diplomacy. she is now safely in israel. and we continue to press, and expect for additional americans to be released as well. but we will not stop working until every hostages returned to their loved ones. as i said when i spoke about this on friday, this has been the product of a lot of hard work, and weeks of personal engagement for me and my team. we've been in close contact with the leaders of qatar, egypt, and israel. speaking with each one of them repeatedly over the past few weeks, to help secure this deal, we spoke again yesterday with the mayor of qatar, who i owe special thanks to, in order to keep the hostage release on track, and push for abigail to be part of this release. and i will be speaking in short with prime minister benjamin netanyahu, and we will continue to remain personally engaged, personally engaged, to see that this deal is fully implemented, and work to extend the deal as well. for weeks, i've been advocating to pause in the fighting for two purposes.

to increase the assistance getting into the gaza civilians who need help, and to facilitate release of hostages. who we know that innocent children in gaza are suffering greatly as well. because this war that hamas has unleashed is such with consequences. thousands have been killed, and from the earliest days of this crisis, i've worked closely with president sisi of egypt. israeli government, killing duel of jordan, and others that the region to expand the delivery of humanitarian assistance, to help innocent palestinians in need, who are not part of hamas. under this deal, in gaza, it has now been paused for three days. over that time, 58 hostages have been released, including the tie, filipino, and russian nationals. >> dozens of families have been reunited. they worked urgently, urgently to take advantage of the pause, to surge aid into gaza, we moved approximately 200 aid

trucks into gaza each day. loaded with food, water, medicine, fuel, and cooking gas. more is needed, but this deal is delivering lifesaving results. critically aid is going in, and hostages are coming out. this deal is structured so that it can be extended to keep building on these results. that's michael, that's our goal. to keep this pause going beyond tomorrow, so that we can continue to see more hostages come out and search more humanitarian relief into those who are in gaza. we have seen, this is a day approach. nothing is guaranteed, nothing is being taken for granted. but the proof that this is working, and worth pursuing further, is in every smile and every grateful to we see on the faces of those families who are finally getting back together again. the proof is little abigail, and more than 20 other children, 18 years and younger, that have

been released. they were released through this deal as well. they've endured a terrible deal, now they can begin the long journey towards healing. i'm going to continue working with the amir qatar, president sisi of egypt, and president netanyahu of israel to do everything possible to see the hostages are freed, all the hostages. i'm grateful for the personal partnership, as we -- this deal for each of those that i just mentioned. as we worked together to see all of this, and to try to extend it further. i will continue working with all of our partners to take the hard but necessary steps to build an intra graded and more prosperous and peaceful future in the region. a two state solution is the only way to guarantee the long term security of both israelis and palestinian people. to make sure israel and palestinians alike live in equal measure of freedom and dignity, we will not give up on working towards that goal. thank you very much, thank god

she is home. i just can't imagine the -- i wish i were there to hold her. >> president, do you have an update on the other americans that are being held, and any sense as to when they will be released? >> we are hopeful, but i don't have anything firmly to tell you at this moment. >> sir, do you expect that you can use this momentum to extend the pause, have you extracted any guarantees a vote -- or do you have an expectation of how much longer you can push this pause? >> you know the deal calls for every ten hostages released we extend another day. so i'm hopeful this is not the end. it's going to continue. but we don't know, and i get a sense that all the players in the region, even the neighbors who haven't been directly

involved, are looking for a way to end this so the hostages are all released and hamas's completely -- how can i say, it no longer in control of any portion of gaza. >> do they have control of all the hostages, or they're still other militant groups? >> we think there are probably other militant groups, but we're not certain. >> mister president, how is abigail doing? what's her physical condition? >> i haven't gotten that information, i just wanted to let you know they were going to cross into egypt, as you recall. but an older non-american elderly woman is very sick, who is in need of immediate medical help. so they arranged to cross directly into these real to take her to a hospital. all i know is that she's been held, i don't know, i haven't seen a photograph. i've just been in communication

with my team, but she is safely in israel, but there's a lot more work to be done. >> how long would you like to see the polls go on for? >> i would like to see us move to a point where we are able to -- let me put it this way. i'd like to see the pause go on as long as prisoners keep coming out. all right, thank you also very much. we have to call you -- i know you, say that was only ten minutes or so. that's the notice i get, because we didn't know and i didn't want to be having this press conference if they weren't physically -- even when they're in the red cross ambulance, i didn't want to do it, because they were not out. they were still in gaza. so, i don't thank you enough, but thank you. >> we're here anytime. >> all right.

happy holidays to you guys. >> we've been listening to president biden give an update on the release of hostages, happening in israel. as we speak. he said a couple of interesting things, one that the deal is structured so that it can be extended, he says he hopes it is extended as long as possible, where hostages would be released. our goal is to keep this going, he also said. he also talked about his ongoing work of diplomacy, talking with the countries and the egyptians in the region to keep this going. we have learned, of course, as he provided the update, that the hostages have been released to the red cross and are making their way home. it has been 50 days since they were abducted by hamas. this is the third group of hostages released as part of a four-day temporary truce between israel and hamas. as we heard the president say, we will learn one of those hostages is american toddler abigail mor edan, who just turned four years old on friday while in captivity. she is now free.

as the deal stands right now, 50 total hostages are promised to be released in exchange for 150 palestinian prisoners. now, this is the first truce over the past couple of days after weeks and weeks of fighting. and a rare moment of positive news since the start of the war, but tomorrow is day four of this four-day pause. so the question is, what happens on day five? day six? day seven? president biden said, quote, the chances are real this could open the door to a longer cease-fire. and egypt said that it has received positive signals for an extension of this truce. but the israeli military has urged civilians fled to southern gaza not to return home. and has warned them that the idf is still preparing for the next phase of this war once this pause and. already, over 14,000 have been killed in gaza, according to health officials there. and although some aid is making its way in, and certainly a lot more over the last couple of days, the world health

organization says much more is needed. so right now, even during these moments of joy and certainly abigail returning home is a moment of joy, major questions remain about the families still waiting. the hostages still held captive, and the civilians still trapped, in dire conditions. joining me now is white house principal deputy national security adviser jon finer. john, thank you so much for joining me this afternoon. i know this must of been a hectic morning for you. i want to start with the news of the return of four-year-old american abigail mor edan, who is among the hostages, as the president just talked about, who is returning home. i want to ask you -- there's nine other americans who are held either by hamas or other militant groups. do you anticipate tomorrow, when there is another day of this pause, that there could be additional americans released? this pause, that>> thanks john. as you say, this is a rare bit of good news in a situation that remains very difficult overall. as you said, israeli and other families, including american

families, are worried about their loved ones in harm's way, and some of them are morning, including abigail's family, who got her back, but are mourning the murder of her parents, incredibly difficult circumstances in gaza for palestinian families as well. many of whom have lost family members. in terms of where this all goes from here, we know that there are two other americans who meet the criteria that the agreement is based on. women and children, 50 women and children, who would come out in the early days, four days of the agreement between israel and hamas. but we are reluctant to make predictions about exactly who and exactly when. we are dealing, as you know, with a terrorist group. so there's no trust involved in this. we have to see who actually ends up getting transferred to the red crescent, red cross, and then moved out of the country. until we actually see those people move, as the president said, we do not want to get ahead of any of this, because it's not fair to the families to indicate confirmation of things until we actually know what's happening. >> the president --

it sounds like qatar's foreign ministry says that to american passport holders will be released tomorrow, but i think what you're saying, john, is that you will believe it when you see it, and you don't want to get too ahead of where the processes at this point in time. i want to ask you about where these hostages could be held, because the numbers have been around 240 for some time, about hamas is saying about 100 could be held by other militant groups, the president was just asked about this. do you have any confirmation of how many are with hamas and how many are with other groups, and how confident are you about hamas's ability to work with these other groups to get these hostages back? >> so, one of the very difficult, many difficult aspects of this whole arrangement is that we do not have a lot of fidelity. a lot of clarity about the condition of the hostages, or exactly where they are held. we believe a large number of them, maybe the majority, are held by hamas. but we think that there are other significant number of hostages held by others,

possibly islamic jihad as one, and maybe other hostages in custody of other smaller armed terrorist groups inside gaza. so just the sheer logistics of assembling all these people in one place, transferring them to the red cross, and then transiting them across the border either egypt and into israel takes hours and hours of works. there are snags that occur every day during the course of trying to execute this, we work through those snags. we have international partners, the qataris, the egyptians, the israelis, and others, and try to get done what has been agreed. we will do that exact same thing tomorrow, and if the deal is extended and hamas is willing to transfer more hostages, which we urge them to do if they would like to maintain a degree of calm and paul's in gaza, they will continue doing that day after day. because the president has said it is our priority to get as many of these people out as we possibly can. >> the president, during his remarks, said very clearly that our goal, as in the goal of the united states, is to keep this deal going as long as hostages

are released. the end of the deal is tomorrow, do you anticipate at this point that it will continue until at least tuesday? >> so, i can't improve, jen, on what the president said on this. i think it's exactly right. as long as hamas is willing to continue releasing hostages, we believe that this deal can be extended and will be extended. whether they are willing to do that remains to be seen, i've seen the comments made by the government of egypt, i think we've also heard indications that it's possible that they will be going to continue to be releasing people beyond the end of the deal, which you said is tomorrow. but again, until that is agreed, until that is executed, i don't want to get ahead of things and start making predictions. but that will be a very intensive focus of our time and the presidents time, i can't overstate how personally involved, directly involved he has been with every aspect of this and will remain so again, until all these people are out. >> i do want to ask you about that, because he talked about his diplomacy and his engagement. we've seen the readouts and calls. but what the president said about the desire to continue

this deal, or continue this pause, is that also the view of prime netanyahu and the israelis? >> so, the president has spoken almost daily with prime minister netanyahu, on a very regular basis about this. our understanding is that the israelis are open, again, to continuing this positive hamas agrees to continue transferring prisoners. but all need the actual confirmation of all of this to the two parties. that negotiation is ongoing, will continue, and is argued that it caused just continue to be released, the pot should continue. to the presidents involvement, as you just said, i think it's important to note, something that happened the other day, while the president was asked during a news conference he was giving after he met with xi jinping of china for an update on the hostage deal, he said i'm reluctant to give you too many more details because i have been tied up for the last four hours, so i don't have the latest. he was tied up, obviously, talking to president xi of china. but that gives you some indication of how closely he is following this, that for hours

goes by and he believes that he needs even further up to date information before he can comment. he's really following this hour by hour in a direct way. >> i've been there not for this, obviously, but for past moments when the president has been very engaged in diplomacy. give us a sense, is he spending hours in the situation room, back and forth into the oval office, getting ten updates a day, six updates a day, constantly on the phone? what is happening behind the scenes? >> oh, as you can probably picture very well, based on your experience, the presidents national security team has been in and out of the oval office providing him updates. also during the course of the last few days, during thanksgiving holiday, providing him with near constant updates by secure phone, when we get more information, we transfer it directly to him. we get his guidance if we think it's useful for him to make a phone call to push or to council one of his foreign counterparts, one of the fellow heads of state. we have him do that, and he has

made, as you said, a number of calls directly on this issue to try to make sure things stay on track and for him, i think, that's going to have to continue over the days ahead if we are going to finish the execution of this first phase of the deal, and ideally extend it. >> one of the arguments prime minister netanyahu has made publicly is that the military campaign put the necessary pressure on hamas to actually release hostages, or he was making this argument in the lead up. is that an argument that the united states agrees with? >> however it ends up getting done, i think the military campaign is playing a role, we think that diplomacy probably has played the largest role behind the scenes, quite diplomacy, but very firm and very direct. we are now at a place that many people did not think we could be, which is a genuine pause in the fighting. it is enabling, by the way, not just the release of hostages, but also the significant expansion of the amount of humanitarian assistance that's going into gaza. we have never conditioned assistance on a hostage deal.

we said that assistance should go in, and go in significant amounts regardless. but the fact that there is this much fighting going on in gaza over the past few days, has meant a dramatic ramp up in assistance that is making our lives a bit easier for the past while, and the people who remain in gaza, including hundreds of thousands of people, as you know, who have been displaced from their homes. we've had more than 200 trucks, of assistance, going over the past couple of days. that's far more than what's the case for the hostage deal, and we would like that to continue as well. >> one of the challenges, one of the many challenges is the lack of visibility into what's actually happening on the ground in gaza, and there have been a range of reports of casualty numbers, including estimates of up to 15,000. does the united states have an estimate of the number of casualties in gaza at this point in time? or is that not information we even have from the government? >> we candidly, sort of like what i said about the hostages and their condition of themselves, because we are not on the ground in gaza, and

because we don't speak directly with authorities there. we don't have the ability to give accurate estimates that we can verify, of things like casualty numbers. what i can say is that we believe, as has been reported everywhere, that the casualty numbers are historically high, beyond the level that we have seen in other conflicts in gaza, and there are a large number of innocence, tragically, who have been killed in this conflict. and that is something that all of us i think take incredibly seriously, that we speak directly to the government of israel about, in terms of how they're prosecuting this war and how they may continue prosecuting this war, if and when the cease-fire that has occurred for the last four days, this pause, ultimately ends. but it is quite obvious to everyone that the level of suffering is quite high. i should also say, the predicate for this phase of the conflict, what occurred inside israel, the 1200 or more israelis who were killed by hamas terrorist attacks, is also a historically high number.

a predicate that is really unprecedented, in the previous gaza conflicts. and that's the reason why we are in such a severe situation right now. >> white house principal deputy of national security adviser jon finer, i know this is a very difficult situation with difficult questions. you just outlined many of them, but some moments of joy. congratulations to all of you and the role you played in helping bringing these hostages home. -- out of today's hostage release and gaza, four-year-old american abigail mor edan is now in israel. she's among 17 hostages just released by hamas, the israeli government confirming that in the past hour. i want to bring into people that have been involved in these type of negotiations on behalf of the u.s. government. joining me now, former cia director for president obama john brennan, and former national security adviser to president obama ben rhodes. -- i want to start with you, because i think we're all trying to understand what happens next now. there are nine americans who remain hostage, some may be by

hamas, some by outside militant groups. you are an expert on the region, i should. so what happens now, with these negotiations between hamas and the qataris and the egyptians, and also these outside militant groups, as we are trying to get these americans home? >> i think the effort is to build on these first three days. which is a very hopeful sign, because it appears as though both sides have adhered to the terms of the agreement, sufficiently, to allow the other side to follow through with its obligations in terms of releasing hostages, as well as releasing prisoners. and so i do think that as president biden so correctly stated, it is the intention of the u.s. government to extend this pause for however long as possible, to try to get out more hostages. including the other americans that are still being detained by hamas, as well as maybe by some other palestinian militant groups. so i do think the goodwill, if i can use that term right now in this situation, has been built up in terms of the

adherence to the agreement, so far by both sides, it is something that the countries, the americans, the egyptians, and the israelis can capitalize on and see whether or not there can be an extension of this. in addition, to be able to bring more humanitarian aid into gaza so that the people who have been suffering for the past weeks have some relief. >> hamas is claiming, as i was just asking director brennan about, that they don't have control over roughly 100 hostages. how confident do you think the u.s. government can be that hamas can locate and get a hold of these people? as everyone's trying to understand who these groups are, and how actually we can get those hostages back. >> well, we really can't know. and as john side, in these kinds of situations, the only thing you know is whether or not the part you're dealing with can deliver on something they say they're going to do. so, you're testing with each agreement, with each day, essentially, what hamas is capable of delivering here. i think this is a multi --

circumstance, where not a lot of people have a lot of eyes into gaza. and particularly when the military operation is ongoing, it's truly a chaotic scene and the capacity to locate and colic eight hostages and to move them out of gaza is really impossible. it takes this kind of pause in order to colocate and move hostages. i think what we have learned, though, is this capacity to kind of work through qatar and egypt to hamas, people on the ground. this is an elaborate game of telephone, essentially, where you have hamas political leadership in qatar, you have context through the egyptians, you have, i'm sure, hamas leadership in gaza, but then you probably have a diffuse set of hostages in lots of different hands here. and there is an effort, i'm sure by hamas, to try to have the capacity to identify them. but really, i think all we can have confidence in is what is delivered on a day-to-day basis here. and i think what we have, is a

diplomacy, is the most effective means of extracting hostages, and getting back to loved ones. trying to do that in a very violent and chaotic military environment is much more difficult than doing it with a pause like this. >> what we're watching right now, some footage from egyptian tv. we don't know that these are the hostages, we will bring more footage to everyone as we get more details, and more becomes available. director brennan, one of the factors here is, of course, what hamas will do during this time of a pause in the fighting. and as much as there is, as you said, some goodwill perhaps being developed among the party, is there is the suggestion that they could be rebuilding their capacity is. is that an area that you think they should be concerned about? >> i think they have to be concerned, but i also think it needs to be understood that hamas is not a monolith. you have individuals within hamas that are the most brutal,

barbaric terrorists that perpetrated the attacks on october 7th. but you also have those that are much less extreme, more pragmatic, those who really are concerned about the welfare of the palestinian people in gaza. the ones who recognize that there is a benefit to this pause, and this engagement with the united states and qatar and the egyptians. and so therefore, i think there's a spectrum of folks, and there's probably divisions within hamas right now about the way forward, because i'm sure some of the militant core wants to go forward and try to reposition their forces, so that they can then attack israeli troops once this pause ends. but also, i think there are some within hamas who recognize that there needs to be some way to alleviate the suffering of the palestinian people, and to not just continue to escalate this. because it clearly is they'll be outgunned, outmanned, and ultimately hamas is going to, as a terrorist organization, it will be destroyed. hamas is the organization that i think is going to be forever illegitimate. but the palestinian people in gaza ultimately will need to

have somebody representing them. that's going to be able to advance their very legitimate interests. >> this is such a -- we talked a lot about the next day plan, or what the next day plane actually is. i want to ask you, there is -- israel is facing a great deal of international pressure, including from within the united states over civilian deaths in gaza. and the pressure is only likely to intensify, especially as we see more happening and more of the devastation on the ground. what will you be watching for, over the next couple of days, or weeks, in terms of a shift, globally? a shift within the united states about the type of support that global powers are willing to provide to israel? >> well, i think first of all, israel had been proceeding with clearly maximalist objectives in their military operation. working methodically through the north of gaza, and really having plans to move to the south, where there are up to 2 million people, many of whom

are displaced from their homes. and you also have prime minister netanyahu indicating that there is going to be this kind of open-ended is really a military -- which is directly contradictory to what president biden has said, which is he doesn't want to see reoccupation of gaza and they'd like to see a palestinian governing authority, perhaps the palestinian authority themselves, resumed control of gaza. so what i'm watching is, john, if this military operation resumes at the scale that it was at, i think that the international blowback to that is going to be very severe. because we have never seen a casualties like this. there are nearly 50,000 people dead, there are also probably -- i don't know, 1 million people who are homeless. what's going to happen to them? what is the long term plan? i think what the world is really going to be pressing and the united states is going to be pressing, what is the plan here? what's the endgame? where does this and? because if it's just an ongoing open-ended military operation, you're going to continue to see death on this scale, because it is such a densely packed area.

and there is not an answer to the question of who's going to administer gaza and what's going to happen to all these people who have lost their homes. and what is the plan to rebuild here? and so what i think watching for, is does the military operation resume at the scale that it was at, or is it more targeted? is there a clear coming together of the israeli and american international positions about what the future of gaza's? and if not, does the biden administration move to -- i think, more willingness to publicly differ from the netanyahu government on this? because thus far, they've tried to hug them in public and deliver tough messages in private. i think that's going to get harder and harder if the military operation resumes at the scale it was at. the only thing i want to say, jen, because it's important, it's not reverting to an october 6th status quo. because part of what happened is israel's garden was down. i don't think there's any scenario in which that border is not heavily, heavily manned by the idf, in which they're taking shots at anything they see that hamas is doing that they don't like.

and so we do have to be clear here that i think israel is going to be more secure, even without an ongoing military operation, then they were on the day that the attack took place. and that's a good thing, obviously, and that should allow for space for conversation about what is the future of gaza, and how do we address the humanitarian and in fact political crisis? >> the future of gaza, this is such a big question. there probably has not been enough focus on this. and you've been raising this from weeks ago, kind of what happens next. because there is hamas, there is the political faction, there are not other countries in the region that necessarily want to govern gaza. what does it look like, and what should we all be watching? >> it's so hard to tell, and i think we have to take this day by day. but looking out into the future, it's clear that the israeli military is going to remain inside of gaza for quite a bit of time. there's no way that they're going to pull out and just allow hamas to reconstitute itself there. so there is going to be some kind of israeli presidents to ensure that hamas does not pose

that terrorist threat to israel. but then we have to find a way for the palestinian people to be working with the federal arab states, as well as -- to see whether or not there can be some semblance of a governing authority that is going to be able to take care of the palestinian people. but this is something that i think is going to be very long, very complicated, and very difficult. but i do think that it's going to be impossible for the palestinian people buy themselves to be able to reemerge from this crisis, this conflict, this devastation of gaza by themselves, they're going to need the resources, the arab states, of the countries, and the saudis, and others. they also need some international support from the united states and multilateral organizations, that are going to help them rebuild gaza, both physically, as well as figuratively, in terms of being able to put back in place something. but this has to take place along with the discussions that they're having, the palestinian aspirations for a palestinian

state realized. there has to be some track there, and it can't be just gaza separately from the west bank. it has to be the palatine people overall that really need to realize the rights and aspirations that they have sought for so long, and that's going to require a change of netanyahu's government, and the israeli government, -- >> new leadership. >> i think new leadership is definitely going to be required here. but this is going to take a bit of time, but there needs to be a process that's put in place that's going to be supported and endorsed, by the international community, by the palestinian people, and by the israelis themselves. >> do you think if and when fighting starts again, that israel will take less maximalist approaches? >> i think they're facing significant pressure from the biden administration right now, as ben says, to reduce the scale and scope of the strikes. they have to be more precise in terms of their targeting, they have to think about portion algae, they have to think about distinguishing between civilian and militant targets, this is something that i think they cannot just repeat what they've

done over the last six and a half weeks or so before, this pause. the international condemnation of israel is growing, and the united states, if we start to publicly criticize and near condemn what israel is doing, it's really going to hurt israel. and so therefore i do think that maybe this period of pause not just is going to result in the release of some of these hostages and prisoners, but also is going to give the israeli military and israeli government officials a time to recalibrate what they're doing, and to try to address directly the terrorist threat, but not cause the great devastation and bloodshed that these seven weeks or so of strikes have resulted in. >> it'll be an interesting thing to watch. we are seeing some footage of red cross fans with hostages, they are arriving at the rafah crossing right now, so we will see some footage, hopefully, of hostages getting off of these buses in vans, as we've seen over the last couple of days. ben, i just wanted to ask you about domestically, what's happening here in the united

states. because there's unquestionably -- we have seen a very strong reaction, and opposition i think it's fair to say, especially from young people, to the actions of israel in gaza. do you -- also, there have been some in congress who are calling for conditioning of aid. i wanted to ask you, it hasn't been an overwhelming number of people calling for conditioning of eight at this point, but you've seen movements like this and congress before. do you anticipate this will be a real question congress is considering? and how are you viewing the politics of this in the united states at this point? >> well, i mean, john, i think we should just be honest. there is a pretty significant disconnect between the majority of democrats elected in congress, and really key elements of the democratic base. young people, voters of color, arab and muslim voters, who aren't just kind of casually observing this and disapproving. i think there is an intensity of people feeling like they don't see themselves in

american policy, that offers a blank check of support to the kind of suffering that we are seeing in gaza. and the idea of seeking good -- billions of billions of dollars in assistance for military efforts that are killing this number of civilians, i think that this is a real issue. and again, like assad, there's an intensity to it. and i think that there is good questions that younger people are asking, like if the administration is saying that they believe that the israeli military campaign has to take into account the lives of palestinian civilians, house to follow the laws of war, but if there is absolutely no consequence, if israel doesn't heed that advice, then what exactly is our leverage here? so i do think you're going to see more and more voices calling for conditioning of assistance, based on the proportionality or based on regard for civilian casualties. but also based on this question of what the endgame is.

if there is not -- keep in mind, this israeli government, under netanyahu, is not committed to a two state solution. they don't believe in a two-state solution. and they have some of the most aggressive settler constituencies pushing deeper into the west bank to make a two state solution impossible. that was the policy of the netanyahu government, when this war began. and so i think that the logical questions, and i think need to be asked by some democratic members of congress, is how can we not condition assistance on an israeli government at least having a commitment to a two-state solution? at least agreeing to rein in the kind of settler violence that we've seen in the west bank, at least agreeing to try to follow the laws of war in their military campaign in gaza. i don't believe, jen, that's going to be the majority of the democratic caucus. but i do believe that that's something that a number of senators and members of the house are going to start to push, and i also think that this is a sentiment that is going to continue to come up from particularly younger voters in the democratic party, and that's not going to go away. i think this is an issue that

people really deeply care about. >> no, it's such an interesting, almost movement among young people and so many people of the democratic base to watch. i know you've been closely watching, as have i. director brennan, beyond the domestic politics here, around the world, if you are sitting in your old job, part of irresponsibility would probably be to be staying in connection and rebuilding some of these relationships with countries in the arab world who may be frustrated about the role of the united states. what have those conversations looked like, sound, like most of them are happening behind the scenes, of course. >> i think there's general consensus that israel's security needs to be assured. and so there's recognition that we need to do everything possible collectively, internationally, to make sure that terrorists are not able to carry out these atrocious attacks. at the same time, though, i do think sympathy for the palestinian people's growing, and sympathy for the israelis is dwindling. because we recognize that this large scale death in gaza, 14,

16,000, whatever, including so many women and children, is something that needs to stop. and therefore, they see that israel has this big powerful military that's just pummeling the residents of gaza. so i think that this international support that israel has enjoyed for many years, but -- is dwindling, especially among developing nations and countries that really are identifying with the palestinian people. those individuals who have long sought freedom and liberty themselves, see that the palestinians, for the past 75 years, have not been able to realize those legitimate rights and freedoms that pages of. so this is something that i think netanyahu has been ignoring for so long, but this is something that i think most of these really people, i'd like to think that most of the israeli people, recognize. just like israel has a right to exist peacefully, so to does the palestinian state have a right to exist. and thorniest we mutual recognition on both sides about the others rights. >> director brennan, thank you

so much for bringing your expertise here on such an interesting day. ben rhodes, thanks as always for joining us. our breaking news coverage continues after this quick break. stay with us. break. stay with us

>> two days ago, two days ago one of our fellow americans, a little girl named abigail, turned four years old. she spent her birthday, that birthday, at least 50 days

before, that held hostage by hamas. and today, she is free, and jill and i, together with so many americans, are praying for the fact that she is going to be all right. you know, she is free, and she is in israel now. >> moments ago, president biden spoke about the release of an american hostage, four-year-olds abigail mor edan, who just celebrated her birthday on friday. joining me now with more is eamonn moiety, he is the host of ayman on msnbc, and he's reported extensively from the region and from gaza. ayman, thanks for joining me, and for keeping us all informed throughout the past 50 days. i just want to start by asking you about your reaction to what you've seen over the last couple of days, what are people not talking about, or what has been sticking out to you? >> i think the most important thing is the mechanism of releasing the hostages and creating a diplomatic framework that now is clearly working to

deliver both the safe passage of hostages back to israel, but at the same time, allowing for humanitarian aid to be delivered into gaza. the release of palestinians that have been held inside israeli jails, being returned to their families. so what has clearly been established over the past couple of days, which is what i think a lot of the officials have been speaking to in the region are hopeful about, is that this diplomatic mechanism, this framework for dialogue that has allowed the last three days to bear fruit can actually be prolonged. keep in mind, this was something that certainly -- believed could have been established much earlier on in this conflict, when this war broke out. they had actually shown to the americans and the israelis that hamas, based on what they were saying publicly and willing to do on the ground with the release of the americans and the two israelis early on, they were prepared to enter into this kind of framework. but here we are almost seven and a half weeks later, and it has taken -- i think the focus is how to they build on this momentum to

prolong it so that the suffering in gaza comes to an end. >> you've done some really interesting reporting on the role of the countries in this, explain to us a little more about why there was that delay. why it didn't happen earlier, as you reported. >> so, according to the sources that i was speaking to, john, when this conflict broke out, when the attack happened on october 7th, the terrorist attack against israel happened on october 7th, it was clear from that moment that qatar was going to play an important role, for one very simple reason. that hamas's leadership, it's political leadership, right sides and don't have. so they were able to gather the leaders of hamas there and begin to speak to them about what had happened, what they knew about these hostages, and more importantly, why they wanted to take these civilian hostages. and from that moment on, it became clear that the chaotic situation that unfolded after october 7th included many layers of information that i think we are still learning about. who kidnapped all of the hostages, who was responsible

for them, which of the palestinian faction had them under their control. and as the countries began to assess that information, relate to the americans, relate to counterparts they were talking to inside israel, it was clear that hamas was willing to release some of these hostages, certainly the civilian hostages, that they weren't interested in keeping. so the pressure began to mount from the countries, with the americans on the israelis as to whether or not the priority of the operation, the military operation going into gaza, was going to be about releasing the hostages, or, as they claimed, to try to destroy hamas. and it seems certainly to negotiators at those odds in the beginning were somewhat contradictory. but if you really wanted to release the hostages, and had been demonstrated, there was going to be this attempt, as the military wouldn't have shown, they were willing to release the hostages without any preconditions. so qatar played an important role in beginning that confidence building measure. but there are certainly things and calculations that the israeli government that was making that were not --

as to why they still went ahead with the bombardment, the ground invasion, up until what we saw three days ago. >> such interesting reporting, i encourage everybody to read it. he's written about this. ayman, i want to ask you. tomorrow is day four of a four-day pause. what happens on day five, six, and seven? some of this we don't know, but what are you expecting, what are you watching for? >> well, the first thing i'm watching for is whether or not hamas is able to consolidate the remaining hostages that israel believes currently exists inside the gaza strip. and i say that because what emerged from the early days of the reporting around this was that hamas was telling the intermediaries they did not have all of the hostages that were being reported to be missing under its control. some had been taken by other palestinian factions, including islamic jihad, others had been taken by palestinian gangs and smugglers and individuals. so hamas was trying to say to their intermediaries that if you wanted us to try to consolidate all of these hostages that you say are

currently inside the gaza strip, you'd have to give us time, you'd have to pause so that we could find it where they are to try to bring them under our control so that we can secure the release. the reason why we were able to get the four-day truce is because they were able to establish and demonstrate that they had at least 50 hostages in their custody, at the beginning of the truth. so we knew that they could guarantee the release of at least 50 hostages. they have claimed that they have about 70 hostages that are israeli soldiers that they will not be releasing until more negotiations and i complete cessation of the violence. so you can take those 70 or so is really soldiers out of the mix for now, but that leaves about 100 or so that are still unaccounted for. so hamas is saying to the international mediators, to their countries and the egyptians, if you want to prolong this cease-fire, then we would be able to go out, find out where these other hostages are inside the gaza strip, bring them into our control under our consolidated control, and begin to release them as we have been doing with the civilians. but if the war resumes, we will

not be able to guarantee the safety of the remaining civilians that you claim are inside gaza, being held by other factions or other palestinians. >> it's such an important thing to watch, as you just outlined. because all of these hostages, as you just explained, are not necessarily with hamas. they could do with these other militant groups, hamas is responsible for negotiating with these groups, it's a very challenging situation. ayman, thank you so much for all of your reporting. also for joining me this afternoon. our breaking news coverage continues after this quick break. congressman eric swalwell is standing by, stay with us. ngressman eric swalwell is standing by, stay with us. standing by, stay with us. because when you purchase one, we donate one to those in need. visit bombas.com and shop our big holiday sale. bombas. give the good. whenever you're hungry, there's a deal on the subway app. buy one footlong, get one 50% off in the subway app today. now that's a deal worth celebrating. man, what are you doing?! get it before it's gone on the subway app. ♪♪

[holiday music] ♪ for people who love their vehicles, there is only one name on their holiday list... weathertech... laser measured floorliners that fit perfectly in the front and rear... seat protector to guard against spills and messes... cargoliner, bumpstep, and no drill mudflaps to protect the exterior... and cupfone keeps phones secure and handy... [honk honk] surprise!! shop for everyone on your list with american made products at weathertech.com... my daughter and i finally had that conversation. oh, no, not about that. about what comes next in life. for her. i may not be in perfect health, but i want to stay in my home, where my family visits often and where my memories are. i can do it with help from a prep cook, wardrobe assistant and stylist, someone to help me live right at home. life's good. when you have a plan. ♪ ♪ >> welcome back we're

continuing to follow breaking news out of israel and gaza, today 50 days after the october 7th attack, 17 additional hostages were released. including four-year-old american abigail mor edan. joining me now is democratic congressman eric swalwell of california. i want to start, we've all been watching and reading about abigail's story, and just to get your reaction watching

these hostages released, and also hearing about her release. >> i'm thrilled that she's with her family and what remaining family she has. she's lost her parents, she spent her fourth birthday in gaza on friday, and i met with her family, i know some of the members of the family, and she's the first american to be released, and so that's a good thing. and with three little kids of my own, you don't want to see any more children in this conflict hurt. >> we were just talking about it, because our kids are similar in ages, just thinking about the older siblings watching their three year old sister hide under the bed, i just can't even imagine that. moments ago, president biden also spoke and he said he hopes the truth can be extended as long as possible. let's just take a quick listen to what he had to say. >> how many days would you like to see the polls go on for? >> i would like to see us move to a point where we are able to

-- let me put it this way. i'd like to see the pause go on for as long as prisoners keep coming out. >> there is a lot to weigh here, obviously, because bringing every moment somebody is reunited with their family as a joyful moment, in what has been a very difficult, horrific situation to watch. there's obviously been thousands of casualties, civilian casualties on the ground. what is your hope in terms of how long this truce extends, with the conditions should be? >> every hostage needs to be returned to their family. so i think first, that has to be the priority, including the americans coming home. hamas has to be defeated, can no longer rule over gaza. and israel has a supreme responsibility to protect against the loss of innocent life, and allow humanitarian aid to come in. and also, in a way that we have not seen in the past, to make sure that palestinians and the jewish people can each have a state of their own. and have economic prosperity,

and safety. there is nothing easy about this, this is a complex conflict that has raged on for decades. but if the united states is going to be involved, those are expectations that we must have. >> watching the situation on the ground has also been devastating. the loss of civilian life in gaza, the lack of food, water, more trucks are going, in more needs to happen. some of your colleagues have called for conditioning of aid to israel. what do you think of that? >> we should've expectations that israel commits to a two-state solution, that israel does allow humanitarian aid and. but we should support their efforts to defeat hamas. because hamas we'll continue to bring barbaric attacks against the jewish people, and people in the united states, who they have also declared as their enemy. again, there's nothing easy about this high wire act of defeating hamas, protecting innocent palestinians, and protecting the jewish state.

but if you step back, i think you have to be an aggressive listener in the situation, my district has one of the largest muslim american arab populations in the country, and understand the islamophobia that they're experiencing, the numbers they have in the conflict, and also to understand that antisemitism is at a peak in this country right now, parents are concerned about their kids being out in the community. you can do all of that, you can say hamas is a terrorist state, you can say is real should protect against innocent life, you can be pro palestinian, anti hamas, and pro jewish state, and against the leadership of israel right now, and not be contradictory. as i say, you have to be an aggressive listener right now, and i think we will all be better off, and the policy would be better if that's the approach we take. >> would you like to see the united states doing more to pressure prime minister netanyahu to take more steps to reduce civilian casualties? >> yes.

first, president biden has does that. and i'd also like to step back and think about the heat president biden has taken, and think what the alternative would be? if donald trump was president at this time, can you imagine what the scenario would be in the united states? -- in a world war three like scenario with iran, hezbollah, and hamas. president biden has not sent a single american into the conflict, and he is now pulling american hostages out of the conflict. we're supporting israel, we're getting aid into the region, so far we've held off other enemies of israel and america, that's why president biden was elected, and that's why i think he needs to be given the room to negotiate what is ultimately the resolution of this conflict. >> congressman eric swalwell, thank you so much. so much to discuss, in a future conversation about congress, about families with different political views, i hope you come back very soon. >> thanks don. >> that does it for me today, we will be back tomorrow night at eight pm eastern what we

will bring you updates on all of this and more, and of course we will be back next sunday at noon eastern. stay right where you are, because there's much more breaking news coverage coming up after a quick break on msnbc. uick break o msnbc. msnbc. deserves it! ♪ (mom) carolers? to tell me you want a new iphone? a better plan is verizon. (vo) this black friday weekend, turn any iphone in any condition into a new iphone 15 pro with titanium, and ipad, and apple watch se, all on us. only on verizon. ma, ma, ma— ( clears throat ) for fast sore throat relief, try vicks vapocool drops. with two times more menthol per drop, and powerful vicks vapors to vaporize sore throat pain. vicks vapocool drops. vaporize sore throat pain.

in order for small businesses to thrive, vic they need to bes. 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. breaking news at the top of the comcast business. powering possibilities. hour, a new day of meetings, including an american hostage just released from gaza. a stunning day in the skies, why it could be a record breaker, plus, stone kalitta me