this is "face the nation." the ceasefire is in place, the prisoner swap is under way. is this the beginning of the end

of the devastating war in gaza? phase one of this fragile deal is unfolding just hours before america begins its own handover of presidential power. change is coming to washington and despite the expected pomp and pageantry, the challenges facing our 47th president are numerous and sobering. we'll talk about the immediate ones with the incoming national security adviser mike waltz. republican senator lindsey graham and democrat tim kaine will also join us. is the ceasefire deal the beginning of a new way forward for peace in the middle east? we'll talk with a key biden negotiator of the truce and explore the humanitarian crisis facing the youngest victims of the war in gaza. just ahead on "face the nation." good morning, as we come on the air there is good news to report. we are awaiting official word that the first three hostages

have safely crossed the border what you are seeing here now are the crowds awaiting their return. they are and cbs can confirm in the custody of the red cross. we begin today with our elizabeth palmer reporting from jerusalem. liz? >> reporter: the day began with a tense delay as hamas failed to identify the hostages it was going to release and then israel launched fresh attacks on gaza. then suddenly at 11:15 local time the ceasefire fell into place. the first three hostages released by hamas were handed over to the red cross in gaza to begin their journey home. roamy gonan who was kidnapped from the nova musical festival, emily demari and do doran steinbecker both seized from their kibbutz.

that was 471 days away when hamas terrorists abducted and killed more than a o thousand people in southern israel. within hours israel's military was bombing gaza. 15 months later it's too soon to say the war has ended, but it is on pause. hamas and some of its supporters were celebrating the ceasefire as a victory, as part of the deal israel is supposed to release almost 100 palestinian prisoners from jail later today. mohammed is expected to be one of them. his family in gaza is waiting anxiously. he was arrested when i was only three years old, says his daughter, and i'm now 12. there are scars on both sides. noa argamani was rescued after eight terrifying months. >> i live in the fear every

single day. i didn't want the guarders to suddenly lose control and kill me. all the terrorists was armed with so many weapons, knife and grenades. i live in a war zone. every second felt like the last second of my life. >> reporter: so much could go wrong with this complex deal. first, it has to hold for months if all the hostages are to be freed and it depends on two parties with internal rifts. israel's government whose right wing is fiercely opposed to the ceasefire, and hamas, which has a weakened and divided leadership. >> and there's no reason why they should trust each other. >> reporter: this man is a former hajj negotiator. >> so there will be breaches? >> definitely. >> is there a mechanism to deal with the inevitable accusations

and breaches and hiccups? >> this time around there is, it's called donald trump. >> reporter: everyone who wants this deal to hold is pinning hopes on washington's authority. that includes gazans who are hungry and desperate for aid to arrive, and the hostages' families who want their loved ones back alive or dead. >> we are joined now by congressman mike waltz, he is the incoming national security adviser to president-elect donald trump. good to have you here. >> good to be with you. thanks. >> i understand just yesterday you were meeting with the families of some of the hostages being held in gaza, at least three americans assessed to still be alive and in captivity. one of them might not be released until phase two when male soldiers are released and israeli troops withdraw. will the trump team see this through to completion? >> well, remember, the terms of the deal that we finally have

come to was inherited in many ways from the biden administration, so it was actually the biden negotiators that were at the table and the other side was dealing with them but kind of looking to us, particularly steve witkoff, president trump's middle east envoy. one of the things we inherited was this framework of women, the elderly and the sick coming out first. one of the americans is an israeli soldier, that means they will come out in the second phase, but we will get him out, period. >> edan alexander. >> edan alexander. i am convinced, margaret, that this deal would have never happened had president trump not been elected. the trump effect so to speak. the families believe that. they were effusive in their thanks for him and the truth that he put out that put hamas on notice that there will be

consequences if they don't let our people go. >> there is also obviously the party israel here that feels some pressure to get this done. one far right member of the netanyahu government resigned, another this morning said he will bring down the netanyahu government if it does not return to fighting in a way that leads israel to taking over the entire gaza strip. does mr. trump support annexation of the west bank in >> well, very different things. what we are talking about here is making sure that hamas is destroyed as a terrorist organization. hamas is no different than isis or al qaeda or any of the worst of the worst that has so brutalized the middle east over the years. and what we have made clear to bibi netanyahu, to his government, and i want the israeli people to hear me loud and clear, if hamas reneges on this deal, if hamas backs out,

moves the goalpost, what have you, we will support israel in what it has to do, number one, and number two, hamas will never govern gaza. that is completely unacceptable, because they have made their intention clear which is to destroy israel and have future october 7ths. i understand the concern but at the end of the day prime minister netanyahu supported this deal, he agreed we needed to get the hostages out and within the next 24 hours we will see -- we will see three women coming out alive and hugging their families. had we not entered this, these people would have died, margaret. i mean, these conditions that they were in -- by the way, they've been held now longer than the hostages in 1979 in the iranian hostage crisis. they were being brutalized, raped, tortured. it was horrific. but now we're going to have a reagan moment. we are going to have president trump being sworn in as hostages are coming out alive and that's

something we should all celebrate. >> you've also said, though, that you want to build on this, to eventually get peace between israel and saudi arabia, normalization. >> that's right. >> the price of that is recognition of a palestinian state according to saudi arabia. does mr. trump support a two-state solution? hamas doesn't want two states, the far right in israel doesn't want two states. does mr. trump? >> president trump's plan in his first term, his plan for the middle east and his plan for israel and palestine had a pathway to a two-state, with all kinds of very important qualifiers that had to be in place beforehand. stop radicalizing the next generation of palestinian youth. very specifics -- components of that plan in terms of how things would be divided up. but i do think we can get to the next round of the abraham accords. i do think we can expand it, and

that will be between israel and saudi arabia, which will be tremendous. that has been a main goal of the netanyahu government now for years. >> right. >> and, margaret, i can tell you for president trump if in a short amount of time if we are talking about infrastructure projects, ports, rails, fiber, data centers, we are talking about all of those things, these historic animosities will become smaller and smaller and smaller, and that is the peace that he seeks and that only he can lead. >> so mr. huckabee, the possible future ambassador to israel, is wrong when he says that mr. trump does not believe in a two-state solution in the future? >> he said that yesterday. - >> yeah, no, i've spoken to him and it's how do we eventually get there? right? and what we eventually want is the abraham accords and that next round. right? and there is a lot of room, both

can be true. we are going to protect israel, we are going to make sure that they are defended, but eventually we're going to come to some accommodation that saudi arabia is comfortable in entering into that deal. >> to lead to a palestinian state. that's what they're asking -- a process -- >> we will see exactly what that looks like. that process is going to be long. >> yes. >> and what -- you know, what was so interesting about the first administration was that we shifted the dynamics. we brought israel and the arab states together because of their mutual concern about iran and its hegemonic aggression and what the ayatollahs intended to do. we sat the palestinian issue aside for a bit. >> yeah. >> and that is what i think the framework we will get back to. >> there is a lot to get to so i want to ask you what we should expect in terms of executive actions in these early days for mr. trump. >> oh, well, look, we're going

to have his campaign promises that he promised to the american people right out there on the table in terms of border, in terms of energy, in terms of taking on this kind of dei woke culture that has infected so many parts of our federal government, including our military. returning us to a meritocracy. he's got a lot in front of him. i'm excited to be a part of it. i can't emphasize enough, though, margaret, on the border the american people gave him a clear mandate, lock down our border, deport the worst of the worst, take on the cartels. we cannot have a situation where we have paramilitary gangs that are shooting down aircraft with heavy weapons, controlling 30% of our neighbor, mexico, and controlling whole swaths of our border. >> you're talking about perhaps an executive order designating cartels as a terrorist group or -- >> i don't want to get ahead of

the announcements. >> okay. >> but we have to -- we have to deal with them with what they are. >> okay. >> these are -- these are paramilitary organizations with billions at their disposal, with armored vehicles, heavy machine guns that are fighting the mexican army, not police, army, to a standstill. president trump was clear on the campaign trail that we're going to take them on and we're going to use every resource that we need to defend the american people. >> we are seeing in our polling that there is a lot of approval for the president-elect's plan to deport immigrants who are here illegally, but understanding how that works is something i want to ask you. can you tell us anything about the scope and scale of the roundups that we should expect in these first few days? >> well, i think they're going to be -- they're going to be quite aggressive, number one. number two, they're going to go after these criminal gangs that are terrorizing our cities, particularly ms 13 and particularly trend aogua.

>> where are you going to deport them to? one of those -- excuse me -- one of those is venezuelan. you can't deport to venezuela so where are you going to send those -- >> we are in a number of conversations with a number of countries that will agree to take them. >> okay. so that's a big diplomatic initiative you are part of. >> that's right. >> tiktok took itself offline at midnight because of this national security law that you which recognizes that tiktok owned by a chinese firm bytedance is a national security threat. but on this notice it says donald trump has promised to work with them. if mr. trump issues an executive order that bypasses a national security law, isn't this a risk? how are you going to prevent china from doing what you say they're doing already which is syphoning off and spying on americans. >> i would even point to the author of the law, former

representative mike gallagher, who has put out -- his goal was never to eliminate tiktok, it was to allow americans to use it, but then to make it safe from chinese communist party interference. >> it was to have an american owner of it. >> right. so what we need between now and monday is to buy the president some time to evaluate those deals and if it goes dark, that's going to be obviously extremely problematic. so both can be true. we can have an app that americans can -- americans can enjoy, but at the same time that protects their data and protects them from outside influence and undue influence. and that's the time and space that the president is seeking and as a dealmaker, i think we all should be confident that he can craft that kind of a deal. >> have tiktok and bytedance told you that they're actually interested in selling? >> the president worked with -- spoke with president xi, again, very top down authoritarian system that -- >> you think he is the ultimate

decider? >> -- and that agreed to work together on this. >> so president xi is acknowledging that he has control of bytedance and tiktok? >> not explicitly but i will tell you every company in china has in some way or some form has to report to or has a member of the chinese communist party on its board. >> and must share information at the request of the chinese communist party? >> well, that was the concern. >> exactly. >> of a lot, right? >> and tom cotton is saying that just now, the republican running the intelligence committee. >> the author of the law is saying both can be true. we can have an app that protects americans. i can tell you i wouldn't want the fbi or the u.s. government monitoring every keystroke or seeing every password, nor would we want the chinese communist party, but we also want an app that 170 million americans clearly really enjoy and that we were able to get our message out during the trump campaign in a very powerful way. >> so you believe that an

american owner will emerge and the deal will be done within 90 days? >> -- president trump on the deal but he is definitely wanting to have the time right now, which would mean an extension to evaluate the deals that are on the table. >> okay. the head of the -- the republican head of the intelligence committee says the law wouldn't allow for that because you would need to know that there was substantial progress. >> the law says if there is a >> right. exactly. you're saying there is a viable deal? >> i know of at least one from kevin o'leary that's been delivered to bytedance. the point is what is a viable deal? >> exactly. >> the president needs the time with the department of justice to evaluate what viable means. we can't do that if the thing is completely dark. >> and you will be on the job starting at noon monday? >> honor of my life. thanks so much. >> mike waltz, thank you. we will be back in a minute. stay with us. can be unpredictable. one day, your joints hurt. next, it's on your skin. i got cosentyx. feels good to move.

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white house national security coordinator for the middle east and not africa. good to have you here, brett. >> thanks, margaret. great to be here. >> we're watching the breaking news, this is a deal you negotiated. what can you tell us about how these three women who have been transferred to the red cross are doing? >> well, i just confirmed with my israeli counterparts that they are now in israeli custody, so this has just happened. look, i know they are alive, i'm sure they are in -- they've been held in deplorable conditions over 470 days, but the israelis have a very good system to take them into their care and they're going to get the care they need and be reunited with their families. >> it appeared that even up until this morning it was in question whether hamas was going to go through with this. the israelis said they hadn't handed over the names of the captives. do we -- why and do we know much about the well-being of the three americans that are still being held? >> look, this deal was negotiated over a year for good reason, it's a detailed complex arrangements to leave nothing to

chance. even up to last night i was up until 4:00 in the morning when this finally went in place to make sure everything went according to the plan. hamas owed the list of the three names, that had to happen for the ceasefire to go into effect. we have a full ceasefire in effect in gaza, 800 trucks of aid getting into gaza today. >> 800? >> 800 trucks of aid should reach gaza today and you have had the three girls now, again, reunited hopefully with their families and they are now in israeli custody. >> the u.n. says an average of 72 trucks per day went in in december and that's been the case in january. is there even the capacity for the israelis to search these trucks and allow in that food? do you expect 800 trucks to make it into gaza today? >> that's why i've been in the middle east for the last month nonstop to make sure everything is ready to go. this was not put together in the last week. this was put together really since may when president biden laid out this framework. he developed this framework with the amir of qatar and the president of egypt, it was announced in may, endorsed by

the u.n. security council. we thought we were close in august and then we had six hostages killed in a tunnel underneath rafah. i was in the greenburg speaking to the mother of hersh goldberg-polin. it was in august that we decided to flip the script. we supported the israelis in going after hezbollah, they took out hezbollah. >> in lebanon. >> in lebanon. we have a ceasefire in lebanon, a new government in lebanon. that isolated hamas. iran is in the weakest position it's been in the middle east in decades. with he go back to the table in december hamas for the first time, for the first time, was ready to accept the may framework and begin to release hostages. it wasn't until early january that they actually approved the hostage list and that's how we got to the result today. >> do we know keith siegel, chen and alexander how they are doing. >> keith will come out in phase one, segui will come out in

phase one, edan will be phase two. we've been working with the incoming team. this is a testament to president biden and president trump allowing us to work together. i've work with steve witkoff over the last week, a partnership i think historic to help get this one. >> trump's envoy. >> we are committed to getting edan out as early as possible. i spoke to his father just last night. >> prime minister netanyahu described this overnight as a temporary ceasefire and he says he has permission to begin fighting as needed. do you believe he sees this as just a strategic pause or that he actually wants to end this war? >> the way the deal is structured on day 16 the negotiations begin for phase two. phase two will begin a negotiation for the exchange of soldiers to palestinian prisoners, but also the conditions have to be set for phase two. we support the israelis in making sure those conditions are set so hamas can never come back to power in gaza, hamas can never again threat israel from gaza. those conditions have to be set. we in the biden administration have been very clear, we want to

see this deal reach all three phases, every hostage come home. i think the trump administration very much shares that objective and the template, the roadmap, again, that the president set out in may, this was the roadmap ultimately to ending the war, getting everybody home is the only way to do it. that roadmap is now in place. we have a ceasefire today in gaza and we have a good chance to get every hostage home and we have to do everything we can to make that happen. >> well, hamas according to the secretary blinken has recruited almost as many new militants as it has lost over the course of this war. blinken said that this week week. >> hamas has been significantly deci decimated. it's leader yahya sinwar was killed in october. in october 7th it was an organized military formation, it invaded israel. it is now no longer able to do that. it does not have military capacity. >> but that argues that israel has done something that may backfire on them in terms of the humanitarian situation that has allowed hamas not to lose support but to continue to

recruit. >> to get -- i've worked closely with my israeli colleagues, spent hours with prime minister netanyahu. this is a deal that he fully supports. there is a moral debt to these hostages, you have to get them out and israel will make sure that it protects its national security and we will make sure we do that. we got this deal without that wider middle east war that everybody was predicting. americans did not get drawn into a wider middle east war, with he defended israel from iranian missiles, we supported israel going after hezbollah and hamas, we have dee feigned the proxy networks and that led to the isolation of hamas to get this deal today. that's how we got to this point. >> okay. i have to take a break here, brett. don't mean to cut you off. we will have more questions, but we have to take a quick break. stay with us. mi gonen.

emily da marry. do remember ron stein breaker. m. do remember ron stein breaker.

and this just came in. president-elect trump has just announced he plans to issue an executive order tomorrow to postpone the ban on tiktok. so all you tiktok users could

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