#. this is cnn breaking news. >> good morning, everyone. welcome to cnn. as we follow this significant breaking news in gaza right now. just one hour from now, hamas is expected to start releasing some

of the hostages. a u.s. official tells cnn that they are not, not expecting americans to be in this first group of 13 women and children set to be released. it has been eight hours since the fighting was paused in gaza and thetismar temporary truce a be holding a column of tanks heading away from the gaza strip this morning. >> the israeli military says it is ready and prepared to receive the hostages. we are told that each helicopter for those hostages will have a medical team onboard and the released hostages will also be given noise-canceling headphones for that flight to provide a little bit of peace and quiet on that helicopter ride. meantime, southern gaza drone video shows families walking the streets of khan yunis after that. you can see that destruction from the airstrikes. part of the hostage deal was allowing desperately needed humanitarian aid into gaza. this morning we have seen lines

of trucks crossing into the region from egypt. >> and egyptian official says 200 trucks full of food and water and medicine will enter gaza daily. we have not seen that number of trucks going into gaza with aid since the war began. now it is an agonizing wait for the families of hostages who don't know if their loved ones will be among the 50 women and children set to be released under this deal. jeremy diamond is near a crossing that hostages may travel through. clarissa ward is at a children's hospital in israel where the hostages may be taken once they are released. let's begin with kaitlan collins, she skbroins us live in tel aviv. really significant development that our reporting is no u.s. citizens will be a part of this initial 13 hostages set to be released and one of the key questions is abigail, her fourth birthday today, and her family pleading to have her home in

time for it. >> they really wanted her to be home. of course, she has two siblings that are still alive. they wanted her to be reunited with them on this day she turns 4 years old. we are hearing that americans are not in the initial group of 13 hostages that are going to be released, expected to happen in the next hour. but wie have heard from white house officials they were hopeful they would be in the first group but they were not fully expecting it. they didn't know who initially was going to be released. they are hopeful americans will be in the group of 50 and that is expected to be the total of hostages that are released over the next four days as this temporary truce is expected to go on. of course, the question is whether or not it holds. there has been a history of hostilities and ceasefires between hamas and israel where they have been broken several times. so that's why there is a lot of skepticism and questions about whether or not this deal is going to hold. so far it appears to have done so. since midnight eastern,

7:00 a.m. local, that is when all fighting was supposed to stop and we started to see the aid trucks going into gaza which of course was another snir kint part of this deal and now the question is about the hostages themselves and whether or not they are going to get out, what that looks like, and as you noted, they are going to great lengths to try to put these hostages at ease, giving them noise-canceling headphones for that helicopter ride where they are going to be going from being in gaza to egypt and coming to israel where of course they will have medical screenings, check kwlups, and get to be with their families for the first time since october 7 which is going to be a critical moment that we are watching and also seeing what today means for the next several days. how does it spell out what we believe the future releases could look like. cnn's jeremy diamond is on the israel/gaza border near a possible crossing where we may see hostages being able to come across once they are freed. jeremy, from what you are seeing on the ground, what have you gleaned about what is happening

and whether or not had that is going to be a place why we could see the hostages coming out of gaza? >> reporter: well, this crossing is a really important crossing between israel and gaza. also a portion between israel and yegypt as well. right behind me, this is one of the potential locations where some of these hostages, 50 over four days, 13 expected today, could potentially cross from. it is the crossing where gthat soldier held over five years by hamas was held, was brought across into israel in 2011 after being held in captivity for five years. so this is a significant crossing. it is also where the ranan family, some of those two america american israeli hostages released under what hamas called humanitarian grounds brought across the border by israeli officials at this carom shalom

crossing as well. so it is potentially one of those locations where we could be seeing hostages come across. my understanding is that once the hostages come across, they will be taken into buses to a nearby air force base. from there they will have the opportunity to speak with their families on the phone or in person and from there depending on an initial medical assessment they may be brought to hospitals. there are six hospitals across israel that are prepared to receive these hostages depending on the severity of their case, depending whether they are adults or children. but certainly there has been an overwhelming massive government effort in israel to prepare for this moment which could happen within the next hour. we will see. and certainly in talking to israeli officials, kaitlan, i can tell you that they are prepared for this moment, but they are still not willing to say 100% it is going to happen.

people are crossing their fingers. people are waiting on pins and needles with anxiety to see whether or not this deal will actually come through. whether or not the hostages come 4:00 p.m. will actually be able to cross into israel. certainly the families of those hostages, of those coming today, are waiting for that, but also the hostages going forward. this is going to be an enormous move to prove whether or not hamas is capable of delivering the hostages and whether or not more hostages could potentially be released in the future. >> yeah, of course the release of the hostages and that going well is what the release of the palestinian prisoners in israel is dependent on. jeremy diamond in car em shalom, thank you. you are looking at a map where jeremy was reporting from where we could see potentially hostages coming through. children who are -- we know are among the hostages would then be taken to schneider chirps hospital where we find clarissa ward right now. clar ais a, jeremy was talking

about this whole of government approach as they are preparing for the fact that children are going to be among those that are going to be released we believe today. what have you been seeing from where you are? >> reporter: so, we have been talking to some of the staff inside the hospital just behind me. this is where they hope very much to be greeting at some point in the coming hours or later tonight some of those children who are likely to be among the released and also their mothers. they are anticipating that there will be some mothers with the children. they say they will not be separating any mothers from the children, and those who are in reasonable condition will be brought here. those who have more serious medical concerns will be taken to one of a number of different hospitals. they say they have not been sleeping. they are anxious, tense, but also, of course, fervently hopeful that they may be able to receive those hostages later on in the day.

this is just one of the nodes of of this operation though as you and jeremy have been outlining, kaitlan. there is a lot of sensitivity around the issue of dealing with these child mortgages. the israeli government and ministry of welfare put out very specific and comprehensive guidelines for israeli forces who will be responsible for handling those children when they come over from the red cross as they then cross into israel. they will be identified. they will be given a cursory or a sort of initial medical examination to make sure that none of them need immediate care. then they will be allowed to have a video or a phone call with family members and a lot of these children, don't forget, may not even know which of their family members have been killed, which of their family members have been alive, and in accordance with that they have been given guidelines, the idf, i want to read from one portion of the guidelines, it says, children will ask questions such as where is mom, where is daddy?

soldiers should not answer these questions even if they know the answers. any questions should be answered along the lines, sweet heart, i'm sorry, i don't know, my job is to bring you to israel to a safe place where people who you know will be waiting for you and will answer all your questions. they were also told not to try to pick up the children without asking their permission first because everybody here, while the hopes are so high they will be seeing the release of some of these hostages later, understands the children who come out of gaza may be very different little children to when they first went into gaza. so really trying to approach this in the most sensitive and humane manner as possible, kaitlan. >> yeah. i mean, clarissa, to see the small details of even, you know, preparing to have stuffed animals ready for these children who we don't even know what conditions they have been held in for these 48 days, whether, you know, we heard if rt two

elderly women released where it was a shock to see sunlight because they had been underground in tunnels so long that it was almost a shock to their system and just to imagine little children having to deal with that and potentially, as you noted, having to find out their families may not be alive. it's just kind of hard to even prepare for that level of trauma. >> very hard to prepare for that level of trauma. and very hard to be potentially one of those idf soldiers with a small child asking where's mommy, where is ka daddy, knowing something is terrible and not being able to share that and comfort them appropriately. i think everybody is focused on trying to put one foot in front. other. there are so many different moving parts to this. the one glimmer of hope possibly in terms of how the children who have been held hostage -- i should say according to the israeli government 40 minors or

children under 18 held inside, is that hamas has gone to great lengths to try to show if only perhaps for propaganda purposes that they are humane, the hostages are getting treatment, they are getting medical care, that they are being fed. but as you point out, and any mother or father or, frankly, human being will understand this, even so, how terrifying if must be for the children separated in many cases from their families, in many cases being held underground for weeks on end, not knowing where they are, not knowing what's going on, not knowing where their families are. you are going to be dealing with some very serious cases of trauma. and i think everybody here is bracing themselves for that and trying to make sure that they are doing everything within their power to make this as smooth a transition back home as possible. kaitlan. >> yeah, clarissa ward, thank you. poppy, it's kind of hard to

overstate what this moment means in israel. everywhere you go, the flyers of the hostages are -- there they are. it's on restaurants. it's on the back of cabs. people are wearing it on their shirts saying "bring them home." the idea within the next hour you could potentially see 13 of these hostages finally brought home back to israel reunited with their families carries great significance, obviously, here. >> absolutely does. kaitlan, thank you. within the next hour, we expect to see the first 13 hostages as kaitlan said released, part of the four-day truce agreement between israel and hamas. they will be women and children and according to the israeli government those families have been notified of their loved ones pending release. for our next guest, the painful wait will continue. the parents of 23-year-old israeli american hersh. witnesses say he was taking cover in a bomb shelter at the music festival when hamas gunmen began throwing grenades inside.

his parents say they learned his arm was hit and severed below the elbow. he was kidnapped with that severe injury but he fought back while he was being attacked. he tried to protect others the entire time and that says everything about his character. his parents, john and rachel goldberg join us from jerusalem. john and rachel, i will never forget when we spoke almost seven weeks ago, you told me he is the perfect son for me. does it feel like your perfect son is closer to coming home? >> certainly hopeful. praying. you know, we are 49 days in now. and today we are very, very hopeful that this -- you know, everything is very fragile. as we say in english, we don't -- and i have been saying to everyone i don't count my

hostages until they are hugging their loved ones. so i'm praying these children and these women get back to their families today and that in these next few days that this deal can progress and more and more children come home where they belong and start to process this trauma that they have been through. and certainly i hope and pray that our day will come and that we will also have our loved one back in our arms. >> john, given the severe injury that hersch was kidnapped with, i wonder if you heard from the israeli government at all in the past, say, 24 hours ahead of this release and also from the red cross about they will be preparing for him, hoping he is released soon to really care for him given what he endured? >> so, rachel talked about how

fragile this deal is. part of that is even the information flow, we're hearing basically what you are hearing when it comes to who will be released. it seems quite clear that men are not likely to be a part of this first batch. so in terms of when he gets home, we don't know anything. and also in terms of the red cross. it's been 49 days. the red cross, based on everything we have heard, has not been given any access to the hostages. we hear that access to the hostages is part of this deal, but so much of this is fragile, so much of this is unclear, and we just don't know. but we are very, very hopeful that finally after 49 days the red cross will get in not only to hersch, but all of the wounded and sick hostages and ensure that they are getting every possible medical treatment they can get given the

situation. >> let's hope, right? absolutely they need ithat. rachel, this is the first time we met since you met with the pope this week. we have this video of you that is so touching showing a picture of hersch to the pope. could you speak to what that was like? >> oh, well, that was actually not me showing a picture of hersch to the pope. that was me showing the video that anderson cooper and cnn shared with us of hersch being kidnapped with his arm blown off being loaded on to the pickup truck. and that was what i showed him. that's why you see him exclaim and, you know, move his head back, because it's a very -- it's a difficult video to watch. but i wanted him to understand why we were so concerned in addition to anyone being concerned when their loved one is kidnapped. we were very concerned because

they are hopeful that hersch got treatment, but we have no idea. we are just hopeful that the rumors that we sometimes hear that maybe hostages are treated, you know, medically, are true. but we have no idea since we haven't had, you know, a humanitarian aid organization confirm anything for us. >> you bring up that video that anderson shared with you. i really want people to watch this. this is from the interview when you brought anderson into your home a couple of weeks ago and you're showing him hersch's room and then we see hersch's bed and, rachel, you made hersch's bed. can you tell why? >> well, i can guarantee you he never makes his bed looking as nicely as i made his bed looking and i wanted his bed to be ready for when he does come home, that he has clean sheets and, you know, just all ready to go for

him to just lay down in bed and read the book that he left with the bookmark in it next to his bed. he is reading a book by the dalai lama. i think it's called "the art of happiness." i'd like him to pick up where he left off. >> wow. john, it is friday. and in jewish homes you bless your children on friday night. what is your blessing for hersh? >> well, just the standard blessing that in jewish tradition parents zbuf their child. we will continue to do that. rachel goes out on to the balcony and screams it to the skies and we will do that again in a few hours. our blessing beyond that one is, you know, rachel's mantra has been i love you, stay strong, survive, which she says throughout the day to hersh and to herself. i continue to say that i know that he is really strong in

character, really tough mentally, and i know he is going to need or has needed for 49 days every ounce of that strength and i'm praying that he is continuing to find the strength to keep persevering through this. as soon as he gets home, we will take care of him physically, mentally, we will get him every bit of help he needs. but we just hope that he is staying strong in there and that he perseveres to get home to us. >> you are both really remarkable. hersh is very lucky to have you. thank you for being us with today. >> thank you. >> thank you for having us. >> of course. >> i love you, stay strong, survive. well, as we await this moment where we are waiting to see the hostages released, we are keeping a close eye on a prison where they are preparing for the release of palestinian prisoners. the first group of hostages the expected to be release within

the next hour. senior advisor to prime minister benjamin netanyahu will join us nextxt to discususs the latest this hostage release. stay with us.

breaking news this morning as we are learning that americans are not expected to included in that first group of 13 hostages being released by hamas. something that is expected to happen within the next hour, less than an hour, by 9:00 a.m. eastern time. a u.s. official telling cnn they remain hopeful there will be americans among the initial

group of 50 hostages set to be released over the next four days. right now, not part of this group today. for more on what we expect senior advisor to israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu mark regev. is what that what you have heard, no americans are expected to be in this group of 13 released today? >> i can't go under that. we are under strict instructions not even to hint about the identities of the 13 people that should be released today. we are not counting as the previous one of your guests said. we are not counting our chickens before they are hatched. we won't be saying anything until we actually see who is here in israel after they have been released. then we will be releasing the names and all the information necessary. but until it happens, we are waiting. there is a sense of anticipation and we know who we're dealing with. hamas. so once again, until they are in israel on their own soil, we are

not going to be saying anything. >> and is that release still on track from your understanding for 4:00 p.m. local/9:00 a.m. eastern? >> i have no information that is new on that and i apologize. that is the agreement. and it doesn't matter if you are 80% there or 90% there, you have to be 100%. it's binary. it's either yes or no. will they be in israel this afternoon as has been promised or will they not? that's the only important question. >> you just mentioned what you can release once they are confirmed to be back. and i think everyone understands why that information would not be put out beforehand, you don't want to jeopardize this deal. once they are safely back in israel if that happens, does israel plan to announce, yes, they have returned, they have made it back, and they are safe? >> correct. that is our intention. the minute that they are on

israeli soil, we will be releasing thnames and who they e and you will be up to publish that. that's obvious. once they are here and yes know that they are safe, of course we can announce who they are. of course, as you have been reporting on cnn, we have to worry about their medical situation, both from a physical point of view and a psychological point of view. anyone who has been almost 50 days being held hostage, it's, obviously, a traumatic experience. but think about the young tender age of some of the people we expect to be released. for a child. so we have to be very careful. we have to make sure that we -- these people get the treatment that they need, as i say, both physical and psychological, that we're working with the loved ones, as you reported on cnn, to make their landing in israel as comfortable and as helpful as is

possible. >> and mr. regev, obviously, this is an ongoing process. this is expected to be hostages released each day in exchange for the palestinian prisoners to be released each day. we have been watching a prison where we believe some of the pro-israel are expected to be released. when it comes to the daily lists that are being swapped between israel and hamas who is expected to be released the next day, when does israel expect to get those every day? is there a certain time period? >> i think what happened in the past is what we expect to happen in the future, though i can't guarantee anything in the name of hamas, of course. we know who we are dealing with. a brutal terrorist organization. so we'll take it as it comes. but the understands reached, negotiated with the help of the united states, specifically my prime minister praised president biden for his hands-on approach on this, the understanding say

over four days, as you reported, 50 people will be released. this 13 coming today, that's the commitment, 13 today. that's just the first grouping of the 50. and we must remember though we're really happy we will see 13 people today and, hopefully, in the next four days the number will reach 50, there is a sadness also because 190 are being left behind. who knows what their fate is and we're worried about them. and i think anyone who is rational would worry about them because hamas is holding them and we know what hamas is capable of. so, once again -- >> given that -- >> with caution -- >> you mentioned the other hostages and this is important. the prime minister said that the red cross would be able to go in and tend to the other hostages that are not a part of this group being released. there has been some september schism, i think, over whether or not they are going to be able to

go in and to that. is that still part of this agreement that the red cross will be able to go into gaza to be able to evaluate these other hostages? >> let's be clear. that's the obligation of the international committee of the red cross. that's their job. and if hamas has not allowed that to happen until now, that's another one of their war crimes. but, yes, that was in the original deal. i remember that very clearly. >> okay. so we'll see if it does go forward. based on what you have seen now that we are 12 hours in, a little over 12 hours, is this deal, is this troous between israel and hamas holding? >> i suppose everything's a matter of expectations. i suppose we could say it's holding as good as could be expected. and, yeah, you have seen it's quiet, it has returned in the main, and that's a good thing. we wanted this humanitarian pause to facilitate the release

of our people and we want this to go ahead without any glitches. yes, we want to see the 50 people out in the next -- over the next four days. and then we remember, kaitlan, there is an option to extend this humanitarian pause for another day and another day if they agree to release more hostages. another ten hostages for every day. now, hamas won't do it because they have suddenly become humanitarian. let's be clear. they are the opposite of humanitarian. violence they committed is inhuman, both violence against israelis at the way they treat their own people, the palestinians of gaza. but maybe they have an interest. we have been putting sizable military pressure on them. we have taken out their underground fortresses. we have taken out and eliminated senior commanders. they are under a lot of pressure. they need that pause. and if that's a way for us to get our people out, so be it.

and once again, we want to see more people released. they have an opportunity to do it. they want this pause. they want this time out from the fighting, and so maybe this is a way to expedite our people. >> mark regev, we will be watching closely in the next hour. thank you for your time this morning. >> thanks for having me, kaitlan. >> and you heard mr. regev. once the 13 hostages are freed they will announce it. once they are back in israel and safe, of course, that is part of also this deal where israel is going to release 39 palestinians who have been jailed in israel. they are also expected to be released. we will have a live report from a ball club near ramallah ahead to check in on that. also, crucial aid entering gaza is part of this 96-hour truce. so far we have seen 90 trucks go into gaza today where they are so desperately needed. we will bring you the latest developments from there as well

right after this.

. minutes from now the first wave of hostages is expected to

be freed from gaza if israel and hamas if -- of course hold up this agreement and all goes according to plan. 13 women and children released back into israel. let's dig into this with cnn global affairs kim dozier and amir, good to have you with us this morning. amir, from what we have seen, this truce is holding at this moment. we just heard from mark regev speaking with kaitlan collins. everybody seems to be watching this with bated breath, waiting for that moment until the hostages are seen to really know if this will happen, amir. >> yeah, i can tell you an entire country is on the edge right now. and i feel it personally because apart from my work as a journalist covering this, i am also a residents of the gaza border area. my community is one of the border communities that were attacked on october 7th and we had several of our neighbors

kidnapped into gaza. all of them civilians, husbands, fathers, grandmother and two young girls, two sisters. so we are so anxious to know that actually we are going to see this first batch of our hostages reeleased and that thi deal will go as planned and we will see the next phase of it tomorrow as well. i'm relieved to see that so far the ceasefire is holding. we will not feel any kind of relief until we actually see with our eyes the first group of our hostages again, you know, just women and children released from the hands of hamas. >> and quickly, do you have any indication at this hour that some of the people from your kibbutz may be in this first group? >> right now it's not really clear who exactly is going out. that information is only available to a very small group of people. i want to say, even though my

journalistic instincts are to want to know as much as possible, i understand this is a very delicate issue and for the families of those who are coming out, supposed to come out, those who still have to wait, an entire world right now is hanging in the balance and we have to be patient and understand what kind of difficult situation we are dealing with here. we'll know more details in a short time. for now, we have to wait a little more. >> cnn's reporting is that americans will not be included in the first 13 hostages expected to be released. why do you think that is? >> i have no idea what the thinking of hamas is in terms of looking through its roster of hostages that it's been able to identify. but white house officials do tell us that three americans are supposed to be released in this initial four-day exchange. and u.s. officials and the

qatari officials both hope that this truce maintains without any violent break in it such that they can keep going day after day after day, and then the question will be, well, if you get half of the hostages back, why stop? and then the pressure is going to be on israel. why restart hostilities when this process is working? and the international community will also be saying, why interrupt this process when we are getting humanitarian aid in, though not possibly enough in four days to meet the needs of the people on the ground. >> and those are the challenges and certainly the concerns we have heard, i think, since this deal was announced. what does it look like moving forward if and when you get to that point. israel promised the fighting, amir, will resume. has been very clear in that. what has not been clear is the role of the red cross here. i am sure you have been pressing for information on this as well.

mark regev saying it's the obligation a few moments ago of the red cross and if hamas hasn't allowed that to happen, that's on them, but he said this was part of the original deal that the red cross would be meeting with the hostages. is it clear to you where the disconnect is here, amir? is this, hey, it's hamas' fault, they won't let the red cross in? is it really that simple? >> first of all, we have to demand it. i don't know whether it was agreed or not the deal. i am not party to those details and i was not involved in the negotiations. but it's clear we have to demand that the red cross will come in and see the hostages who are not being released right now. i understand that hamas doesn't want it because hamas is playing very, very ugly and vicious game here and just trying to torment the israeli population at wide with the way that it shares information and disinformation

about the state of the hostages. but i think it's very important to continue demanding this. i don't know if we can promise it. i know the prime minister two days ago actually made it a promise to the public. i don't know if that was backed up or not. but we have to demand it from a place of sheer humanity. these are women and children and husbands and fathers, civilians, and we need the red cross to come in and see their status and see if they need any medical help and give some kind of update to the families. >> kim, we just heard mark regev tell kaitlan if this truce holds and if hamas abides by their side of this agreement that day by day ten more hostages could be released in exchange for a pause in fighting that continues. we heard danny, the former israeli defense minister, say yesterday, quote, it's only the beginning in terms of this war and the current defense minister

said there are at least two more months of fighting. what does a more extended pause mean for the actual battle in gaza once that resumes? >> well, at this point israeli defense forces are hunkered down into a defensible locations. that's how it's described. places where they can, hopefully, see the enemy coming in case any of the hamas militants or the palestinian islamic jihad militants want to take a chance or an opportunity to strike them. and they are not going to stay static. they already said they will move around in preparation for the next phase, and while they don't have drones in the air, you can bet that the u.s. has retasked satellites to soak up the areas of gaza where hamas isnd other militants might be moving around to try to find the location of the different hostages. hamas itself, i understand, from current and former israeli officials, might not know where

they all are because they keep that compartmentalized even within their organization. so this is going to be a time of great movement within the hamas organization to try to locate all the hostages. and so the possibility is, even once fighting starts again, that israel will have a better idea of where to go, where to raid to get their people back. >> that's interesting. yeah. kim dozier, amir, thank you very much. and as we wait and as we watch, the first responders hostages expected to be freed by hamas just about half an hour from now. 39 palestinian prisoners will also be released from prison. we are looking at live pictures outside that prison. stay witith us.. we w will keep you u updated on other siside of thisis break.

♪ happening now, israel is preparing to release the 39 palestinian prisoners in exchange for those first 13 israeli hostages that are being released by hamas from gaza today. the palestinian prisoners, we are expecting to be taken to the prison in the west bank before they are released. that's where we find nada bashir. this is a work in progress. we are waiting for the confirmation of this swap to happen. what are you seeing on the ground this morning? >> reporter: the cross something near the prison with which you see in the distance behind me. this will be the focus of many of the prisoners celt to be released today. they will be moving from the

southeast prison down to the prison where they will be held to have checks by the red cross and for israeli authorities to confirm all three hostages are safely released and evacuated from inside gaza. once that has taken place and once that confirmation is in place, 39 pro-israel as we understand include 15 children, 24 women. they will be moved from the prison to the mattoon yeah crossing. many grand tet gathering on this hill, seeing some slight tensions here. if you take a look towards this side, there is a slight presence of israeli troops there. they have begun firing tear gas at these crowds trying to disperse those gathered hear. some have been throwing stones towards the israeli troops down down there. they have moved up the hill to

where we are now. but we are of course expecting in the next coming hours four of those 39 prisoners to make their way through the crossing where they will be released and returned to their homes. these are 39 names amongst 150 who are potentially set to be released over the next four days if the terms of this truce are indeed upheld over the next four days. that will be in exchange for 50 hostages held by hamas inside gaza. there is, however, i have to say, a feeling of muted happiness here. people aren't necessarily celebrating that release because of the mounting death toll that we are seeing in gaza. many of the people we have spoken to say this is too high a price they have had to pay for prisoners to be released. many of the names listed on the initial list of 300 potential prisoners set even children who have been charged with minor offenses. so there is hope we will

continue to see more people released. it's important to underscore this 150 figure is a small fraction of the more than 8,000 palestinians currently held in israeli custody, including more than 3,000 palestinians who are under administrative detention, meaning no clear charges have been laid. there is a legal process which could be indefinite. so a muted sense of happiness with the crowds here today. >> poppy and erica, we're watching closely what is happen thing with this other part of the deal, in addition to the aid going into gaza, which is another major prong of this agreement struck by israel and hamas that so far appears to be holding. thank you so much for joining us this morning. we'll be with you as you track this from tel aviv. it is minutes away from now, the first hostages are expected to be freed.

the idf says it is ready for them. next, we'll take you live to a children's hospital in israel where some of the hostages may be taken after this long or deal. stay with us.

this just coming in. we are learning from egypt that 12 thai nationals will also be released in addition to the 13 hostages we already knew about. so this is just coming into us here, and just to recap, none of the hostages who are set to be released today are american citizens. cnn's marisa ward is at the children's hospital in israel, where some, as we understand it, some of these hostages, some of the children may soon be taking them, and obviously they're preparing for that.

>> reporter: i lost connection. >> she can't hear us right now. can you hear us? >> reporter: i can hear you, forgive me. we had a little issue there. but we are basically here at the schneider medical children's center. this is where many of those children and their mothers, we expect there be for some mothers released in this initial batch as well, will hopefully end up, and i say hopefully, because if there are very serious injuries, life-threatening injuries or serious medical conditions, those hostages will be take on the a number of different facilities. we have been talking to the staff inside. they said they haven't slept. there's a huge amount of tension. also, excitement and hopefulness that tonight some of these hostages will arrive here with their mothers. this is also the point where some of them would be reunited

with their families. we don't know exactly when they would arrive. we don't know how they would arrive. it's a major hospital with a hilo pad over there. no indication that they would be arriving in the helicopter, but you are seeing more journalists arriving here, with curious onlookers, as really just anticipation is growing around this moment and what the next few hours could bring. hopefully, the safe return of some of those hostages. but also, a very real rization that they will have undergone unimaginable trauma and there are many challenges still ahead. >> the news that just broke that 12 thai nationals will also be released, surprising to you? you were just in cairo. >> reporter: not entirely surprising. i mean, it's interesting. obviously, this part of the story hasn't gotten as much

attention. there are quite a few thai nationals, many studying the irrigation systems. there were documented cases of thai and nepolesx nationals being killed in the attacks. but hamas wants to show that they can distinguish between children and adults and foreign nationals aposed to israelis or americans. so this is probably an attempt to capitalize on a propaganda moment. >> thank you so much. stay with cnn as we are covering minute by minute, hopefully in just minutes from now, reunions for 13 of these women and child hostages. cnn newsws central p picks it u afafter this..

this is cnn breaking news. >> lrthis is the exact moment w are expecting word that 13 hostages held by hamas, all women and children, have been released by the terror group after 48 days of captivity. the time of release was expected to be 4:00 p.m. local time. that's 9:00 a.m. ooereastern ti. hamas agreed to free them in exchange for a pause in fighting, humanitarian aid,