♪ thanks for joining us on "cnn newsroom." i'm michael holmes with our continuing coverage of the israel/hamas war. it is day three of the fragile four-day truce between hamas and israel and the israeli government now has the names of the hostages who will be freed

on sunday. that's after day two came to a rocky but successful conclusion late on saturday with the release of 13 israelis and four thai nationals who had been kidnapped by militants on october 7. after preliminary medical check, all the former hostages were taken to israeli hospitals for care and to be reunited with families. israel's health ministry said one woman, 21-year-old maya regev, was treated for a moderate injury and is in stable condition. also among the second group is 9-year-old emily hand, whose father had initially been told she died in the october 7 terror attack. the israeli government wants to know why 13-year-old hilla rotham's mother raya wasn't released with her daughter. an israeli official says under the agreement, mothers and children are not to be separated. the deal also called for the release of 39 palestinian

prisoners and detainees on saturday. for several tense hours, hamas stalled on releasing the hostages in a dispute over aid to gaza and over which palestinians the israelis were willing to release. qatar has played a pivotal role throughout this process, including resolving saturday's dispute. the government has clearly stated it would like to extend the truce if it can be done. >> we are hoping for, that the momentum that has carried from the release these two days and from this agreement of four days would allow us to extend the truce beyond these four days and get into more serious discussions about the rest of the hostages. >> each former hostage will have to process what they've been through in their own private way, and that will take as long as it takes. but this much is certain. they won't be alone in their recovery. as our clarissa ward explains, the healing process begins the moment they're back in israeli custody.

>> it's really been stressors over and over and over again, how important it is for the families to have privacy in this moment and for them at this stage to try to break the news to their children, to their loved ones, to their relativere about what happened on october 7th. crucially, many of the hostages have no real sense of the full scope of what took place on october 7th. and that's why so much care has gone into ensuring that the media's kept at a distance, that there's a degree of privacy, but also that the appropriate staffing and psychiatrists and social workers are in place. and also a lot of guidelines that were given to the idf in terms of how they handle the hostages when they first were there during that initial handover from the red cross. they did a cursory medical

search and checking their identities. they were told not to answer questions such as, where is mommy, where is daddy? to ask permission of any children before trying to pick them up. and so every possible care has been taken here and aalt the schneider children's medical center where we were last night to try to minimize any sort of retraumatizing, particularly of these children, as they return home. and many of them no longer have homes. but return home to israel for the first time in seven weeks. >> i want to show you one of the most emotional scenes from the release of the hostages on saturday, have a look. that was 9-year-old emily hand rushing into the arms of her father, thomas, who at one time

thought that she'd been killed in the october 7 terror attacks. during the 50 days she spent as a hostage, emily turned 9 years old. four hostages from thailand were released on saturday. that's in addition to the ten released on friday. the thai prime minister says they were taken to a hospital in israel for a checkup and are in good health, none of them needing emergency medical care. thai officials estimate that 18 thai citizens are still being held hostage. journalist manisha tank joins me live from singapore. more good news for families from thailand. tell us about those released and how are they getting on? >> reporter: that's right. i was just reflecting for a moment there on those scenes of reunification of families. and this is probably channeling some of what these thai families will be feeling to be back in touch with their loved ones, having not known where they were over the last few weeks.

as for how they're doing, they are being taken care of at the schmear medical center reputed to be the fourth largest government hospital in israel. you can imagine the medical infrastructure being leveraged to take care of them. their condition is healthy, so this was posted on social media by the thai prime minister that they were healthy, that no one needed emergency care. that is the four who have just been released. let me speak for a moment of the ten released on friday. the hospital telling the cnn team that some of them were being observed for lack of nutrition. while stable, they were not necessarily healthy. they will want to get details, the kind of conditions they were kept in. it's worth mentioning, the hospital mentioned they only found out really at the last minute that these groups of hostages would be coming to them at that particular facility, and that perhaps gives us a sense of how on the edge all of these agreements have been and that even the hospital facilities are

finding out at that sort of 11th hour. just in terms of those hostages that remain with hamas, the situation around that obviously is very precarious, sensitive. the media is advised even if they speak to the families of those released, or indeed to those who have been released, to be careful about the details they share. this is just the beginning of what is going to be a long journey, michael. >> yeah, absolutely. but good news for those families. manisha tank in singapore, appreciate it. the u.s. president, joe biden, spoke with qatar's emir on day two of the postage release, working the phones to resolve any delays in the process and expedite the release of american hostages held by hamas. cnn's arlette saenz is with the president in massachusetts. >> reporter: the white house is closely watching the coming hours, waiting to hear whether any american citizens will be part of the next group of hostages that are expected to be released on sunday.

no american citizens were included in the first releases that occurred on friday and saturday, but the white house says they are hopeful that at least three americans will be coming out in the coming days. it's expected that they will be part of this larger group that had been negotiated to release 50 women and children. and the american citizens who officials are focusing in or two women and that young 4-year-old girl, abigail idan, whose parents were killed in the october 7th attack by hamas. it also comes as president biden has been working the phones, trying to ensure that this deal and the implementation of the deal remains on track. on saturday, he spent some time on the phone speaking with the emir of qatar as well as the qatari prime minister as there were delays in the hostage release, concerns that the release might fall apart for saturday. the president spoke with them to talk about the potential hurdles and also ways to overcome it, and ultimately around 1:30 p.m. saturday, the whoils got word

that the deal was moving forward, the release was moving forward, and the red cross would soon retrieve those hostages. vice president kamala harris spoke to us out in california. >> there were some issues and challenges around implementation. president biden spoke with the emir to resolve those issues and we believe they're going to continue to be resolved. we're going to be diligent and vigilant in doing all we can in that regard, to ensure humanitarian aid is going in, hostages are going out, and our highest priority, of course, are the american citizens being held. >> reporter: the white house has been unable to pinpoint an exact day the americans will be released but they are hopeful they will be released in the coming days. there's also concern about the other americans believed to be held hostage by hamas, ten americans unaccounted for. the president told reporters on friday he did not know all of their conditions. emotions were running high as the palestinian prisoners

released on saturday were reunited with their families. this woman couldn't hold back tears as she ran into the hands of her family members. six women and 33 teenage boys were freed on the second day of the truce. this is the moment when some of them arrived in the west bank, where a huge crowd turned out to celebrate their release. cnn estimates 15 of those former prisoners were serving sentences mostly for attacks on israelis, but the majority, 24 in all, were held in so-called administrative detention, a practice that a member of the palestinian parliament strongly condemns. >> administrative detention means that palestinians are kept in jail for unlimited period without charges, without due legal process, without even knowing why they are in jail. and that is -- that includes at this very moment more than 2,200 palestinians, including about

200 children. they are arrested, and they are put in jail without even charging them. this is totally unacceptable in two ways. first of all, administrative detention itself shouldn't be accepted. and arresting children and keeping them in jail for long time is unacceptable. there are children here who have been in jail for eight years, five years, six years. it's unacceptable. still to come on the program, heartwarming moments in israel as families reunite with their loved ones after being released from hamas captivity. details on that when we come back. also, people living in northern gaza just received the largest aid convoy since the war began, but is it enough?

israeli security officials are looking over a new list of hostages whom hamas says it will release in the coming hours. that's according to the israeli prime minister's office. it comes after hamas turned over a second group of hostages saturday after an hours-long delay. red cross buses carried 13 israeli and four thai nationals out of gaza. in exchange, israel says it

released 39 palestinian prisoners, including six women and 33 male teenagers. here's a look at the 13 israelis hamas released on saturday. they include seven children. the youngest is 3 years old. mystery surrounds the release of 13-year-old hilla rotham. this i is hilla reunited with h uncle, but her mother was not released with her. an israeli official tells us under the deal, mothers and children were not supposed to be separated. so where is her mother and why she isn't released is still unknown. but others have been able to rejoice with their loved ones after 50 days of being hostage. daniel aloni and her young daughter amelia hugged family members in israel. danielle was among the three women seen in a hostage video released by hamas last month. 9-year-old ohad munda ran to

embrace his father, his grandfather and mother also released by hamas. families of israelis are pushing for release as well. they say they've submitted proof their loved ones are still alive. >> we have a sign of life from my father. we know he's alive. from other people from the community who were released yesterday. it brings a lot of hope, and yet together we feel very urgent to let them all out. we don't know how much time they are going to be able to hold on there. >> i was very happy to hear that they do have some sort of a sign that her dad is still alive. unfortunately, i don't have that privilege. and the fact that we are still

here 50 days later, trying to convince and demand the communities in israel and around the world to come forth and help us bringing the pressure for everyone to be released is very important. >> palestinian humanitarian officials say they have delivered the largest aid convoy to gaza city and northern gaza since the war began. the u.n. and red crescent confirmed 187 aid trucks made it into the gaza strip on saturday with fuel, water, food, and medical supplies. 61 trucks reached northern gaza. since october 21, nearly 2,000 trucks have made it through the rafah crossing, although aid organizations say that is still a drop in the bucket compared to the need, as people in gaza face

hunger, health issues, and homelessness as well. for more now, i'm joined by tamara al rafi, a spokesperson for the agency in charge of relief, joining me from amman in jordan. hamas delayed this hostage release because not enough of the agreed aid was allowed to the northern part of gaza. how is it, how important is it, that aid gets not just to the south but to the north? not everyone has been able to leave northern gaza, of course. >> it's extremely important for aid to be able to reach people wherever they are. whether they're in the north, in the middle parts of gaza, or in the south. so the 61 trucks that made it to the north of gaza, to the north of the gaza strip yesterday, is a huge breakthrough. because almost nothing has been able to go into the north since

it gol almost completely sealed a few weeks ago. therefore, our position at the u.n. and particularly at unrwa is we welcome this humanitarian pause, and we truly believe this is the opportunity to reach people, especially the people who are displace d all over the gaza strip. >> let's talk about the conditions. gaza is prone to flooding. sewage is often in the streets before this conflict. i used to see it there myself. now with so much infrastructure destroyed, how much worse is that particular situation along with the attendant health risks, water and sewage and so on in the streets, as winter approaches? >> it is much, much worse, michael. the humanitarian, the health, the environmental hazards are very, very high.

we're talking first of all of a displaced population that is overcrowded in unrwa shelters. over 1 million people now live in 156 shelters run by unrwa, that's around 9,000 people per location. these locations were set up to accommodate 2,000, not 9,000 people. we're also talking about the breakdown in general municipal services in gaza, and that includes pumping sewage. and therefore, what you just mentioned is now magnified. the streets of gaza, the south in particular, are flooding with sewage. and that is very, very dangerous. plus we are seeing a sharp increase in health -- in diseases, particularly related to the overcrowding, such as respiratory diseases that are spreading very fast. and also skin diseases, because people do not have access to

showers. we're talking about 4,500 people per shower in our shelters. the risks are very high on health and environmental levels. >> extraordinary numbers. some people have used this pause to go back to check on their homes, if they have one, to see if they do. what are you hearing about what those people are finding as they've been able to use this time to go have a look? >> we are hearing heartbreaking stories. and again, as you rightly mention, people were very eager to use that pause to go back to their homes. everybody wants to go home, even if they cannot stay home, they want to check on whether their homes are still standing or have been completely destroyed. what happened to the neighbors? to the community? to their belongings? most of the people, over 1 million people, left without taking anything from their homes. we are hearing heartbreaking stories about what people are

finding out. people who have died. there are neighbors who are no longer. and the regular break or blackout in telecommunications has also disconnected the communities and disconnected gazans from their friends, neighbors, even their families. >> when you think of 1.7 million people displaced, the destruction we've talked about the schools, medical facilities, homes destroyed, what are your long-term fears for gazans in the months, even years to come? >> our immediate fear is the schools for the children. and the fact that if kids cannot go back to school any time soon, that's the learning loss that adds to the learning losses of covid. what we fear is that most of our schools are now used as shelters, which means that even if people left tomorrow, we're going to need a few months to

rehabilitate these schools and accommodate kids. the reason we're so focused on education is apart from the learning losses, we believe children going back to schools will bring in psychologically a kind of normality back to gazan households. and that is now not an option in view of that very, very large-scale destruction and more than 1.7 million people currently out of their homes. you know, michael, over the last two days, 24,000 people, extra people, came to our shelters. which means that the displacement continues. and people do not want to stay -- i mean, cannot stay where they are because of lack of services. and they still go to unrwa shelters. >> yeah, a dire situation. tamara al raifa in amman, jordan, thanks so much. appreciate your time. the director of gaza's al shifa hospital remains in

israeli custody. the israeli military telling us that. the idf says it detained mohammad abu salamiya last thursday and turned him over to the israeli security services for questioning. an idf spokesman says hamas was using the hospital as a, quote, bed of terrorism, which hamas and the hospital have denied. he says israel will make a decision regarding abu salamir's release "in due course." the number of journalists killed in gaza, israel, and lebanon since the october 7 hamas attack has increased to at least 57. that's after the committee to protect journalists confirmed the death of four palestinian journalists on saturday. the journalism advocacy group says 50 palestinian, four israeli, three lebanese journalists lost their lives since the israel/hamas war began last month. i'm michael holmes.

for those watching in north ame america, i'll be back to continue our coverage after a brack. for our international viewers, "inside e africa" cocoming your nextxt..

in order for small businesses to thrive, they need to be smart, efficient, savvy. making the most of every opportunity. that's why comcast business is introducing the small business bonus. for a limited time you can get up to a $1000 prepaid card with qualifying internet. yep, $1000. so switch to business internet from the company with the largest fastest reliable network and that powers more businesses than anyone else. learn how you can get $1000 back for your business today. comcast business. powering possibilities.

welcome back. you're watching "cnn newsroom" with me, michael holmes. the israeli government has the names of the hostages who will be freed by hamas on sunday, day three of the delicate truce between hamas and israel. that's after day two came to a rocky but successful conclusion late on saturday with the release of 13 israelis and four thai nationals. israel in turn says it released 39 palestinian prisoners and detainees. israel's health ministry said 21-year-old maya regev was treated for a moderate injury, and the israeli government wants to know why 13-year-old hilla rotham's mother, rya, wasn't released with her daughter. an israeli official says under the agreement, mothers and children are not supposed to be separated. joining us nowow is aaron daviv

miller, former state department middle east negotiator and senior fellow at the carnegie endowment for international peace. the delay on saturday, everything finished up all right, but it did show how precarious the process can be. how delicate a truce and exchanges like this -- it's a four-day process initially -- what could scuffle it? >> first of all, michael, thanks for having me. it's d day by day. look, you've got a situation in which h there's no direct negotiations between israel and hamas. you're relying almost exclusively on the qatari mediators and the egyptians as well. not just that you have no trust or confidence. in a matter of days, it's clear that israel and hamas may well be back to trying to kill one another. so there's no trust or confidence. there's no direct negotiations. the qataris have a huge, huge lift in order to try to secure

and minimize friction. today's example, i think, is -- i won't say par for the course, this is an extraordinary situation -- but it should surprise no one. i think it was samuel goldwyn mayer, the great hollywood mogul, who said an oral l agreement isn't worth the paper it's written o on. if you want to get to the bottom of this, cnn should try toto ge ahold of the six-page document which is a result of weeks of negotiatioions between t the u. the israelisis, israeli intelligigence, cia, m mow sad,n bet, q qataris, the egegyptians. there isis purportrtedly a docu which spells out in prettyty prececise detail what the e terf thisis deal reallyly are. it's really hard to know today what delayed it. questions that hamas has over the palestiniaian prisoners the israelelis are releasing. disappoint that more aid isn't surging into gaza.

there was even one report that hamas was objecting to the fact that the israelis were preventing gazans from returning from the south to gaza city. so any number of things could derail it. >> i thought it was interesting, and do you find it interesting, that qatari negotiators actually went to israel itself? that's pretty unusual. what did that suggest in terms of negotiations? >> i t think i it woululd sugge frankly, it's extremely positive. it means qataris are leading this. while they're not in gaza, which frankly would be ideal if you had a qatari mediator actually overseeing this between these two parties -- that a dell base showed up in israel today i think is extremely significant. and it suggests to me, because i think the underlying pressures on both sides are driving this deal. not just for two days.

i suspect on hamas' part in particular, they'd like to see this strung out as long as possible. they're trying to trade hostages for time in the hope -- it may not be misplaced -- that rising pressure from the families inside israel and external pressure -- i might add the biden administration to that -- will lead to further delays and perhaps, even though the adadministration is saying they will not accept it, a although pronged cessation of holtities. which at this point would be a hamas victory. very difficult, hard for the israelis to accept. >> yeah. i did want to ask you, too, ultimately can israel get the rest of the hostages out if israel is continuing to say, once we do get them out, we're still going to wipe you out, hamas? what is the calculus for hamas, what's in it for them if israel's going to start bombing again when the hostages are out? >> nothing. which is why, even if this

goes -- this deal goes through, 150 palestinian security prisoners for 50 or more, 100 women and children and elderly, hamas is still going to keep 100-plus adult civilians and an estimated 30 to 40 idf forces that they have. by the way, we're talking not just about live hostages. i'm sure hamas grabbed dead bodies as well. because they know that israel puts an extraordinary premium on the return dead or alive of their people on the battlefield. so no, i think the reality is, you could see a series of these sorts of f fits and d starts. we're nowhere near the end of this. we're talking more weeks,

perhaps even months. and i think, frankly, that's the calculation. >> yeah. aaron, thank you so much as always. >> michael, thank you. a quick break here on the program. when we come back, ukraine's capital takes a hit from russia's largest wave of drone attacks since the war began. now people whose homes are damaged are trying to pick up the pieces. we'll have a report when we come back.

♪ now to russia's war on ukraine where the capital, kyiv, is reeling from a russian attack unlike what the city has seen before. anna coren with the story from kyiv. >> reporter: russia has launched the largest number of attack drones on the ukrainian capital ever since it launched its invasion on this country in february last year. ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy says this attack was a deliberate act of terror. in the early hours of saturday morning -- loud explosions could

be heard all over kyiv. as the capital's air defense systems worked in overdrive. just after 2:30 a.m., an unprecedented swarm of drones began to attack kyiv from multiple directions, terrorizing its more than 3 million residents. 75 shaeev drones were launched, 74 were shot down. debris hit this kindergarten in the city's suburbs. meters away, hundreds of residential apartments. shattered windows, a sign of how close the war had come. too close for yugenia and her two young daughters. >> translator: we ran into the hallway and were waiting for this to pass like always. then we heard a huge explosion.

we thought our house was going to be destroyed. >> reporter: the residents in kyiv are used to hearing the air raid sirens and the explosions of the air defense systems working overtime, but nothing quite like this. for more than six hours, there was a barrage of shaev drones targeting the capital. this behind me is the result of one of those drones shot down. inside the kindergarten, oliga, one of the teachers, is distraught. "all my life i've worked here. look at the destruction," she cries. her colleague says, "everything is okay, we will clean this up, don't worry. thank god everyone is alive." 5-year-old yurislava looks through the fence at a playground she would frequent every day. >> translator: it was a garden. i had music and dancing classes in this building. i feel sad the drone came and destroyed my school.

>> reporter: her mother, natalia, in tears, thinking this was supposed to be a safe place for her only child. >> translator: it's very painful to see this. >> reporter: residents in kyiv and across the country have been expecting this. russia has spent months stockpiling weapons specifically aimed at targeting ukraine's energy infrastructure as the temperatures plunge. and with winter now here, these people know this is just the beginning. >> translator: we've got used to this, but i don't want to get used to it. >> reporter: falling drone debris damaged several residential buildings around kyiv. the commander in chief of the ukrainian armed forces, general in zalushny, says "this is war." derek chauvin's attorney says the prison where his client was stabbed on friday is refusing to talk. the former minneapolis police officer is serving time at a

federal prison in arizona for the murder of george floyd three years ago. his attorney says he found out about the stabbing on the news and hasn't been able to verify anything, despite calling the prison seven times. he says chauvin's parents are getting the same treatment. chauvin's attorney believes a lot of inmates in that prison want to make a name for themselves by killing him. seven weeks since hamas' murderous raid into israel, we take stock of all that has happened. cnn's nic robertson takes us through the tragic events that began october 7th to show us the war from a journalist's perspective. that's when we come back.

cnn's nic robertson has witnessed the israel/hamas war since it began. now seven weeks later, he describes the destruction in gaza as apocalyptic. in southern israel, he says the who are errors of october 7th still hang in the air, where so many innocent people died.

a word of caution, some images in his report are graphic. >> reporter: minutes after leaving the plane in tel aviv, the sirens have gone off. people are taking cover. we got off the bus, people are taking cover. you can hear the intercept missiles banging in the air. it's october 7th, 14 hours since hamas' attack began. no one knew what to expect. a few hours later, 3 1/2 miles from gaza, there's iron dome being fired up all around us right now. it's illuminating the sky here. the bangs are the iron dome intercepting rockets that are being fired from gaza just a couple of miles away. the coming days reveal hamas' horrors. more than 1,200 dead. look at all these shell casings that are scattered around on the

ground here. this gives you an indication of the intensity of the firefight. more than n 300 at the nova mus festival. a rocket shelter therere wheher some werere mercilesessly kille cold blood had the biggest impact. six weeks later, we happen to be passing as israel's recovery specialists clean it out. this is bringing back a lot of painful and difficult memories. the last time i was here, six weeks ago, it was still full of human flesh and remains. and i'm looking inside, and it se seems worse. grenade splatter, the gunshots that are in the wall here. they're bigger. they're worse. and just looking at it, that

night i was -- i was really emotionally beaten. by what i saw here . the suffering and death inside gaza, an average of 2,000 people a week killed. two-thirds of them women, children, and the elderly. the worst i've ever witnessed while covering a war. my only access to gaza with the revealing an apocalyptic landscape, where every building appears crushed, collapsed, shot up, burnt or blown apart nothing untouched by the war. destruction on a scale i have never encountered before. >> more rockets coming out. guys, more rockets coming out. four weeks from a balcony a

mile from gaza, witnessing the destruction of the explosion by explosion. day after day. as the idf followed political ordersrs to deststroy hamas.s. >> rockets, guys. >> reporter: and hamas of merging to fire rockets back. through these long weeks, talking to with families of hostages hearing their pain. >> it is excruciating we don't know if he is healthy or wounded. we know nothing. >> and sharing difficult moments . >> siren. >> with victims returning to where hamas attacked them. >> they were lined up and i saw one of my friends, she was begging for her life. >> so what's next? cease-fire, hostage, maybe. but it would be more hostages, the

halt in the fighting is unlikely to last. israel fears hamas will exploit the pause to regroup hamas will do whatever it takes to survive , including not handing over all the hostages. israel vows to completely destroy hamas, released the hostages. the tactic shown fighting hamas is the priority and is far from finished. the implication just in the past six weeks. for some hostage families, more days and more weeks of agonizing weigight. for besieged civilians, continued misery point gaza is still cut off from the world the vast majority of its 2.2 million citizens displaced, crowded in the southern end of the enclave.

humanitarian access on a scale to match the scope of the need is absent. israel vows to route hamas there too. most of gaza's hospitals are out of action. international pressure from israel is mounting. >> we are witnessing a killing of civilians that is unparalleled and unprecedented in any conflict since i am secretary-general. >> reporter: the only concrete certainties today in gaza rebuilding what is destroyed will take years. and in israel, no one will feel safe until hamas is god nick robinson, cnn , israel. >> thanks for spending part of

your day with us. i am michael holmes. you can follow me on twitter, instagram, and threads at home is in and stay with us, cnn newsroom continues.

c'mon, we're right there. c'mon baby. it's the only we need. go, go, go, go! ah! touchdown baby! -touchdown! are your neighbors watching the same game? yeah, my 5g home internet delays the game a bit. but you get used to it. try these. they're noise cancelling earmuffs. i stole them from an airport. it's always something with you, man. great! solid! -greek salad? exactly! don't delay the game with verizon or t-mobile 5g home internet. catch it on the xfinity 10g network.

we are seeing in we are journalists. sir tell us. >> ask our commander. >> no no no. >> sir, sir, sir, it's okay, it's okay, we were told -- we are point sir, sir, we are. we are yes, but we asked, we asked sir sir point we asked. we asked and they said go. hello, and welcome to our views in