presidents, president elect and a president working together through diplomats from around the world to try to put together a very complicated deal that may, we hope, bring home israeli hostages, american hostages, those alive and dead, and also bring food and help and reconstruction to the suffering people of gaza and some political healing, a future that american diplomats have been talking about endlessly in all of these missions. that does it for this edition of andrea mitchell reports, chris jansing reports picks up all of the breaking news coverage right now. >> on good day, i'm chris jansing, live at msnbc headquarters in new york city. >> following the news that the world has waited 15 months to hear, israel and hamas have

agreed to a ceasefire and hostage deal, according to a hamas official and an israeli official briefed on the talks. now, this truce would essentially pause the war in gaza, providing space for talks on a longer, perhaps permanent ceasefire. we're waiting for final details, but preliminary information is that hamas would release 33 hostages, including americans, in exchange for palestinian prisoners. crowds are already gathering in tel aviv hostage square, demanding the israeli government seal the deal. and in gaza, scenes of jubilation as their long nightmare looks like it's coming to an end, at least for a while. and two senior administration officials say we should expect to hear from president biden on this deal. joining us now, nbc's raf sanchez, who has covered gaza and the hostage crisis extensively from the beginning. marc polymeropoulos is a former cia officer and msnbc national security and intelligence analyst and ambassador. dennis ross, msnbc foreign affairs

analyst, counselor at the washington institute for near east policy and former special assistant to president obama. welcome to all of you. raf, we still haven't heard from prime minister benjamin netanyahu, but give us a sense of the reaction that you're hearing and what has to happen next. >> well, chris, you are seeing some of the reaction on your screen there in gaza. >> there is jubilation among people there that after 467 long and bloody days of war, they are now daring to hope that this conflict may finally be coming to an end. >> we are holding our breath at this point. what is been agreed here, according to multiple officials, is phase one of a three phase deal. so this first phase would be a six week cease fire. during that cease fire, we would see some 33 hostages released. they are from the so-called humanitarian category. chris. so we are talking about

women, children, the elderly and people who are seriously ill or seriously wounded. in return, we expect that israel would release hundreds of palestinian prisoners, that israeli forces would withdraw from the main population centers in gaza, head towards the borders of gaza, but that they would not leave the gaza strip entirely. and the hope here is that during this first phase of the deal, negotiations will continue in doha, qatar, where this first phase has been agreed to try to get from phase one to phase two. phase two would see a complete end to the war, the full withdrawal of israeli troops and in return, the exchange of all israeli hostages still being held in gaza. we have seen these cease fire talks come close and collapse before. we have seen the one cease fire that was agreed back in november 2023. it

lasted just one week before it fell apart. some 105 hostages came out of gaza. there were seven brief days of respite for palestinian civilians. and then the shooting started again. and since then, those marathon negotiations have continued. but this is the first time that a cease fire deal has been agreed. chris, amid this moment of hope, it is worth just reflecting that the deal that appears to have emerged out of qatar today is not significantly different from the outline that president biden laid out back on may 31st from the white house. he talked then about a phased deal hostages, released, prisoners exchanged. what has happened, though, in those months, since may, many, many thousands of palestinian civilians have lost their lives. many hostages have lost their

lives, including americans. i'm thinking of hersh goldberg-polin, that young man kidnaped from the nova music festival, murdered by hamas in a tunnel underneath gaza over the summer. and so there is a feeling that this deal, while it is a deep relief that it has been reached, it could it have been reached sooner? could more lives have been saved? but the news today from doha, qatar, that israel and hamas have at long last agreed to a cease fire agreement? >> chris, thanks for that wrath. i want to bring in ruby han, the father of italian and american israeli hostage. thank you so much for being with us. what are you feeling right now about this apparent cease fire deal? >> well, i think gratitude to president biden and his team, specifically mr. mcgurk. >> nsc coordinator to the middle east that has been camping out

in qatar, as well as the trump administration, and specifically mr. steve witkoff, president trump's special envoy. >> that also has been in qatar for the last week. we are very grateful for what is happening, but at the moment it seems that it is a partial deal and it is somehow connected to a second phase that will only happen in a number of weeks. and my son, a us citizen, as well as four other u.s. citizens, are still going to be put in the second phase. so it just means that there needs more work to be done to enable me and 64 other families to be reunited with their family members still in gaza. >> can you help people to understand what this 15 months have been like for you and your family?

>> as you say, i have this picture 167. so it changes every day. >> it's a constant question what do i do today that will move the return of my son one inch. last week we decided myself and my wife that the best place to be actually is in qatar, to be close to the negotiations. we felt as if, you know, having a list of names on an excel sheet is not the same as needing to look somebody in the eye and having him question you about, well, we are the negotiations and making sure that we're doing everything possible. so me and my wife, we met officials from the qatar government, from the prime minister office, minister of state, nsa, as well as meeting mr. mcgurk and also in contact with mr. steve witkoff and urging him to be physically in qatar in order to provide the

guarantees that the biden administration has been providing for this agreement, that the trump administration would also guarantee as well. those pieces of the agreement that were needed to make sure that we could get to where we are now, as you have been living this, there have been times when it looked like a deal might be close, and then it turned out not to be. >> and i wonder how confident you are right now that this cease fire deal will indeed bring back all of the hostages still held in gaza. >> yeah, that's the billion dollar question. i think there's a lot of positive energy. i think since the elections, the trump effect has provided the negotiators extra motivation to get this done. it is a framework, but as it is being conveyed to us, there's only the first part that is being

guaranteed. the second phase is still questionable as it is the middle east. it's only like a match light away from blowing up always. and the only thing predictable about the middle east is it being unpredictable. so we need to try as much as possible. push that. the second phase, with the release of the additional hostages happens as soon as possible, and hopefully both sides will see the benefit of the cease fire and understand that we need to move quickly to a more permanent ceasefire and get the hostages out, as well as also starting to try to give the people of gaza that have been a human shield for this terrorist organization, the humanitarian aid that is also required for them to be able to start beginning and piecing their lives together. >> you mentioned that you and your wife were in doha during these negotiations, and in fact, you've traveled the world. you have been a relentless advocate

for your son. so i remember about eta. he was a big basketball fan, right? nba fan, that he was an athlete himself. but tell people about your son. >> yeah. so just about the basketball piece. you know, i'm a new yorker, as you could hear. and, you know, very proud new york knicks fan. and for the love of god, i do not know how i became a celtics fan. so, you know, that was you know, one of the things we would talk a lot about, he is the middle child, so he has an elder sibling and a younger sibling. so he is the connector by loving, you know, life of the party, always in the middle of things, sings, dances. he has a loving girlfriend waiting for him. we still question what his status indeed is. notified according to intelligence, but it's

difficult to explain. but. but there's no physical evidence and hamas has not provided any statement about him. so, you know, we just got out of christmas and hanukkah, the season of miracles. maybe there's something waiting for us as well. and we just want to have closure and be able to have an ending to this chapter and end our suffering and be able to move and process, you know, whatever the future has in store for us. but it will always be a big part of our lives. and it's so unfortunate, you know, there's no competition in pain and there's been too much pain for these 15 months, and i am again grateful to the us administrations as well as the title officials and egypt and anyone that has helped us get to this point. but as i said, work

is not done. there are still us citizens that will be still hostages even after this first phase. and the united states should and does have a commitment. and i know after meeting mr. mike waltz and mr. steve witkoff and mr. adebola, all of them have showed their personal commitment to me and to my family to getting this done. and you know, next week we will be at the inauguration. we were invited by the president trump's inauguration team. and i have this vision that, you know, when president trump is giving a speech, he could come and say to me, mr. khan, i'd like to share with you that your son is coming out as well. so i still have that hope of happening. >> you've mentioned so many of the people who have worked so tirelessly over the course of these 467 days to make this moment a reality. but there is, of course, the deeply personal side. the families of the other

hostages. and no one can fully understand what this time has been like in the way that they can. how much of we just got, i should say, we just got a statement from the families of the american hostages and thanking the tireless collaboration between israel, egypt, qatar and the united states, and going on to mention the work that was done. but what have those relationships meant to you through this time? >> yeah, so i tried to backtrack and see how many times we talked and met mr. jake sullivan, national security adviser. it was 24 times since this ordeal happened. you know, i think it's extraordinary the amount of effort that he has put in. we, the us families, you know, have been on constant. journey through the white house and the senate congress. i think it's also important to mention the bipartisan support that we have gotten from congress and senate

and urging the 118th congress, as well, to do even more to put pressure on the parties to make sure that they're doing whatever is needed to get all the hostages out. there are different levers that have not been used yet. and i urge our friends in congress to also make sure that there's no daylight between the house and the trump administration. and we, the families, have become, you know, a very intimate group of people that have been able to share, you know, our tragedy one with the other. and it is bittersweet, like, you know, we're very happy for those that are coming out, many families will be reunited and women, children, elderly, but still, you know, it's still a feeling that there's more to be done. it is not like november last

november, where we had the women and children coming out, and there was no expectation, at least from my end, that i, as a young male, would come out. but after 467 days, everyone is humanitarian. danny. judy, idan. sagi, omer, kiss. they all family members and we want them all out. so we are grateful and it's a time to be joyful for those that will be reunited. but there's still work to be done. >> well, i know that so many people who are watching will pray along with you and your family. ruby for a miracle for itai. ruby. ken, thank you so much for being on the program. i'm much appreciated. joining us now is the democratic senator from delaware, chris. i think you had an opportunity to listen to the end of the story of a father who has waited 467 days

to hear that there could be some light, perhaps at the end of the tunnel, some answer to his questions of knowing what happened to his son with certainty. and he believes there is more that congress can do, as he says, levers that have not yet been used. what do you say to him and to the parents of the other hostages? >> well, chris, thanks for a chance to be on on what i hope will prove to be an historic day in achieving the release of hostages, a ceasefire between israel and hamas in gaza, and the first step on the path forward towards peace. the final details of this, and confirmation that it's been ratified by the israeli cabinet are not yet clear, and i'm hoping we'll have a statement from the state department in the coming minutes. but i do think that we in congress need to double down and continue to provide robust support for the families of american hostages, frankly, for the families of all the hostages who remain. october

7th was a horrific day when hamas took hostages from many different nationalities and many different backgrounds, and they have held them for 467 days. now, one of the things the biden administration has done is to create a special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, roger carstens. one of the things i have found encouraging is that steve witkoff, who has that same role as special envoy for the middle east, and adam boehler, who has that role as special envoy for hostage affairs, are working hand in glove with the current special envoys from the biden administration. that we are at this moment is a tribute to how hard president biden and senior members of his administration the cia director, secretary of state, national security adviser have worked for months and months meeting, as you just heard from ruby, meeting with the hostages families, meeting with leaders throughout the middle east, pressuring qatar and through

them, hamas pressuring israel to try and make sure that we can get to an enduring cease fire, deliver humanitarian relief to gaza and get out the hostages. this has gone on too long, but there has been relentless, tireless effort by president biden and his senior team to get to this day. >> you mentioned ruby, and i know that you have met with hostage families as this war has been underway. can you speak, senator, to the influence, but also just the unbelievable strength of these families who have not for a moment stopped advocating for their loved ones? >> i was part of a bipartisan delegation from the senate, ten members, democrats and republicans who went to israel to tel aviv just two weeks after the october 7th attacks. and i will never forget our meeting with the families, the american families of hostages that day. i, in particular met with john and rachel, whose son hersh had

subsequently been killed but was a hostage for more than a year. and i've stayed in regular touch with john and rachel. and as you say, chris, they've been incredible pillars of strength, persistent, clear, consequential in their advocacy for the hostages. and so have the other hostage families from a wide range of nationalities and backgrounds. >> this news came, of course, as a confirmation hearing is underway for senator marco rubio. rubio, who is being considered for the next secretary of state. he addressed the possibility of a cease fire deal during the hearing. and i want to play part of that. >> i am hopeful that that there is an agreement in place that will bring hostages back immediately and in exchange and in a three phase plan that secretary blinken sort of has outlined over the last 24 hours, and that credit to both the biden administration and the trump transition work side by side on helping this come about. and i hope that comes about. >> and part of that phrase, part of that, that deal, as i

understand it, is it has this very tenuous but important six week transitional period where it's going to require international cooperation to bring some level of stability and administration, and that could serve as assuming it works, that could serve as a foundation to build upon two questions that that that raises for me. >> one is how important will it be, senator, to have a secretary of state in place during this transitional period? but but beyond that, the idea that a special envoy from donald trump was able to work seamlessly, apparently with the people on the joe biden side who have been working on this for literally more than a year. does that bode well, do you think, for the possibilities in what is a very divided country, as you well know, chris, i did have a chance to talk with senator rubio, my partner and colleague here in the senate for 14 years, about that exact question. >> first, i think it is a positive sign that you've got a

special envoy for the middle east and a special envoy for hostage affairs, both from the biden administration and the incoming trump administration, who are speaking and partnering and working well together to make sure that there isn't a period here, a drop or a failed transition. i do expect that senator rubio will be confirmed. he conducted himself well in today's confirmation hearing. as i said in the introduction of my questioning of him, i have three questions for all the nominees. do they have the relevant qualifications and experience? do they have policy views that put the interests of the american people first, and have the character and integrity to lead the large and important departments they've been nominated to lead? unlike senator rubio, who i think answers all three of those positively, several other nominees to lead, for example, the fbi in kash patel or the department of defense in pete hegseth have real questions about either their character or their qualifications. that's the

whole point of a confirmation process, is for us to move swiftly to confirm, after appropriate hearings and thorough questioning, those who are qualified and have good policy positions and have shown integrity, and to question or block those who do not. >> senator chris on a very busy day on the hill, but perhaps a day to be glad that now some families who have been suffering so much, and of course the hostages themselves may be coming to some closure from this horrible episode. thank you so much, senator. it's always good to see you. i want to bring in raf sanchez, who continues to follow this for us and raf. we have been waiting for this news conference in doha with the prime minister there for some time. do we know what's happening? >> so, chris, a couple of moving parts here. first of all, that press conference was originally scheduled for several hours ago. the camera crews went in, they did the mic checks. it all

looked set to go. and then all of a sudden, without a whole lot of explanation, everything stopped and official briefed on the talks told us there was a last minute snag, and the prime minister of qatar went back into his office with the delegation from hamas to try to iron out one final issue. now that official says that that issue was ironed out, i will tell you, chris, in just the last couple of minutes, we have received a statement from the office of prime minister benjamin netanyahu of israel. this is the first official statement from his office since this news of a cease fire deal, confirmed unofficially by multiple people familiar with the talks. this is a two line statement. i'll just read it to you in full, and then we can talk about the context. netanyahu's office says due to the strong insistence of prime minister benjamin netanyahu, hamas folded on its last minute demands to change the deployment of idf forces in the philadelphia corridor. what his

office is saying there is that hamas, at the last minute, according to israel, tried to change something around the arrangement of how israeli forces were supposed to be deployed along the egypt gaza border. now, this has been one of the key stumbling blocks throughout these negotiations. israel refusing to fully withdraw from that border, saying that if it does, hamas will resume smuggling weapons back into gaza from egypt and that it will rearm. we are waiting to see the final draft of this deal, to fully understand what has been agreed upon along that very contentious border. the second sentence of this statement from netanyahu's office says. however, several items in the framework have yet to be finalized. we hope that details will be finalized tonight. now, chris, we are seeking clarification from prime minister netanyahu's office about what exactly they mean that several items in the

framework have yet to be finalized. we have multiple officials, israeli, hamas, others briefed on the talks who say this deal has been agreed. this statement from netanyahu, his office, does not directly contradict that. but it does sound like there are still certain issues, potentially around the implementation of the deal that have not yet been buttoned down, and it may be that it is this last minute wrangling that is leading to that delay that we are seeing in qatar right now. it is 9:24 p.m. over there. that is still relatively early by the standards of negotiations that have gone on into the early hours of the morning. but it does appear behind the scenes. something is going on. that means that the prime minister of qatar does not yet feel able to come in front of that microphone and address the world and

announce what we are hearing from multiple officials that there is an agreement in place, whether that also impacts potential plans for statements from president biden and other u.s. officials. we remain to be seen, but it is just a reminder of how devilishly complex these talks have been that you have hamas and israel, who are literally mortal enemies who until a couple of hours ago were still shooting at each other. now also trying to finalize this complex agreement. so that is the first statement we have got officially from the prime minister's office. i will say we also got a one line statement from the israeli military. they are saying that they are making preparations to bring the hostages home from gaza, and that they have given a code name to the operation to bring those

hostages back. they are calling it wings of freedom. i think it is very, very, very unlikely that israel's military would be publicly announcing the codename of this operation if they did not feel that this deal was agreed upon, and that there would be soon hostages coming out. but we continue to wait with the rest of the world for this now long, long delayed press conference by the prime minister of qatar. >> chris. all right. thank you for that update. raf. let me bring in ben rhodes, former deputy national security advisor. you know, a little bit about negotiations. so i wonder how you read this. should we not be surprised that there might be some last minute wrangling given, as raf just pointed out, the devilishly complex nature of everything that came before? or do you sense a little nervousness, perhaps with several items yet to be finalized? in the words of bibi netanyahu, well, i think we should not be surprised. >> i mean, part of what is so

both simple and complicated about this, chris, is that this is essentially the same deal that has been on the table since the spring. but there are these issues, like the philadelphia corridor, that have kind of constantly been the back and forth in the negotiation, as well as just the general willingness by both hamas and the israeli government to take the leap into an agreement. and so i think part of this is just the difficulty of nailing down the precise details of something like what an idf military deployment might look like in the philadelphia corridor. but also, chris, and you've covered politics. part of this is the political posturing, frankly, of how a deal is going to be framed. and i think for netanyahu, he is trying to bring along people who are even further to his right and his coalition. and so therefore he's trying to signal in that statement, i mean, it's, you know, transparent. he wants it to appear that hamas folded at

the last minute on something as a means of kind of shoring up his political support for this agreement. so i think it's a combination of nailing down the final details of some of the most contentious aspects of the agreement. but i think it's also the kind of preliminary framing from both hamas and certainly from what we heard in that statement from the israeli government, so that they're in a stronger position when they do go out to announce it, to say that they extracted, you know, concession at the end or that they, you know, prevailed in a negotiation. and so i think we're in that interim period where there's pretty much an agreement. but parties are also trying to begin to frame how that agreement is announced and received publicly. and i think that has to do with, you know, internal politics as well. but when you have this degree of momentum and this degree of assurance that an agreement is coming, it would be to me very

surprising if somehow we don't hear that final announcement in the coming hours. >> joe biden is expected to speak publicly soon. this is something that was probably the biggest thing on his agenda that had not yet been resolved. he's made no secret of the fact how hard he has had his team working on this, and how much it has meant to him personally. what would you expect to hear from him? >> well, you know, i think we heard a bit of a preview of how he kind of is framing the completion of his presidency and his foreign policy speech the other day, in which, you know, he obviously defended his support for israel throughout this process while lamenting the suffering of the palestinian people. i think this was obviously an extraordinarily painful period. that is a definitional issue for president biden and his legacy on foreign

policy. i think, you know, you'll hear him talk about how hard he and his team have worked to try to recover the hostages and try to bring about an end to the conflict. look, i mean, i think the reality also isus. donald trump has made it known since he was elected that he wanted this completed by the time he took office. and donald trump has a lot of leverage right now as it relates to prime minister netanyahu, in some ways, precisely because they are more like minded. they are kind of more strongman types on the political right. and so i think, you know, we have to acknowledge that this is both the outcome of, you know, negotiations not just by the united states, but by qatar and egypt and obviously israel and hamas and others, but also this kind of convergence of the end of the biden administration and the beginning of the trump administration. the timing of both men, joe biden

and donald trump had a lot of interest in this being done by january 20th. and i think it's that timing that seems to have pushed over the goal line. >> and we did see that before we heard from joe biden. we got a statement taking credit from donald trump. having said that, let me ask you the question that i asked senator, which is do you think that this bodes well potentially for what may happen going forward, at least the things inside of what we expect to be marco rubio's purview. he is expected to be confirmed as secretary of state. the fact that the outgoing and incoming administration were able to work together to apparently get us to this point. we will see when somebody comes to the podium there in doha. but what do you think it portends? >> you know, honestly, chris, i don't overstate that. i mean, first of all, marco rubio was always going to be the easiest confirmation of the national security appointments in terms of democratic votes. but in

terms of this issue, the reality is there's not a lot of difference between the biden administration and the trump administration's approach to the conflict between israel and the palestinians. i mean, that's part of the reason why, you know, i've been somewhat critical over the last several months. i think what it you know, what what is most important today is that hostages, hopefully are going to be released and reunited with their families and that the people of gaza who've suffered hell on earth. have the potential to get peace for a period at least, and assistance in. but going forward, on the question of this conflict itself, this is not the end. even if you get to that phase three, which is the cease fire, there's still the question of the future of gaza. who's going to be administering gaza? what's the future of palestinian governance in gaza? what's the future of hamas? the west bank is very volatile. so this does

not end the conflict or the underlying conditions that brought about the conflict in gaza or the west bank. that will continue to be a challenge for the trump administration. and then in terms of kind of bipartisanship, look, this this issue is, you know, uniquely been a bipartisan one, not just the last couple of months, but, you know, there's broad support for the israeli government in the us congress and that we've not seen that lead to bipartisan cooperation on other issues. chris. so i think we have to you know, this is the reality. this is an issue in which joe biden and donald trump don't have a lot, don't have a lot of daylight between them. and if anything, i think, you know, trump giving this a bit of a push because there was this convergence of interest in the timing of the trump inauguration as a time to get this done. yes, that that was an interesting and successful hopefully, coordination between them. but i don't think it augurs bipartisan

cooperation on issues that are not related to this. >> a reality check from ben rhodes. it's always good to see you, ben. thank you so much for coming on the show. let me go back to ambassador dennis ross, and thank you for being so patient as we've been going in and out of this news. look, you have done negotiations like this for both democratic and republican administrations. the amount of work that has gone into it, the days, weeks, months, it is said to resemble a deal president biden talked about months ago. so give us your big picture. take on where we are now. ambassador, how major an achievement this is and how concerned should we be that something could still take it off track? >> well, first, as ruby chen was saying earlier, one thing about the middle east is what's predictable is the unpredictability. whenever you think you have everything lined up, you always find there's something that can intrude. now, having said that, i think this is an interesting point of

departure. there was no question in my mind there was a trump effect here that bibi netanyahu found it very difficult to say no to trump and didn't that the qataris wanted to show to trump that they were a valued partner. and he could be he should look to that relationship. they they always want to demonstrate the value they have. so i think that created the trump effect, that trump effect reflects leverage that he has coming in. and the question is, can he use that leverage to take advantage of building on this deal? he wants to expand as a priority in the middle east, the abraham accords, the saudis will insist that they can't even begin to discuss any further moves on the issue of normalization with israel until israel is out of gaza. this three phased agreement would actually produce a commitment only in the second phase to israel, ending the war and getting out of gaza. but if

you're president trump and you want to be able to move on normalization, getting israel to that point is something that will be important to you from the standpoint of the israelis, it's also an incentive for them. but there's also an issue that will be part and parcel of this, which is not just getting out of gaza, but there'll have to be a palestinian dimension to that normalization. for prime minister netanyahu, that's important. but dealing with the issue of the iranian nuclear issue is even more important to him. so you have the potential, given what israel has already done in terms of changing the fundamental balance of power in the region, with the weakness of hamas, with the crown jewel of what the iranians call the axis of resistance, meaning hezbollah having been dramatically weakened as well. the proof of that is we're seeing a real new government and independent government emerge in lebanon, iran itself, its own weakness. all of these things create a different landscape and a potential for not only doing

normalization, but also possibly a deal with the iranians. now, the iranians will hold out to minimize how much they would have to reverse their or scale back their nuclear program. but i think you're looking at a very interesting potential, because israeli military achievements have changed the balance of power in the region. the question becomes, with this as the first step, can you build on it? the potential is there just looking at how difficult it is even to conclude, this is an indicator of how difficult it will be to take full advantage of this. but i guess my point to you is there's an interesting potential in the middle east right now that has not existed for a long time. president trump has leverage, leverage for administrations is always a wasting asset. unless you have success. very quick success that will build it. if you don't have quick success, it begins to

diminish a symbol of that success. >> mark. obviously, the most visible one would be something that we have not seen in a very long time, and that is the joyous pictures of the release of hostages. but let me ask you about your take on the timing of this, about the trump effect. and do you think he will be able to use that leverage? >> well, i think, chris, one of the most interesting aspects of this is that, you know, when incoming president trump talked about, you know, you know, raining hell down on the middle east, a lot of people thought that would be giving the israelis, you know, more free rein, whatever that would mean in gaza. >> but as a matter of fact, it was that actually the trump team was putting pressure on netanyahu for the deal. and i think that is something this trump effect is something where we should look towards pushing the israelis and pushing netanyahu to accept certain things that he certainly that he does not want to that eventually could lead to, you know, certainly a settlement in in some ways with hamas and gaza.

but then, as ambassador ross noted, with normalization with that palestinian dimension. but but, chris, there's one thing that i think that we should we should focus on now. and it's going back to, you know, really the incredible interview you just did before with the father of one of the hostages and that we're about to see some visuals when the hostages come out that are really dramatic and it's going to be the trauma of october 7th is going to come all over again, because these deplorable conditions, you know, certainly stories of, of probably sexual harassment and abuse, it's going to traumatize israelis in a way in which i think that a lot of us it's going to be very disturbing to watch. it's going to reignite, you know, one debate in the sense of what to do about hamas. but the other is, you know, why did this agreement take so long? and as rob said before, this is essentially the same agreement that was around in july. >> yeah. i want to both of you, if you could stay with us both mark and ambassador. but i want to bring in nbc news chief foreign affairs correspondent andrea mitchell and peter baker, the chief white house

correspondent for the new york times and an msnbc political analyst. if i can pick up andrea on where mark just left off, because there is that question. right, the hostages released, that will be a moment of unbelievable celebration. there's also the reality of the stories that they will have to tell about what life was like when they were taken, what life was like in captivity, and how that might impact the road going forward. and the implications of this release. what's your take on that? >> well, first of all, it actually is very similar to the deal that was proposed by president biden in may. and then that was almost agreed to in july. but then there was the assassination of haniyeh, the hamas leader in tehran, which is very provocative, very successful israeli targeted assassination, which led to other events. and the region has changed. and, of course, what happened with hezbollah helped change the reason the region and make it more isolate hamas.

let's face it, iran is weaker. hamas was isolated. so finally they made important concessions. and israel, yes, with pressure from president trump, president trump last summer, when netanyahu was here in the u.s, met with the president, met with the vice president separately, then went down to mar-a-lago. president, candidate trump, then before he was even president elected, said at that photo opportunity, get this done, finish it. and then starting on december 2nd, when he tweeted when he posted on truth social, get this deal done, hamas, there will be hell to pay in the middle east if it's not done before the inauguration. now there's some last minute haggling, but we see that qatar is ready to announce it. i'm told that the israelis will speed it through the security cabinet and, of course, the full cabinet, and that it will then

will be ready to be implemented in a day or so. but then there's a 48 hour waiting period to see if it holds and to get the arrangements made to bring those hostages safely out, to transfer them from there. the hamas terrorists who have been holding them to the red cross or some intermediary. look, this is really complicated, as you know, as you've been talking to. i've been talking to ruby when he came back from doha last week. ruby. and with aviva segal, who i met with, i mean, i've met met with the hostage families on all of my trips as i've traveled with secretary blinken. bill burns made 19 trips to multiple countries, but 19 separate trips since october 7th, 13 by secretary blinken. and certainly more time spent, a lot of time spent by jake sullivan and more time spent actually in the talks by brett mcgurk, who's been the chief u.s. negotiator at all of these, often with bill burns at

his side with the intelligence officials from israel, from egypt and from qatar as well, and galleries and the egyptians dealing with hamas. so it's indirect talks. and after haniyeh was killed in tehran by the israelis, he was the outside man for hamas. the political negotiator. then they had to deal with getting messages to sinwar inside gaza. then sinwar was killed accidentally, but it was done by an israeli hit. and then they realized that they had him. and now it's been his brother, his younger brother, mohammed sinwar, who has been the inside man. but there are three different branches of hamas, and that has been what has made this so complicated to close this 100 plus page deal. so it's going to be hard to implement. and the tragedy to the people in gaza, the tragedy to the israelis, to the hostage families, they've lost so many. and as mark was just pointing out, this could have been done in july for certain and it

should have been done probably. and there have been protests that the prime minister and hamas did. each side did not make it a priority until they saw that it was in their interest to do so. but we've lost a lot of lives, and right now, ruby and other families are going there advocating for getting the remains of their children. it wish it had been otherwise, wish hirsh goldberg was still alive. you know, this is to be devoutly mourned with these families. and the tragedy is that in the region, both sides were not willing to make a deal sooner. and i should also add that hamas was, for all intents and purposes, defeated to the satisfaction of the former defense minister, the defense minister, yoav gallant. gallant at the time was here and told us at a briefing, we've done with that. we now have to deal with hezbollah. and he was fired as a result of taking that position in contradiction to the

prime minister. >> andrea, thank you so much for that. peter, in the minutes after the reports came out that the deal had been reached, donald trump posted on social media it could only have happened as a result of our historic victory in november. of course, as ruby pointed out when i talked to him, as andrea just said as well, you know, you blinken, sullivan, burns the amount of work that has gone into this on the part of administration officials to get this deal done. what would you expect to hear from president biden? and are both men right in taking credit? peter, you may be muted. all right. sorry. there we go. great. >> chris, i think you're exactly right. i think both presidents will certainly take credit. and both of them have a share to claim. joe biden has been working on this for a year, practically, and he has devoted

an endless energy. his team has been living in the middle east, practically flying back and forth. you know, you know, just extraordinary efforts to make this happen. and as andrea said, it's pretty much the same deal today that it was, you know, eight months ago or so. so obviously you can't take away that from them. but at the same time, it's hard to imagine that trump's arrival on the scene didn't prod this to a completion. and the fact that the two teams were willing to work together, that steve witkoff, the president elect's new special envoy to the middle east, worked hand in hand with brett mcgurk, president biden's white house middle east coordinator is an extraordinary thing. i can't think of another transition where you had an outgoing and incoming president working together, in effect, on such an important issue in this kind of transition moment. but now that they've finished working together, they're going to work apart. they're going to start, of course, competing for credit for who was the one who really got it done. president biden will probably be less overt about it than president elect trump already has been.

but he wants, i think, to get credit. this is what he wants to get done. by the end of his administration. he worked very hard for it. he believes that his team, you know, deserves the credit that will come with it. but most important, i think what he'll say is he's just glad that these hostages will be out and the families will be able to reunite with their loved ones. and for those who have lost loved ones, will be able to finally come to some closure and finale for them. so it's going to be a moment. i do think this is an extraordinary moment in presidential history, as well as in a milestone in the middle east. >> well, you have talked about this deal in the final moments of biden's presidency, as reminiscent of jimmy carter's final day, when he won days when he won the release of the american hostages in iran. but when you think about what joe biden has been through in recent months, obviously stepping aside, not running for reelection as he had planned an election that he said, i think it was just last week that he believes he could have won. and handing over the white house,

essentially the keys to 1600 pennsylvania avenue to a man who he believes is a threat to this country and a threat to democracy personally. what does this mean to joe biden? >> well, i think for him, it will be seen as kind of a moment of validation, right? a little vindication that finally, finally, finally he managed to get the outcome he's worked so hard for, even in these final days, he has strained mightily to achieve this. you're right. >> i have to interrupt you because they have come to the podium in doha, qatar. >> let's listen. in qatar, egypt and the united states to announce the success of the joint mediation efforts and the fact that the two belligerents and the gaza strip have reached a deal on the prisoner and the hostage swap and announce a ceasefire in the hopes of reaching a permanent cease fire between the two sides, as well as allowing the access of large quantities of relief aid to the palestinian brothers in the gaza strip. first off, i would like

to thank our partners in the arab republic of egypt, the united states of america, notably the envoy to the middle east of the president elect, steve witkoff, as well as the mena coordinator at the us national security council, mr. brett mcgurk, for their efforts that contributed to push these negotiations forward and reach this deal. i would also like to express my deepest thanks and gratitude to our brothers from the arab republic of egypt and his excellency, the minister, hassan rashad, who have contributed and made serious efforts in collaboration with their qatari partners in order to make this deal a success. with the approval of both sides and the negotiators on this deal, in order to finalize all executive measures for tonight. and after that, we will be taking all the internal measures. apologies. the israeli government will be taking the

internal measures, after which the agreement will enter into effect on sunday, january 19th. >> the exact timing will be identified later. >> the phase one of the agreement will go on for 42 days, and it will include a ceasefire and the withdrawal of israeli forces to the east, away from populated areas. israeli forces will then be positioned along the gaza border and which will allow for the swap of prisoners, as well as the swap of remains and the return of the displaced people to their residences. this will also facilitate the travel of wounded and sick people in order to receive treatment. phase one also includes an increased flow of relief and humanitarian aid to all parts of the gaza strip, as well as the rehabilitation of hospitals, health centers, bakeries, and allowing the entry of fuel and civil defense equipment, as well as basic

necessities for displaced people who have lost their houses as a result of the war. and phase one, hamas will be releasing 33 israeli captives, including civilian women and female recruits, as well as children, elderly people, as well as civilian ill people and wounded and returned for a number of prisoners who are being held in israeli prisons. prisons. regarding phases two and three, the details will be finalized during the implementation of phase one. the state of qatar reaffirms the necessity of both sides committing to the implementation of all three stages of the agreement in order to prevent civilian bloodshed and in order to shield our region from the consequences of this conflict and ensure that we have lasting peace in the region. qatar will continue its joint efforts with the arab republic of egypt and the united states of america to ensure that all sides are following through with their commitments and engagements, and ensure that all three stages will be implemented. we look forward to seeing regional and international efforts coming

together in order to assist with relief and humanitarian aid, and supporting the united nations in its attempts to enter aid into the gaza strip. qatar will spare no effort to offer help to the families and the gaza strip, and doing everything that's necessary to alleviate the suffering of the residents of the strip. since october 8th, we in the state of qatar saved no effort with the constant under the constant and watchful eye of his highness sheikh tamim bin hamad al thani, we work day and night in order to reach this moment, and since our mediation efforts succeeded last november to guarantee the release of 109 hostages and return for a number of palestinian prisoners, we have been working continuously in order to prevent bloodshed and put an end to the war machine and restore hope for our region in a prosperous future that will allow our people to dream of a better future. for 411 days, meetings and contacts continued with our partners and both sides of the conflict until

we reach this long awaited moment today. however, today begins a responsibility for both sides who will be supported by the international community and the mediators in order to achieve complete success. and this is what we will be focusing on in the coming days and weeks. i would also like to express our thanks to all our partners in the region and internationally for their support to our efforts all the way until we reach this deal. and in conclusion, i would also like to. remind our brothers in the gaza strip that qatar will continue to offer support to our brothers in palestine and that this happens under a under the close watch and the watchful eye of his highness sheikh tamim bin hamad al thani. day and night, hour by hour and minute by minute, we would like to tell them we give thanks to allah for bringing us to this moment today, and

hopefully this will be the last page. in the days of the war. we would also like to call upon all sides to fully commit to all the articles of this agreement, and to continue implementing these procedures and measures in accordance with the agreement. the state of qatar will continue working jointly with its partners in order to make sure that this deal is implemented in full and that calm returns to the gaza strip in a sustainable manner. and we will never give up the people of gaza. thank you. first question sky news from sky news. >> congratulations. this is a huge moment for you, as you say, have been working on this deal for many months. and the question is why now? why this moment? >> and was it pressure from the incoming trump administration that got it over the line? >> thank you. >> well, thank you very much for

this question. actually, we've been raising the question of the right moment for the entire period since the collapse of the first phase, but we have seen a momentum that started to build in the last month, and we kept pushing for that, working together very closely with our partners. and i can say that what we have seen from the us in the past few days, seeing a collaboration transcending both administration, was a clear demonstration for the commitment of the us to reach to that deal. and i really would like to thank both the envoys who are here with us in the last couple of days, and they played a vital role in reaching to this moment. and, of course, for us and egypt, this is something that we are a stakeholder in that conflict, that we have to do it and we have to help and support. but we have seen the steps

that's been taken recently from the us has has yielded to this moment. cnn, cnn. >> congratulations. thank you very much indeed. and to steve witkoff, who's becky anderson from cnn. >> congratulations to you. >> and to steve witkoff, who is also here in the room. how much confidence do you have that the deal will progress beyond phase one, sir? >> well, we have faith, becky, that brought us to this moment. and i think that's that's the most important part that we are committed. we will continue to do everything we can, everything possible to together with our partners to ensure that this deal is implemented as it's agreed, and this deal will bring us peace, hopefully at the end of it. i believe that it all

depends on on the parties of the agreement and acting in good faith in that agreement in order to ensure that no collapse happening to that deal. >> can i just follow up? >> what mechanisms are in place to ensure that neither side breaks the ceasefire? >> there is a follow up mechanism that egypt, qatar and us are going to handle. it will be placed in cairo. and this follow up actually will be a joint team from the three countries that will monitor the implementation of the agreement, and everything has been agreed upon and will be in place, hopefully on the day of the execution. thank you. >> thank you. >> reuters. thank you. >> prime minister, congratulations. andrew mills from reuters. can you talk a little bit more about this follow up mechanism? if elements of the agreement put in place tonight are violated, what will

happen? who is it that is going to report and that that that a violation has happened? >> and how will that violation be communicated to the parties, the world, the guarantors of this agreement? thank you. well, this is this is what i have just mentioned to becky. there is, there will be a follow up mechanism that all the parties will be placed in egypt, and they will follow up the implementation of the agreement. there will be a reporting mechanism for any violation, and those violations will be addressed at a very early stage. look, we expect from the parties to adhere to the agreement. we expect the parties to stay committed to what they have committed themselves to in that agreement. but we know that these kind of agreements are very complex and will have some issues down the line. and we are ready and we are we will stay committed to address those, those issues ahead of time.

>> prime minister, just as a follow up, the last truce that was in place in november 2023 did fall apart on the eighth day. what has changed in this agreement that will ensure that this has less likely to fall apart than that agreement was? >> well, the agreement on november was to build the momentum in order to lead for a longer term agreement, which we have today. but unfortunately, the agreement in november was very transactional. so it was like a day by day. but this agreement has a clear mechanism for the first 42 days, and there is a clear mechanism to negotiate phase two and three. and all the details of the agreements will be published in the next couple of days, once the details are finalized. thank you. so at al jazeera, al arabiya. >> your excellency adnan from al jazeera. question number one. do you think that this agreement will lead to a