voices in israel that are casting doubt on the possibility of of that six week ceasefire turning into something more enduring. just today, the foreign minister gideon sa'ar, pointing out that hamas has not yet been defeated militarily, that its government structures are still in place. and indeed today we have seen many images of hamas fighters, the qassam brigades in the streets, trying to put out a show of force in this kind of information warfare, and to show that after more than 15 months, that they are still standing. and so the israeli prime minister we know, has already come under heavy, heavy pressure from his right wing not to extend the ceasefire past six weeks because of that fact, because hamas has not been absolutely defeated. if that is even possible. and again, dana, now we are seeing the helicopter. the rotors are turning. and i think this is the moment when we expect a liftoff.

very shortly. >> truly a dramatic morning. afternoon. there. actually, it's almost evening there. as we continue to watch the helicopter as it makes its way to the medical center, where bianna is for these, for these women who have been in captivity for 15 months. ramy and lauren steinbrecher and emily dimare to get the help and care that they need and to be in real freedom. thank you so much for joining us. our coverage is going to continue. please don't go away. my colleague jessica dean picks it up now. >> this is cnn breaking news. >> you're in the cnn newsroom. >> i'm jessica dean in new york alongside my colleague jim sciutto, who is in tel aviv,

israel. >> we are roughly eight hours into a six week ceasefire between israel and hamas. and just within the last hours, three hostages back in israel for the first time since being taken by hamas on october 7th, 2023. oh, look, look, look look you see dozens of masked militants from hamas in gaza city during the handover of the three israeli women to the red cross. they're reporting romy gonin, doron steinbrecher and emily demar are in good condition. >> 470 days of captivity for these hostages, three of them for them, it's now over. and of course, 470 days of suffering for the palestinians in gaza, nearly relentless bombing, the cease fire agreement allows for a dramatic increase in humanitarian aid allowed to enter gaza, with the first un

aid convoys crossing into the area. shortly after the deal took effect. there is enormous need there, president biden referenced the news as he talked about a long awaited cease fire that, frankly, he tried for months to get across the finish line and is now happening on his last day in office. >> hundreds of trucks are entering gaza as i speak. they're carrying assistance for civilians who have suffered enormously from the war that hamas started on october 7th, 2023, nearly 15 months ago. today alone, we anticipate several hundred trucks will enter the gaza strip, as i'm probably as i'm speaking, and after so much pain, destruction and loss of life today, the guns in gaza have gone silent. >> and that was president biden just a few moments ago. of course, you're there in tel aviv. this is such a critical development. as you noted, months and months in the making, finally coming together when both biden administration

officials and future trump officials came together to make this happen. and now we see these first three women, these first hostages of this deal back in israel tonight. >> it's the first step of what is a delicate choreography going forward. over the next six weeks, you're going to have handfuls of hostages released every week, handfuls of israeli hostages, and at the same time, hundreds of palestinian prisoners released. in fact, just a short time ago, we saw red cross vans pull up to the prison, the ofer prison in the west bank, where some 95 palestinian prisoners will be released today in exchange for those three israeli hostages. so many steps to go. those first six weeks, just the first phase of what is planned to be a three phase deal, a cease fire in the first phase, a permanent end to the war in gaza. in the second phase, that is, of course, if we get there, i do want to play a moment,

just a powerful moment that we saw just in the last hour. and that is video of the three israeli hostages being transferred to the custody of the israeli military. hugs from the soldiers there, some smiles as well. the three of them, doron steinbrecher. romi gonin and emily damari and emily. we learned just in the last hour lost two fingers during her time in captivity and yet still somehow managing a smile as she was reunited with her family. well, joining me now to discuss what happens next and what it took to get here, former israeli prime minister naftali bennett. bennett. bennett. mr. minister, thanks so much for taking the time this evening. i wonder if you could describe your reaction to the events unfolding right now you know, in israel we're all one big happy family, not always happy. >> but tonight, obviously,

there's a lot of joy to see what every israeli feels is our three daughters, rami, emily and doron, coming home, coming home, being back at home on israeli soil, seeing their moms. and. but we have to ensure that all the hostages come back. this is vital. and just as a point worth noting, you know that romi's grandmother, the moment romi came in, she was asked how she feels. she said, it's wonderful, but we need all the other hostages back as well. that's what israel is all about. solidarity. >> yeah, there is enormous unity among those hostage families as they've lobbied for the release of all of their all of their loved ones. as you know, the concessions by israel in the first phase of this deal, they're significant. you have many hundreds of palestinian prisoners being released. you have israeli

forces withdrawing from some parts of gaza. but in a second phase, if we get there, there would be bigger concessions, including pulling back from the what's known as the philadelphi corridor along the border between gaza and egypt, where so many of the weapons come in. do you have confidence that the that we will get to those later stages of this deal? >> i think that's the big question. will everyone follow through on the full deal? i think it's vital that we follow through and bring home all the hostages. you know, we gave a year and a quarter of time for the government to achieve all the goals. unfortunately, at this point in time, the three goals have not been achieved. neither have we eradicated hamas as a military force nor removed hamas as the sovereign of gaza, and nor brought back all the hostages. so i think what we need to do is precisely bring home the hostages, refresh our

entire leadership in israel, and then take a look again and see how we ultimately bring down hamas. we need to remove hamas from power. we can't have them govern gaza because it means we'll have another october 7th in the future. >> it was quite alarming to see, as those three were released, transferred from hamas custody to red cross custody in gaza. they were surrounded by dozens of hamas, qassam brigades fighters armed to the teeth, standing on top of the vehicle in which the three hostages were transported. they're clearly not gone. they've been impacted, no question, perhaps even devastated. but hamas is not gone. what does that mean for israel? because eliminating hamas, as you said, was one of the primary goals of this this bloody war of the

last 470 days. >> well, i would add the word yet they're not gone yet. and i think with better leadership and strategy on the israeli side, we can certainly achieve that. >> tell me who you hold responsible for how long it took to get to this moment. when i've spoken to relatives of the hostages, i spoke, for instance, to ruby, whose son itai is one of the seven americans, is still held there. he and other families, as you know, have said that the prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, did not sufficiently prioritize releasing the hostages to get them out sooner, when perhaps more would have been alive. do you share that criticism? >> well, i don't want to criticize my own government on foreign media. any criticism i have, i will voice domestically. i'll say this hamas, as the americans said, were intransigent and

did not, um, allow for for a deal to be made where they would, uh, demilitarize gaza, et cetera.. uh, what we attempted, what israel attempted to do was through force to ultimately achieve that. that's not yet been achieved, but we have dramatically diminished the power of hamas. we took out haniya, we took out yahya sinwar. we, uh, eliminated the mohammed deif all the leadership of hamas or most of the leadership and the lion's share of their force. but at this point in time, yeah, we saw the pictures of of those animals, those terrorists who chanting. uh, let's do october 7th, uh, again and again, while israelis are chanting israel, let let us live. this is what we're facing. we will ultimately achieve all three goals. but right now, i think the main goal is to bring all the hostages home asap. >> mm. i should note, as you've

been speaking there, mr. bennett, the helicopter that we now see having taken off is carrying those three hostages. hostages? back to here in israel, where they will be taken to a hospital for further for further evaluation. before we go, the outlines of this agreement have been on the table for some months, going back to may, when president biden introduced this as a framework. and yet it didn't happen until the very final hours of the biden administration, with significant pressure from the incoming president. trump, what do you believe got this agreement across the finish line in the end? and was it pressure by trump on netanyahu well, i believe that's been widely reported. >> and i assume that's the case. that's the only thing that was different this time around. i think, uh, incoming president trump has been, uh, committed to bringing home the hostages, i believe, to bringing home all

the hostages and the israelis are very thankful both to outgoing president biden and to incoming president trump for caring so much about our own hostages and making this happen. we need to see that we bring home all the hostages, and then we dismantle hamas as the a military force in gaza. >> yeah, there are so many israeli families still waiting for that moment that those three families are enjoying right now, welcoming their loved ones home. former israeli prime minister naftali bennett, thanks so much for joining us this evening. >> thank you very much. >> and, jessica, those helicopters in the air now, three young women on their way to freedom. >> thank goodness for that. all right. jim sciutto, thank you so much. and still ahead, we're watching history unfold back here in the united states. you are looking live at arlington national cemetery.

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ceremony. again, just the beginning of these inauguration events that we are going to see unfold over the next 24 hours. by tomorrow, president elect will be the 47th president of the united states, taking that oath of office tomorrow afternoon. right now, though, that crowd waiting for him at arlington national cemetery, where he will take part in that ceremony with vice president elect jd vance tonight in dc, thousands of trump supporters will fill the capital one arena for a victory rally. and cnn's alayna treene is joining us now live from arlington national cemetery. elena, these events getting underway now, and obviously there's a lot of orchestration that goes into these moments. we'll see this wreath laying ceremony, which is a very traditional moment, and then we'll see a rally at capital one arena tonight. that's a nontraditional moment yeah, that's exactly right. >> as you can see behind me, donald trump's motorcade is arriving to arlington national

cemetery. we saw the vice president elect, jd vance. his motorcade go by earlier today. now that both of them are going to be participating in this wreath laying ceremony at the tomb of the unknown soldier, as you mentioned, kind of a tradition for presidents on inauguration weekend. and also, as you mentioned later today, he is going to be hosting that rally. what they're dubbing a make america great again rally at capital one arena. and then this evening, he's going to have a reception with some donors. and then, of course, tomorrow is really the big day. big changes, of course, given that donald trump and jd vance are now expected to be sworn in inside the capitol rotunda, given the cold weather. so some changes there. we also know that much of the crowd is also going to be now held indoors, or going to be inside at capital one to be watching the inauguration play out and watching jd vance and donald trump be sworn in inside rather than outdoors on the national mall as was originally planned. >> and elena, we're also

learning more about trump's plans to take a number of executive actions immediately after he's sworn in tomorrow. what more can you tell us about those? >> that's right. we actually have some new reporting, jessica, that, you know, from my conversations with sources familiar with the matter told me that essentially, donald trump is planning and his team has already drafted a slate of pardons for those who were convicted for their role in the january 6th, 2021, attack on the u.s. capitol. that is something that donald trump had repeatedly promised and vowed to do throughout his time on the campaign trail. but now we know that that is something that he is expected to do shortly after being sworn in to the white house. we also know that his team has planned dozens of executive orders that they want him to issue on day one, including a major focus on immigration. some of those include these ice sweeps from immigration and customs enforcement through major metropolitan areas, cities like washington, d.c., chicago,

denver. although there's still some questions about how extensive those early raids are going to be, we also know that some of the executive orders are going to try to look at freeing up some resources from the pentagon to be sent down to the southern border to more secure the southern border. that is a number one priority as well for donald trump. and look, there's a number of different issues that these executive orders, i'm told are going to address, including energy and trade and the economy. but so much of what donald trump had focused on throughout his campaign had been on immigration. i'm told that is going to be one of the broadest topics and broadest areas of executive orders. we will see on day one of his presidency. >> jessica alayna treene live at arlington national cemetery as we await president-elect donald trump and vice president-elect jd vance. we'll keep an eye on that as that gets underway. in the meantime, as elena just walked us through, there's a number of executive orders on day one that president-elect trump has promised to put into action. we

have our panel joining us now. we've got brad todd, karen finney, lulu garcia-navarro, and doug heye. it is good to see all of you, some of you here in the studio with me, some of you remotely a lot to chew on. i just want to take us back 1st to 2017. the first time that trump went into office. and i want to take a clip from his first inauguration. let's listen to that. >> this american carnage stops right here and stops right now. >> and obviously, that moment really crystallized a lot and really stands out as a very memorable moment from his speech that day. doug, this is this is a different environment in a lot of ways it is. >> and if you remember, george bush summed up that speech in a quote that i can't say on air right now because it was some weird, weird stuff. um, this is not what donald trump, we expect is going to say this time it's a different world. and donald trump has now come. this is his second time at this. so he has a different perspective coming

into this winning the popular vote. they're saying that he's going to talk about strength and unity. and okay, that means different things to different people. certainly different donald trump strength and unity to say joe biden or kamala harris. but he has, if not a mandate right now, he certainly has a different platform to run on that or to to be president. on coming from winning the popular vote and winning the electoral college so convincingly. >> yeah. and brad, he seems to really he seems to be in a different place as well. i think back to when he said, everybody wants to be my friend right now, and he seems to be coming at this both mentally in a different place. but you also have somebody like susie wiles that's trying to streamline this. they're far more organized going into office than they were in 2017. >> they are more organized, starting with susie, but going on down through through many other people. and and he's also more popular than he's ever been. donald trump has more support among the american public than at any point in his political career. and he's following a president who's down at about 36% approval. so

the country is actually ready to turn the page, which is a big difference than it was eight years ago when you had hundreds of thousands of people in the street protesting trump's inauguration. it really got off to a very negative, pessimistic start. i think he has a real chance to broaden his coalition even more. there's a lot that joe biden has done wrong that he can fix right away and make real progress, incremental progress. and i think that's probably what we're going to see him do. >> and karen, obviously, the president elect made a number of promises on the campaign trail. he's promised executive action on a lot of on immigration, on some pardons for some january 6th people who participated in january 6th, potentially on energy as well. look, he has the highest approval ratings that we've seen recently going into office. how do democrats respond in this moment? >> well, i think a couple of things. number one, i think

democrats recognize that. look, he is also inheriting a very strong economy. it's in much better shape than it was when he left office. certainly in 2021. we just had a blockbuster jobs report. we've got inflation is come down considerably. um, unemployment is down considerably. so part of the question is what does he do with this opportunity. we have hostages coming home. thank god we have you know, we're making progress in a lot of ways. so what does he do? and i think democrats stand ready in the congress to work with republicans if possible. but i think they recognize very clearly that there are a lot of fractures within the republican coalition. and so i think they're going to, you know, figure out i think they will stay out of the way as some of those things get worked out. and where there may be opportunity. i mean, i think we should be very heartened by what happened around the israeli negotiations that you had, you know, someone from president-elect trump's team and the biden team working, you know, speaking with one voice to help get this deal done.

and, god willing, get our american hostages home if president trump could govern like that. i think about what's going on in california, where you have people just in total desperation rather than retaliation, or rather than saying, we're going to put strings on it. that could be a real moment of unity for the country. at the same time, i think democrats remember in 2017 when he came into office, there was this conversation about the pivot that never came. and so i think, you know, democrats are very clear eyed. you also are seeing governors and attorneys general and mayors prepared to protect the citizens within their borders as needed. there's a lot of confusion and concern about, for example, how these immigration raids are going to happen. are innocent people going to get scooped up accidentally, and what does that mean? so there's, you know, it's kind of a stand back and and take a look and see how this unfolds. but ready to take action is needed. yeah.

>> and again, just reminding everyone you're looking live at arlington national cemetery where we are expecting the president elect in just moments. you see a crowd gathered there, notably there on the left side of your screen, you see his nominee to be the secretary of defense, pete hegseth, who is undergoing his. he will undergo his confirmation hearing and has been, you know, talking with senators as he hopes to get confirmed in the early days of the trump presidency. lulu, i want to go to you for for big picture stuff as you're watching this. as i was saying to elena, this, of course, is a very traditional moment of an inauguration of an american president. we're used to seeing these types of things. what we're going to see tonight when trump goes to capital one arena is, is not a traditional moment, but does seem to fit in the mold of of who donald trump is and has has been. what are you taking away as we start this process? >> well, first of all, i'm going to say color me skeptical that democrats are going to stay quiet and watching and and waiting to see and wanting to have this new era of

bipartisanship. >> i mean, listen, donald trump came in with a mandate. it is true. >> we've heard about it incessantly. they've been invoking this mandate from the american people, on and on and on. he's coming with the wind at his sails. >> it is true the economy is in a much better place than it was. >> but this is a country that is still very much divided. >> he won with the smallest, um, you know, kind of differential in, in sort of modern political history. >> and so i think he is the tone that he's going to adopt is going to be very, very important. but donald trump is donald trump. and i'm sorry to say, everyone keeps on waiting for this pivot, that there's going to be a different kind of donald trump coming and talking to the american people. it's the same man. and he's surrounded now by a very different group of people. these are people who are, yes, men and women. there are people who are there to sort of back up what he wants. and so in that sense, i don't think we're going to see a lot of the conflict that we've seen before internally. >> yeah. yes. and that's an

interesting point when you're saying he's the same man, that that is true. and i wonder doug, he's the same man. are we the same country that we were in 2017. like what has shifted where he's getting, you know, higher approval ratings that that he does seem to have he's got high approval ratings and but but more than his approval ratings, his policies get higher approval than actually the man himself. >> people want security at the border. people want prices to come down. the things that he promised are the things that are actually going. he's going to be held accountable for. >> that's a great, great point. and that gets at what lulu nailed it on the head there. >> every every election is a reaction to who the incumbent is. and so as shocking as it is that donald trump won to some people, ultimately the unpopular incumbent vice president of the unpopular president lost. that's normal. and so donald trump's high numbers are, in part a reaction to donald trump. and if i'm a democrat at this point, i have to figure out who am i right now? it's not just enough to be anti-trump. the party is

having worked. >> no, it has not worked for them. >> it's not worked in the past. and we know now that the party is is having a real struggle. and that's not going to resolve itself in the dnc chairman election. it's going to it's going to take two years, maybe four, maybe longer to figure out what is the democratic party, what does it stand for and how are they going to move forward. and as we've seen, you know, the recriminations that are happening over what happened over the past eight months or a year are being furiously fought within house and senate democratic circles. >> yeah. >> and i want to ask the pelosi family. yes. >> and we are going to talk more about that. and i do want to get into that. i do want to go back to alayna treene for a moment, though. who is there watching the crowd at arlington national cemetery and elena set the scene for people who's there and what are you seeing as everyone awaits the president elect? >> right. so we're seeing i'll actually share with you, jessica, that we, from our vantage point here, where the way that they have set this up, we don't have a direct view of where donald trump is going to be laying this wreath and

participating in this ceremony at the tomb of the unknown soldier, but we can see from the camera shot directly on them that we have a number of donald trump's incoming cabinet members who are in the crowd for this ceremony, including. >> note that melania, we did just see a melania trump, the incoming first lady is is walking in now. so we are seeing some of the immediate family. sorry. go ahead real quick. >> no, that's all right. so yes. and we knew that the incoming first lady is was going to be part of the ceremony as well. but just to set the scene for some of the people in the crowd, many of donald trump's cabinet picks are there, including pete hegseth, of course, donald trump's choice to lead the pentagon. we also saw, of course, vice president elect jd vance and his wife, usha vance. we saw elise stefanik his pick to be the u.s. ambassador to the united nations. also, doug collins, former congressman who is donald trump's pick to lead the department of veterans

affairs. and then we also saw marco rubio, donald trump's pick to be secretary of state. so again, this is really a moment that many of donald trump's top aides, advisers, but also many of his chosen cabinet picks are here for. and as you've noted earlier in this program, jessica, this is a tradition for incoming presidents on inauguration weekend. we're expecting to see some more activity here at arlington national cemetery as well once that ceremony wraps. but stay tuned for some of those details as they come. >> all right, elena, we're going to continue to monitor this video. thank you so much for that update. brad, i want to go back to you, because what struck me as elena was talking, she's listing off who's there getting ready for the president elect. and it just underscores something we've talked about a lot. but but it really underscores the fact that this gop has been wholly remade in the image of donald trump. those people are loyal to him. he is now surrounded by people

he trusts. and it's again, that's a difference between and i believe we're seeing the president elect and the vice president elect right there, jd vance and donald trump, as they've arrived at arlington national cemetery for this traditional laying of the wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier there in arlington, virginia. we know that a number of his cabinet picks are there. his family. you see, ivanka trump and her husband, jared kushner, tiffany trump, melania and usha vance, their their children as well. we're going to take a quick listen as we observe this moment.

present on.

>> order arms ready?

pretzel pretzels. >> and you are watching a very somber moment there at arlington national cemetery as the president elect and the vice president elect honor those who have given their lives for this country. we saw them laying wreaths there, along with members of two gold star families who lost their loved ones in military service. also there we are seeing a number of trump's cabinet picks tulsi gabbard marco rubio, pete hegseth mike walz again, these first official moments of these

inauguration activities beginning to unfold there in the washington, d.c. area, this this one happening at arlington national cemetery. we are going to continue to monitor these events. i do want to go to my colleague jim sciutto, who is live in tel aviv, israel. jim, we understand, of course, the three hostages that have been released. we understand they are now making their way to an israeli hospital to receive treatment. yeah, that's right. >> we've had a series of just powerful moments and images over the course of the last couple of hours. the first sight of those three israeli hostages, as they were handed over from the red cross, from the hamas to the red cross in gaza, then later, as they were greeted by the israeli military and then moments hugging their moms right after 470 days in captivity, when their mothers, as so many hostage families here in israel did not know their fate, did not know if they were going to be coming home safely. and now three of those many dozens of hostages

still held are now home safely. and just moments ago, a helicopter landed at sheba hospital here in israel, carrying the hostages, where they will be further given further further medical evaluation. we learned from the red cross's initial assessment that they are generally in good physical health. although one of the hostages and we had some pictures earlier, one of the hostages lost two fingers. emily dimare, during her time in captivity, we had known that she was shot during the october 7th attack, shot in the hands the other hostages, romy gonin and doron steinbrecher, are bianna golodryga is at sheba hospital and was there for that moment just a short time ago when the helicopter landed. tell us what you're seeing there, bianna. and what happens now with the hostages. >> it was quite a moment, jim. it was actually two helicopters that landed, and we're about to see the second helicopter,

which just landed and transferred. we don't know how many of the three women into this van. and you see, this is the most cheering crowds that we've seen thus far, jim. and that is here at the hospital. friends of romi, emily and doron here welcoming them. and the van is about to drive by, as you see, and you're going to hear this crowd go wild now as they pass by, they will be driven into the wing of the hospital where they will be treated. the israeli health ministry is recommending that they stay at least four days, but it was quite a sight to see. jim, two helicopters landing just behind me. this is the second of the two transports in the the hospital van. as we see these crowds welcoming. romi, doron and emily and we will wait to see jim if the hospital staff will be providing any sort of

updates throughout the evening as to their conditions. as we've noted, one major adjustment they've made here from the hostage release of 2023, is that they really want to offer as much privacy as possible to these families, and also don't want to subject other families who have hostages that remain in gaza to what understandably, are images of joy here. and a lot of these families i speak to, they are very excited for their fellow countrymen who are reuniting with their families, even though they have yet to do so. but jim, all week at hostage square, we didn't hear this type of cheering that we're hearing right now at the hospital. no. >> and listen to your point. there are so many families close to 100 who are not getting this moment right now and who, frankly, don't know if their loved ones held by hamas and gaza are still alive. in fact, it's presumed that many of them are dead, either killed on october 7th or died during

captivity. but like you, bianna, i've noticed the unity among the hostage families that they support each other. they celebrate each other's moments of triumph. like this one for these three families, but also give each other love and support for for the pain that they've been through for these 470 days. i wonder what you know, bianna, about the kinds of treatment and reception they'll be getting at the hospital. i spoke to a mental health professional earlier in the day, who was noting just about the deep and understandably deep psychological scars from being held for so long and all the steps they take to make sure they're received with gentleness and care. >> yeah. and, jim, this is a country that has a history, unfortunately, of dealing with hostage situations to no extent. the numbers that we are dealing with now, but even in terms of lessons learned from november of 2023, there were

psychologists on hand. forensic doctors that they're called that that slowly begin to ask them questions, get more information, as much information as they can from them, not only about their treatment in captivity, but about the other hostages that remained. but you can't compare the the torment and the psychological and physical emotional abuse that they had experienced after just 50 days relative to what we know now, are 470 days. so they had a primer. yeah. in november of 2023 as to what to do over the course of the next few days. but we are excited to see and these families are relieved to see these three women come out relatively okay. as we heard from the red cross in their initial assessment. but there also is concern, jim, that sadly it is these early releases where we may see the healthier of the hostages and

everyone here. that's why i think there's such a somber mood in the country. they're anticipating, and they're excited about the release of these hostages, but they're also very they're sober about what they are likely to expect in the weeks to come. yeah, yeah, just even early on to see them walking and then to see them smiling, those big smiles as they hugged, as they hugged their mothers, welcoming their little girls home. >> you can only imagine the deep emotion there. and when you do speak to those who have treated former hostages, they speak about the scars and how some can respond, even with a passivity or a zombie like state. which state? which is a self-preservation, really in the moment. but at least in those images. and again, that's only a small sample. we see resiliency, the resilience of these three young women. romi, emily and dayan. can you describe now what's going to happen in the next several days? you said they recommend a minimum of four

days. i know from the experience of covering, for instance, others who came out of russian captivity, paul whelan and others that sometimes when they return to the states, there's a longer period of time. i imagine they're leaving it up to to the patients and their families. >> yes, it's a case by case scenario here for sure, jim. and as we noted, it appears that at least these first three hostages are in relatively good health. they are young as well. these hostages, we know, range in age from two years old. shiri bibas turned two years old yesterday to 86 years old. the hospitals, all six of them that have been prepared to receive these hostages over the past few months have spent a lot of time planning for the arrival of all of the hostages. and it's a case by case basis in terms of where they decide each hostage goes in terms of their physical state at the time, they are also they also

have the medical records of all of the hostages on hand. and this becomes especially crucial for those older hostages that may have had pre preexisting conditions prior to october 7th. and you can imagine being detained in tunnels with poor air quality and circulation, little food dehydration, emotional and physical scars as well. so the doctors here are prepared. i spoke with the head of one hospital earlier this week, who said that they are optimistic. they are hopeful, but they are also keenly aware of what 470 days can do to a person in captivity. so they set expectations low in terms of how long these patients will end up staying the minimum they're they're advising is four days. but these scars, jim, will last much longer than those initial four days that there must be a period of euphoria just being home reunited with the family. but the recovery process, one can imagine, will go on for a

very, very long time yeah. >> the pictures you're seeing there are from just moments ago when those helicopters carrying the three freed israeli hostages arrived at sheba hospital, where bianna is right now. and, you know, i always remind people when you see these happy moments when hostages are freed, that that length of time, 470 days, they didn't know it was going to be that long. but a few days ago, they might have thought they would be in hostages in captivity for weeks or months more. they don't know how long they will be held. and that's that's part of the stress, the stress of it all. the one injury we do know about, which is quite visual. in fact, i believe we have a picture of it is to emily is to emily demari, who we learned lost two fingers on her hand during her time in captivity. now, we had known based on what her mother had told us prior, that she had

been shot in the hand and injured by shrapnel during the october 7th attacks. there's that picture there now with those two missing fingers, which is, of course, a shock. i'm sure it's a shock for some people to see this image now, but i'm touched not only by the wound, but by the smile and the strength and the resiliency on her face. >> no doubt in all of israel is as well. i was at hostage square prior to coming to sheba hospital, and again, i think this was the first time that a crowd, it was a massive crowd. at that point. there was a jumbo screen there showing the israeli news, and they actually saw the images that were released by hamas, essentially of their transfer to the red cross. and just even seeing those images for the first time, this crowd, it changed jim. they allowed themselves, even for just a moment, to smile. happy tears, cry happy tears and hug each other. i mean, this was a collective

trauma that this country has experienced, and no one in that crowd that comes every single week. now, they all know these hostages by name. they all know their family members. they all know their stories. and it's just it's it's shocking to see the resilience that we've seen in this country for the past 15 months, really fighting for the release of these hostages and really putting pressure. jim, one should note, not just on hamas, obviously, and the mediators and the the media and the world to not lose focus on this story, but their own government. you know this. you've been here many, many times. and the pressure that they have been putting on their own government to get to this point, a lot of anger and frustration. many of you, this was an opportunity that they could have been experiencing months ago when there were still hostages that that could have been rescued. i'm thinking of those six hostages, hostages

that were tragically murdered by hamas in august of last year, including american hersh goldberg polin think about the number of innocent palestinian lives that were lost as well. so this prime minister is facing a lot of pressure internally within his own coalition to not go through with phase two and three, and that is the full withdrawal from gaza and the end of this war. but i'm telling you, he is up against a very determined israeli public that, for the most part, would like to see this war come to an end in return for the remaining hostages that are there in gaza. >> and as you know, many of the hostage families have pointed their finger directly at the israeli prime minister for not sufficiently prioritizing the lives and the release of the hostages. prior to this deal, bianna golodryga there at sheba hospital, where those three freed israeli hostages are now receiving treatment. we should note that there are, of course,

two sides to this deal, and a short time ago, red cross ambulances pulled up to the ofer prison in the west bank as well, where some 95 palestinian prisoners will be released as part of this one day of one phase, the first phase of this agreement, over the course of the agreement, the plan over the next six weeks, 33 israeli hostages, including the three today, will be released and many hundreds of palestinian prisoners, some being held under what's known as administrative detention. in other words, they have not been convicted of a crime will be released as well. we'll be watching all of these steps very closely and will continue to check in with the families there as those hostages receive their first treatment. i'm jim sciutto in tel aviv, and we'll be right back after a short break. >> kobe believed in himself at the youngest possible age.

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