with in their thinking where they are. >> as a conservative, i'm a conservative because i believe in a smaller more accountable government. and what this faction of the republican party has been doing is saying half of the population doesn't have medical freedom, that is big government. they are not following the conservative values that i signed up for. so i haven't changed. the republican party is changing. and i really think that they need to be called out for the contradictions that they are putting forth by imposing their will on the people. >> the real question is where is the court on this one. that will determine everything. thank yo u guys. 150 or so palestinians held

will be released. >> we need to see abigail come out and then we'll be able to believe it. >> it is possible the u.s. says that three americans could be released. >> how would we feel if it is not our child. >> we want a chance to see our loved ones back. >> these children, women, babies, every minute matters. >> this deal for the israelis has been so controversial. >> this a first major step, the first 50 coming over the course of the four days. we have team coverage on the big breaking news this morning, kaitlan collins, clarissa ward, israel and hamas reaching a deal to release hostages for a four day pause in fighting. so here is what we know. the deal causes for a four day truce and we're expecting to find out today when that

fighting might actually be put on pause. hamas has agreed to release at least 50 women and children. hostages abducted during the october 7 terror attacks. in exchange, hamas and israel have agreed to let 150 palestinian prisoners, we're told some of them women, many minor, agreeing to release them from jail. >> the u.s. official says these american hostages could be included in this part of the deal. the youngest is 3-year-old abigail, both of her parents murdered by hamas on october 7. and abigail's family tells cnn that they are hoping that she will be released in time for her fourth birthday this is this friday. >> and important to point out the timing is fluid. we're still seeing large explosions rocking northern gaza. under the deal hamas could potentially extend the four day pause in fighting if more

hostages were to be released. one extra day for every ten additional hostages. >> skate lkaitlan collins is jos in tel aviv. what happens now? >> reporter: nothing has happened yet, this fighting is still going on and the deal has not gone through yet after we heard from the israeli cabinet that they had approve this had following the late night announcements last night. but what i was just told by an israeli official is that the first releases of this, and pause of the fighting is expected to begin around 10:00 a.m. local tomorrow morning. that would be around 3:00 a.m. on the east coast. and whether or not that is a hard and fast time, it still remains to be seen because there are a lot of outstanding questions about what it will look like. but what we do know is that they have agreed to this deal that would allow 50 women and children to be released in exchange if 150 palestinian

prisoners being held. and this is expected to last at least four days. but a key thing we heard from the israeli prime minister is that for every additional ten hostages that are released by hamas, there will be another pause, another day of a pause in the fighting. so the question of how long this goes on, whether or not this deal sticks together still remains to be seen. but once this does happen, which we expect it again around 10:00 a.m. local israeli time tomorrow morning, it will be the biggest and most significant pause that we have seen since october 7, since the fighting began. and there has been a lot behind the scenes as for how it came together, a lot of skepticism from officials here in israel and inside the u.s. over whether or not this was going to happen. but right now they don't expect any objections infrom the israe supreme court in the 4 hour waiting period and that is what

is supposed to happen before tomorrow when this is slated to begin. >> and so give us a sense -- there has been such a push, we heard very yeegemotional meetin with the families and war cabinet. how did all of this come together? >> reporter: such an intense amount of pressure on the israeli prime minister netanyahu. and that is something that he made clear to u.s. officials including brett mcgurk who is deeply involved not only here in israel and also in qatar since all of the talks have been happening. at one point the feeling behind needing to get a deal done was so intense that the prime minister grabbed mcgurk by the arm and said he needed to get a deal done. and that happened over a week or so ago. what happened before then and since then were a lot of moments where officials felt like they had gotten really close only to then have the outlines of an agreement fall apart.

there was a point after israel took over the al-shifa hospital that hamas kind of went dark on the talks, these discussions that were going back and forth with officials in qatar. but then things seemed to get back on track. so that is what we're expecting to happen. there is a lot of intensive work behind the kreens. clarissa ward is also here on the ground in tel aviv. she's here where families of the hostages who were so desperately waiting on word of their family members have been gathering what is known as hostage square. i imagine there is a lot of hope but also anxiety given that we know what at least -- not the names but what the group will look like demographically that will be released. >> reporter: and as you can probably here, there is a sense that this is just the beginning of the fight. this is not the end.

people here want to see every single one of those 240 some hostages released. there are camps like this that have sprouted up in several parts here in central tel aviv. and we're in an area where the focus is on the family of a woman called hadas. excuse me, ma'am, can i move you for one second in this is her family, her ex-husband there who has been kidnapped along with her two children. her mother and autistic niece were murdered in those october 7 attacks. and the hope is of course for hadas and many like her that potentially we may see the release of them and some of the other children who are currently

being held. i've also spoken to thomas hand, we interviewed him early on, he is an irishman who was living in the kibbutz for some 30 years. his 8-year-old daughter emily was among those, initially he was told that she had been killed. and then he was told just about a couple weeks ago that actually she may be alive. i have spoken to thomas hand. he has said i want to jump through the roof with hope, but i also have to keep a level head emotionally. i can't let myself get too far ahead of myself. and he made a couple of important points. he said that so far no one from the israeli government has reached out to him. he has learned about this hostage release deal on television. he still has no information as to emily's exact whereabouts, as

to the conditions that she is being held in, as to her own conditions. there is no specific proof of life. so i think that you are seeing this kind of measured approach on the one hand obviously, ecstatic at the potential that he may be able to see his daughter again in the coming days but also trying to temper the hope with the possibility at this stage that she may not be coming out, that she may not be alive, that he simply doesn't know enough about her condition and whether she will be among these initial releases. so i would say exactly as you s extraordinary amount of excitement and hope, but also real anxiety. not just as to whether their children or their family members will be among those who are

initially leased, but also so importantly as to what kind of a condition that they will be returning in. these children have been held in horrific circumstances for many weeks. there is bound to be a huge psychological impact to the trauma that they have endured. so everybody here hoping for the best and bracing for the worst. >> and emily just turned 9 last week. clarissa ward, thank you. we'll get back to you. >> and thomas hand has heard nothing from the government about the deal from the media, from us, that he found out about the contours of this as we were reporting it out from sources inside that meeting yesterday.

what i keep thinking about is not just 9-year-old emily hand, but also the 3-year-old abigail whose aunt has beaeen on cnn multiple time, she was saying all she wanted was for her to be released by friday because that is when she turns four years order. she has two siblings who are still alive, both of their parents killed in the october 7 attacks. so as we talk about the logistics, what it means for the sides to come together, it is absolutely agonizing for these families who still don't know if it will be their loved ones released. >> absolutely a big question for so many of them. and back here at home, millions of americans are gearing up for a busy thanksgiving holiday week. severe weather could disrupt some travel. we'll have that next. and plus openai co-founder sam altman returning to the company as ceo just days after being fired. the details of that sudden

reversal and what the new board looks like. next.

today is the day, we talk about it, the one of the busiest travel days of the entire year. the faa reporting that there will be nearly 50,000 flights taking off today alone. and of course extreme weather being thrown into the holiday mix across america could, could, lead to some holiday chaos. pete muntean is camped out at reagan national art. i airport. and there is a large crowd hint you. >> reporter: this is an airport at capacity. this is the 7:00 a.m. rush. airport can handle typically about 40,000 people a day. and tsa tells me that we will get that number today right at the limit. the wait time right now to get through the standard lane here at this checkpoint, about 25

minutes. we're not really out of the woods just yet. we saw 5200 delays nationwide yesterday. it is a story playing out from coast to coast. and we will see if airlines can stick the landing. >> reporter: a crammed thanksgiving for travel is on from chicago -- >> feeling really positive. >> reporter: -- to dallas. >> they changed ourts three titour three times. >> reporter: and in l.a. gas averaging above $5 per gallon. and 49 million people will take road trips the next five days as air travel is rebounding from cold rain and wind that swept through east coast airports. when wednesday is finished, airlines have expected to 3r5i9 49,000 flights, 2.7 million people are projected to pass through tsa check points nationwide. >> think through the process steps that you will go through through screening because you don't want to be that passenger that holds everybody else up. >> reporter: at united airlines,

washington dull let'es, workers pushing to get 200 daily flights pushed through. and airplanes are full. and the rush is getting longer it says thanks to remote work and hybrid schedules. >> people are able to leave earlier and stay longer. sunday after thanksgiving will still be the busiest day of the year for us. >> reporter: and one challenge, a shortage of air traffic controllers, transportation secretary pete buttigieg stresses weather is the top cause of cancellations. >> mother nature of course is the x factor in all of this. >> reporter: and peak road travel yet to come with aaa anticipating traffic will hit its high on wednesday. on the 5 in los angeles, traffic is expected to spike taking a full three hours to get to bakersfield. at rush hour on friday, the trip from birmingham to atlanta will

nearly double along interstate 20. and sunday, add an hour between houston and san antonio when traffic climbs 40% on interstate 10. >> many people they don't have a choice but to leave wednesday afternoon which we say is the worst time to be on the roads ahead of thanksgiving. >> reporter: we saw major delays here yesterday, aboabout 30 rest about of all flights were draled, 3% out of charlotte were delayed. at would be point the faa imposed a ground delay holding flights on the ground there.be d a ground delay holding flights on the ground there. there could be ground spots in the big three, so not out of the woods yet. i spoke to the tsa and they say passengers have to stay on their game especially as they are in this line. you have to think this airport has about 6,000 more passengers going through security here today than any other normal day.

so you have to think about it like those 6,000 passengers are in front of you in line. so stay sharp. >> i like it, be on your game. i'm replacing pack your patience with be on your game. thank you, my friend. three americans we're learning may be among the 50 hostages set to be leased by hamas in the coming days. president biden vowing that he will not stop until all american hostages are released. just ahead, we'll ask jon finer from the white house more about how the deal came together, what this pause could mean and what more we know about when americans could be released.

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the issue of the hostages is really a global humanitarian catastrophe. and needs to be treated as such. i think that i don't count my chickens before they happen. so i'm not counting hostages being freed in this deal until i see him walk over the border and be embraced safely. >> that was rachel goldberg, mother of hirsch goldberg one of the americans being held hostage by a hamas. she joined others after meeting with pope francis. and secretary of state antony blinken reacted to the news of

the hostage deal in a statement saying the u.s. welcomes a deal, he emphasized that the 50 hostages who will be released include american citizens but he also made clear the process is not done. he wrote that while the deal marks significant progress, we will not rest as long as hamas continues to hold hostages in gaza. and there are believed to be 10 americans unaccounted for and assumed held hostage in gaza. this announcement of a deal has sparked a lot of new hope but also new fear for the families of more than 230 hostages. one of the hostages likely included in the deal is a 3-year-old american abigail, her family hoping and praying that she will be home for her fourth birthday which is friday. >> we you'lall hold on to the h she will be home by friday which is her fourth birthday. there is nobody that is giving up hope. it is just that we actually need

to see abigail come out and then we will be able to be -- to believe it. >> joining us now is jon finer. thank you very much for your time this morning. let's start there. has the white house been given a list of the 50 people who will be released by hamas, does it include three americans, is abigail one of them? >> well, poppy, we expect 50 people to be released over the course of the next four days according to this agreement that was just painstakingly and quietly negotiated over a period of weeks. we don't know the exact names who will be on that list. we know that it will be women and children. we know that there are three americans we believe who were held in gaza in that category, two women and abigail who you mentioned and it is our strong conviction and expectation that they be released in this group. but as one of your previous guests said, until we actually see people coming out of gaza, we won't know exactly who is going to be released. >> and who are those two women?

>> it is two people who were taken also from a kibbutz near gaza on the day of october 7. >> you can't show the names but you have the names? >> i want to maintain a degree of privacy for the people who are involved. >> does the u.s. have proof of life that all of the americans believed held hostage are still alive? >> we do not have proof of life for all the hostages. certainly we know that there have been some who have been found by the idf who have been killed tragically during the course of this. and that underscores the imperative of getting all these people out of gaza as soon as possible. is this a dangerous place in the best of times during a conflict, and so being held is almost an unimaginable situation for anyone to find themselves in. so we don't want another period to go by without these people being released. >> and the president said last night today's deal should bring home additional american hostages. speak to the family of those

seven that are not included in the three in the deal today, those seven families who don't know when their loved one or if they will come home? >> so you heard secretary blinken and president biden say that we won't rest until all of the hostages are home. certainly with a significant focus for the united states government on the americans who are held in this situation. it is hard to overstate the degree to which the president has focused on this. i'll point to you comments during a news conference the other day when he was asked for an update on the hostage deal and he said that i'm reluctant to speak to this because i haven't gotten information in the last four hours. that shows the degree to which he has been following this minute by minute, hour by hour, making phone calls and trying to get the deal across the line. but even after the deal is implemented, there will be hostages still held in gaza and we'll work to get them home as well. >> and what is the time line for the release, meaning there is reporting from israeli official it will start at 10:00 a.m.

local time tomorrow. is that what you know? >> we expect this to be implemented beginning in the next 24 hours. i don't want to give an exact time line for operational reasons but we expect it to be soon. >> and where will the hostages be released? >> again that is not the kind of information that we want to put out because we don't want to do anything that interferes with the implementation of the deal and the execution of getting these people safely out of gaza. >> can you speak to how long it will be until they can be reunited at least with their families or is that all determined on their medical condition and how they actually are doing? >> i suspect that it will vary family to family. some of the hostages' families are in israel waiting for them to be released. others are citizens of other countries and it will take time for them. if they need medical care, transportation. but obviously that will be a high priority to get people reunited with their families as quickly as possible. >> and there could be a more for more situation if the pause is extended as more hostages held

by hamas could be released. do you believe that this could effectively become a ceasefire? >> the goal is going to be to try to get more hostages out even after the four day pause and the 50 hostages have been released, that will depend on the two sides. it will need to involve the release of more hostages and the agreement for the fighting to pause on an ongoing basis. but to be honest, we are really focused, laser focused on just getting the first step implemented and executed as agreed. anything that we can do to build on it would obviously be positive, but that has to wait for another day. >> when judith and natalie were released, two of the first hostages to be released, you were in jake sullivan's office at the time and you were able to track their movements in realtime. will you be able to do that again this time? >> so i think that we are going to wait and see how it all plays out in execution. it will be a number of hours before this begins. we're obviously going to monitor it as closely as we possible can

to make sure that the release is executed safely. again, none of this is done until people actually cross the border out of gaza and into safety. >> part of this agreement also is that israel has agreed to six hour pauses per day in their drone surveillance of hamas' operations in gaza. will u.s. drones pause that too? >> those pauses will be across the board is my understanding. >> how did you get prime minister netanyahu to agree to the pause? i mean, it was as recent as the weekend that he was essentially saying no way to a pause. and now it is not just a day, now it is four days and maybe longer. >> government of israel has always said that it would tie pauses to the possible release of hostages. so the negotiation then was about how many hostages, how much time. and a number of other details that are part of this arrangement as well and i'll leave it to the parties them to describe. we worked closely obviously with the government of israel and

trying to structure a deal that worked for the israeli cabinet that had to vote on this deal last night. we want to thank also the government of qatar, egypt that played a role. but i really can't overstate the degree to which the president himself personally made phone calls, personally pressed leaders to get this deal done so that people could come home. >> jon, israel has released a list of 300 palestinian prisoners that could be released. on that list, a majority of young men, 16 to 18-year-old. oren lieberman reporting that some are members of hamas, some members of islamic jihad, you've seen the criticism from the israel national security minister saying last time in 2011, yahya sinwar was released and he now heads hamas. is the white house comfortable with this list? >> look, any list that the israeli government was comfortable releasing in exchange for these hostages, the united states was going to be supportive of.

this was a difficult decision for the israeli government and scab net cabinet and they decided to proceed, and they decided to proceed for people that are in an cunconscionable situation an they need to be brought home. >> and secretary of state antony blinken will be going back to israel next week for talks. is that happening? >> i'll leave it to the state department to confirm secretary blinken's travel plans. but we will be intense definitively engaged in the region with the government of israel throughout the duration of this conflict. this is not the end of the war, this is a pause for a number of days during which hostages will be leased, humanitarian assistance will surge. and the people amenople and res gaza will get a degree of relief, but the work goes on. >> and you said this is not the end of the war, so does that mean you don't see any scenario

where the pause effectively becomes a sceasefire? >> that is up to the parties to decide. well look at whether there is a way to build on what is happening the next several days to get more hostages out. that remains a high priority including any remaining americans after the hostages are released. and we'll be focusing on that over the coming days. but first things first, we have to get the people agreed out of gaza. >> and i know you have been working around the clock on this and everyone is waiting to see who can come home. jon finer, thank you. >> thank you. so many important questions. so many questions that we still have. >> so three. two women and a child. we'll wait for names. >> in terms of americans. just ahead, the families of the more than 230 hostages held by hamas as they wait to see whether their loved ones are among the 50 released as part of that deal.

we'll speak with one man who was hoping to hear that his sister is in fact one of them.

overnight israel full cabinet has approved a deal with hamas that would release at least 50 hostages in gaza in exchange for 150 palestinian prisoners in israel. oren lieberman is here with me. and we're learning more about what it will look like. we're expecting to see it start at 10:00 a.m. local time here tomorrow, that is 3:00 a.m. eastern. i'm told there is about an 8, 6

hour period for the actual facilitation of the hostages to be leased. do we have any idea logistically what this could look like? >> we have seen hostage exchanges before. not many, but it has happened. we don't have the details yet on where it will happen. where are the hostages come out of, do they have go out through egypt and rafah, can they come out into israel or speaintersec of gaza and egypt. we don't know that yet. and on the other side of this, palestinian prisoners released, they are often in the occupied west bank. so likely they will go straight home when they are released. >> and so what do we know about the palestinian prisoners? there is a history of the exchanges happening. a soldier held for several years. what do we know about who is on the table? because there is a list of 300 names that israel has put out there now. >> and worth noting that that list of 300 names strongly suggest israel is preparing that

it is not just the first 150, that there is a continuation for more israeli hostages. many on the list are first young men between the ages of 16 and 18, there are some as young as 1. very few women on the list. we went through it and there are 33. it also lists charges, considered relatively minor charges. support for a terror organization, throwing stones, throwing molotov cocktails, illegal transfer of weapons. so nobody here convicted of murder on the list. in terms of what organizations they belong to, israel lists that as well. some belong to hamas, islamic jihad, the popular front for the lip race of palestinian, democratic front for the liberation of palestinian, but some who don't have an organization listed with them. so that is the beginning of the possibilities here. we don't know who on the list will come out. >> and you mentioned the fact that there are 300 names on the list. what we know part of the initial deal is 150 names, are you saying it suggests that israeli could be prepared for more.

benjamin netanyahu has said that for every additional ten hostages that are released, one more day in the pause in fighting. right now it is about four days. we don't even know anything about the condition of these hostages, whether they are all alive. we don't even know how much longer hamas could extend this for, how many more hostages they have to release. >> we know the first 50 are alive. we don't know the condition of all of them. we know the idf has said some were killed in gaza. so that is very much an open question. and last point i'll make quickly is hamas is likely to demand a much higher cost for the soldiers that are hostage, not just the women and children. >> and we know there are women soldiers being held. all right. we'll continue to check back in with you. still a lot of questions of what it could look like, but it is slated to start here in israel tomorrow. >> the waiting, official waiting begins. appreciate it. thank you. and the families of those hostages being held now by hamas

is waiting. set to begin tomorrow morning. and that is when they will perhaps learn whether their loved ones will be among 950 set to be freed. one of those family members waiting for any information is a man who says his sister was abducted along with her husband and their 3-year-old daughter. they have been visiting her in-laws near the gaza border. the family managed to break away from the terrorists but then they were separated once again and only his sister's husband and daughter ultimately escaped after they hid in the woods for hours. and it is good to have you back with us. you and i last spoke i guess about three weeks ago. how are you doing knowing that in a matter of hours the first 50 hostages are set to be released? >> good morning and first of all, it is a good morning. it is a more optimistic morning. and we rare thrilled to know tht

maybe tomorrow we'll see people with us here again. not necessarily my sister, but important to state that every life that can be saved, every child, every mother, every woman that can come back to safety here with us, it will be a happy and moving moment. and we're also anxious to see whether my sister and also her sister-in-law who is a hostage as well will be released among the women. >> and have you had any contact sense this deal was announced from officials, from israeli government officials? >> we had officers communicating with us along the way.

and we had a conversation this morning but it was more or less along the lines of presenting the deal that we all know. so we don't have additional information. >> asso no indication that your sister may be monday the first 50. >> no, i think first of all it will be a daily list. so every day i think we will be informed. and i don't think that any family has been informed so far. at least not us. >> you have been so hopeful. you met with u.s. lawmakers and you were in that rather contentious meeting a few days ago with cabinet officials in israel. after that meeting, oren lieberman spoke with families and they talked about the frustration everyone felt. were you surprised on the heels of that at how quickly this changed and that there was

actually a deal? >> actually i did not share the frustration. we had humiliating part in the entrance to the meeting, but the meeting, everything was hopeful. i personally asked directly the prime minister if he is ready for humanitarian pauses. and hold back the war for a while in order to release hostages. and he clearly said yes. and they were seen all aligned with this message. so i actually went out of this meeting more hopeful. and it seemed that deal was on the breakthrough, so i was not surprised. >> are you hopeful that this pause continues beyond these initial few days which could ultimately mean to your point more hostages being released? >> absolutely. it is not in our hands. it is in the hands of hamas

initially. they need to deliver more hostages. they claim that they don't know where they are. it might take time to find them and of course we expect as many as possible. and if it will take modern day days -- more days of pauses, i think that is completely in order and we expect to see that. if we have a longer pause that is only a positive sign of more life that can be saved. >> and as we've seen the list released of the prisoners who will be released in exchange for the hostages, is there in i go that gives you pause or concern there? >> no, no specific concern. overall as i said, we think that this is the right deal and this is a promising deal personally, but also nationally i think also in a human aspect. i don't have specific concerns. >> and we appreciate you joining

us and i hope that we're talking again soon with more news for you and your family. thank you. >> i really hope so. and let's all stay hopeful and determined until the last person that will be back with us. as part of the hostage deal, israel and hamas have agreed to a four day pause in fighting. that could be extended one day for every ten additional hostages released. this comes as more democrats on capitol hill are calling for a longer term ceasefire. one there jonathan jacackson. wewe'll ask hihim about ththat e new dealal ahead.

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israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu making it clear that israel's war against hamas will continue after a brief pause to bring some hostages home. his vow likely to frustrate american lawmakers. listen to this. >> and the way they are conducting this campaign, both by denying humanitarian aid by and large, and bombing that takes out a whole lot more civilians and men, women and children than hamas fighters is doing not just damage, obviously, clearly damage to the palestinian people who are hit and killed and injured p but to israel's reservoir of goodwill.

>> that was democratic senator jeff markley. he called for an unconditional ceasefire this week. another democrat calling for a ceasefire, one of the original co-sponsors of the ceasefire now resolution, congressman jonathan jackson of illinois, also sits on the foreign affairs committee. we want to start with the breaking news, the deal. is this a good deal? >> absolutely. families are coming back together and i stand on the side of the israeli and the palestinian families that are being reunited. we have to give a tremendous thank you to the qatari government leading this negotiation. i first heard mention of this october 9th, two days after this horrific attack in israel, and so to anything that we can do to bring families back together, the pause, the peace, the cessation of the violence, the humanitarian assistance that's now being expedited is so crucial. and let us continue to work for

all the families to be reunited. >> this is a pause, not a ceasefire. you want a ceasefire. president biden laid out why he does not support one in his op-ed writing, to hamas saying a ceasefire is not peace, to hamas' members every ceasefire is time they exploit to rebuild their stockpiles of rockets. are you disappointed that president biden does not support a ceasefire? >> well, i mean, you could call it a ceasefire, you could call it a pause. those are words of semantics and posturing. but no bombs are being dropped today. a thousand bombs were being dropped for the last seven, eight weeks. the land is toxic. people can't go back and prewilled. the remediation to remove all that from the land, people taken off their land unnecessarily. this was an israeli defense force.

we agreed it was a failure. their guards were down for an hour and a half under prime minister netanyahu when this attack took place. i don't want this to become a diversion. i want us to get back to the table and make sure that we have equal parts diplomacy with israeli defense and continue in do dialogue. on october 7th, there was not a confirmed confirmed ambassador from the united states to israeli. there was not a confirmed ambassador from the united states to egypt. to say we were passing our flyers to a million, a million and a half people to flee, that was absolutely atrocious. >> congressman, those who oppose a ceasefire and echo what the president said there, look, hamas has in its charter the annihilation of israel. if it is not dealt with and you have a ceasefire now, how can the israeli people feel protected? i wonder what you say to that.

>> well, i am all for israeli defense and their protection. people shouldn't live in fear and terror. but this is also an occupied piece of land. there is no way to get missiles and guns in there for -- by sea, by air. certainly not by land. and so you know where they are. now, the question is -- >> congressman, how do you think -- >> but they -- >> hold on. how do you think they got all of those weapons? >> of course, they had to come in through their egyptian area where we didn't have a dialogue, didn't have a confirmed ambassador, and that was before this -- before the israelis defense forces now are -- has put a complete barricade around the area. >> you any that stops iran, for example, from continuing to support hamas in this way? >> well, let's be clear on what is hamas. hamas is also known in arabic as the islamic resistance

organization. hamas is not a standing army as in the sense of they have a defense headquarters. this is a spirit of a lot of people and we have to deal with the -- >> do you not -- >> ideology of hamas. how do you deal with the ideology of hamas is what we have to get to. >> do you believe hamas is a terror organization as it is designated by the united states? >> yes. >> okay. >> hamas is a terrorist organization. >> so then what are you saying with that answer? and you agree they carried out this brutal massacre of 1,200 israelis on october 7, yes, and took hundreds hostage? >> i am saying there is not one place and one time where you can find these persons that we have to lead this with intelligence. how do we find them? who are the perpetrators of the violence? i was in israel in september -- >> and you met with netanyahu. >> yes, we did. and i was there specifically wanted to ask him a question about the reciprocal visa waiver

program. and this is an occupied area because you have to go through checkpoints. many of my constituents in the first district were not able to go freely back and forth from chicago to back to their homela in palestine and back. he didn't answer the question i asked. he had people in the ministry to answer it. >> okay. we are out of time. you should come back and continue this discussion. but just to be clear, congressman, do you believe then that hamas should be allowed to continue governing gaza after this, following these attacks? >> absolutely not. but i think we should also lay out what is the development plan, peace process, what does a two-state solution look like. netanyahu has been a problem, is an ongoing problem. we should also talk about what does this negotiation look like after netanyahu is not the head of leading this defense force. >> if that is the case moving forward. congressman jackson, please do

come back. thank you. >> thank you. a lot to follow up on there. so many questions this morning. squloois 3 years old. so much focus on abigail edon being held by hamas. hopes in a matter of hours she may be among the first 50 hohostages r released. abigail's family joins us ahead.