. officials in egypt say 12 of the 28 babies that were evacuated from gaza earlier this week, and look at the pictures there of them, that they're in critical condition. the infants were born premature at the al shifa hospital. you remember a lot of military -- israeli military activity around that hospital in recent days. all have low blood oxygen levels, but there are still thousands more children in gaza in desperate need of help. i'm joined by ricardo from the u.n. international children's emergency fund, unicef. thank you for joining. >> thanks for having me. >> so, first, i wonder if you could give us the latest information you have about these babies, trees premature babies in particular. what's their status now? what's their health status now? >> well, it hasn't changed much, jim, since they left gaza where they were fighting for their

lives and now in much better condition in a health facility where they can have the services they so desperately need. they were so fragile, so hanging onto their last breaths that it's hard to predict how long they're going to be able to hang on. for the time being, we don't have any updates on their situation. it's quite fra ggile. we're doing what we can, unicef in cooperation with the ministry of health. we are providing medical supplies when needed, but we need to just wait and hope they will -- they will push through. >>. >> so, these are 28 babies. by the accounts as we mentioned of the palestinian health ministry, more than 5,000 children have been killed in gaza since the start of these operations. while we can't independently confirm those figures, u.s. government officials said they found -- they find those estimates of civilian casualties

to be credible. i spoke to the executive director of unicef last week, katherine russell, who visited gaza. i asked her, is there any safe place in gaza for children? is there anyplace they can go? she said, i can't -- i can't think of one. i just wonder, as you look at the situation now, what can be done to protect the lives of the children left behind? >> indeed, jim. there is no safe place for children in gaza right now. there hasn't been a safe place for them for 45 days, since october 7th, when the conflict started. what we can do, must do and will continue to do as unicef is ask for a humanitarian cease-fire so the weapons are put down, the bombs stop, the bullets stop and children have a break and can receive the supplies they so desperately need. most of them are suffering. for over a month now, they've been traumatized by seeing their

homes destroyed, their loved ones dying in fronts of their eyes. nearly 2,000 of them are under the rubble. so, we don't know how many of these children will actually survive. they're lacking water, they're lacking food, they're lacking medical supplies and services. they are staying in dark when telecommunications go down. it's a nightmare for them. it's a relentless nightmare for them. we just need a cease-fire. that's what we're asking for now. >> you're not going to get a cease-fire. this is a pause, a temporary one at that. if the deal comes together as it's currently envisioned for, perhaps four, five days. it does appear some more aid will go in. perhaps estimates of 400, 500 trucks of aid. i just wonder how significant would you find this deal if it comes together? >> well, any help now that will

allow children to have a break, to have piece for a few days, five days, ten days, a week, as much as they can, is very welcome, jim. they need that pause so they can receive the supplies they so desperately need so they can maybe go to sleep without hearing the sounds of bombs or wondering whether they would be alive the day after. we welcome any humanitarian pause, any cease-fire, even if temporary, so more supplies can come in. 300 trucks is a lot. let's remember, it used to be 500 before october 7th. even then it was not meeting all the needs. 300 is good but not enough. we need more to come in. >> 2 million people left behind there. ricardo of unicef, thanks for joining. >> thank you. still to come this hour, fresh clashes today between

israel's military and hezbollah. this along israel's northern border with lebanon. we'll have a live update from be beirut. that's next.

. >> tension as continue to escalate on the israel lebanon border. today hezbollah says it launched several attacks on northern israel in response to the killing of journalists and civilians on the lebanese side of the border. >> the israeli military is aware of the claim that your honorists were killed as a result of fire and the incident is now under review. we want to take you there now with senior international correspondent live in beirut.

what are you learning about what's happening there? >>reporter: it's been an intense day on the border between israel and lebanon. what we've seen is several dozen exchanges of fire between israel and hezbollah and we've seen so far today eight people being killed on the lebanese side. woman who was in her home who was crushed to death when it was hit in an israeli strike and two journalists, a female reporter and a male cameraman working for the meyadine television network based in beirut. they put out a statement afterwards saying that the killing of their journalist was a direct and deliberate targeting by the israelis and of course you mentioned the israeli

reaction to those claims but obviously this underscores just how dangerous that border area is. there have been three separate incidents where a journalists have been hit in israeli strikes in total three journalists have been killed as a result but as i said, dozens of strikes and counterstrikes, probably the most intense day of these strikes since the 8th of october when the fighting began on the border here. >> listen, we were up in northern israel and there were shells that came close as well. it's a dangerous part of the world right now. live in beirut in lebanon. thank you so much. >> the lead with jake tapper starts after a short break.