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>> we got you get $30 off at roh covid day. >> hey good morning. it is saturday. i'm sorry. sunday, january the 19th, 2025 i'm ali velshi. this hour we are awaiting an exchange of hostages and prisoners, part of a fragile ceasefire between israel and gaza. in the coming hours, we expect to see three female israeli hostages released separately. looking right now at red cross vehicles, this is a convoy on its way to re to retrieve those three hostages. separately, israel will release around 90 palestinian prisoners, all of them women or minors. president biden is expected to give remarks on the cease fire

deal. this hour. will bring that to you live as we continue to follow this developing story and just i guarantee you, we'll stay on top of the story as things develop. the only development we have at the moment is that the red cross convoy has is on its way to the point at which they will collect the hostages, the helicopter that will transfer those hostages has landed. so all seems to be in place for this hostage exchange. but as we have continued to say, and as many different ways as possible in the last several hours, this continues to be a fluid situation. meanwhile, at exactly noon tomorrow, donald trump is going to be sworn in as president for a second term. we'll have more on that in a moment. but i want to talk for a moment about martin luther king jr in atlanta on april 10th, 1960. doctor king addressed spelman college. it's the nation's oldest historically black college for women. as a morehouse man, this was something of a homecoming for king, he told the audience, quote, morehouse men always consider it a privilege to speak

to spelman ladies, end quote. they were sister colleges in atlanta. doctor king's profile was a civil rights activist. as a civil rights activist was growing. it was the dawn of a nationwide student sit in movement, a nonviolent civil rights protest tactic. and that particular movement started in greensboro, north carolina, when a group of black college students sat at a woolworth's lunch counter and were denied service. they refused to leave, and the next day, more students joined the sit in a wave of sit ins spread across the across college towns in the this line e if you can't fly, run. if you can't run, walk if you can't walk, crawl. but by all means,

keep moving. end quote. keep moving. doctor king was telling those college protesters. he was telling black people all over the jim crow south. he was telling any and all americans, black or white, who were seeking a free and just nation to hold the line. when times get tough, do whatever it is you have to do and whatever it is that is within your power and ability to do, to hold the line. tomorrow on martin luther king junior day, donald trump will be sworn into office for a second time. for many americans, 75 million. in fact, it's not how they envision january 20th, 2025, 75 million americans voted for a different outcome. this election was presented as a do or die for democracy and for american freedoms. pregnant women are dying now as they lose access to prenatal care and abortion. parts of the country are literally on fire. retribution is being promised at the highest levels of the incoming government, and our outgoing president is leaving on a note

of warning about a new american oligarchy that is rising to power. many of you saw the writing on the wall and did what you felt was right leading up to and on november 5th, but it was not enough. and so here we are. still, it's not too late when donald trump takes the oath tomorrow at noon eastern, when he puts his right hand on the bible and utters the words, i do solemnly swear that i will faithfully execute the office of the president of the united states, and consider that your starting line. that is the moment when your work, when our work truly starts. your vote on november 5th was crucial, but this time it wasn't enough. and so we who consider ourselves foot soldiers for democracy, well, a brand new job begins for us tomorrow at noon. and that job is to find and pave a way forward. doctors do not walk into the exam room and decide that the patient is too sick to treat. firefighters don't show up at the scene and say, this

fire is too big. our ladders aren't long enough, our hoses won't reach the top and then leave. they all, like us, are not given the privilege of saying this job is too big. this job is too tough. in fact, the opposite is true. never before has your work been more important. we all face situations every day that we did not choose, but what we can always choose is how to respond. and in this case, the response is to find a way. your way forward. there are tangible things you can do right now. petition your elected official about officials, about positions that you think they should take. stand against them. volunteer for organizations like planned parenthood or community groups that are fighting book bans. get involved in your local government, from your community boards to your school boards to your city council. vote in every election, especially your local elections, your school board, your town council, your dogcatcher. do not forget judges exercise your right to vote each and every time that right is available to you. engage in

peaceful, peaceful protest. as the late john lewis said, get in good trouble. donate to causes dear to your heart. don't eschew politics, because being cynical about politics is a privilege of those who have never had to live a single day without it. our ancestors didn't struggle, fight, and in some cases die so that we could look away because it all feels like too much. at the very least, simply stay informed because there is nothing more powerful in america than an informed citizen. this country has faced difficult times, much more difficult than the moment in which we are living right now. history is steeped with examples of americans who persevered through the darkest of times the civil war, the original sin of slavery, segregation, jim crow. it took time, it took grit. but each time this nation came out at least a little bit better on the other side. and it's thanks to the resolve of our ancestors who fought hard for the freedoms that we enjoy today. anti-democratic forces have

prevailed in the past in america, but not for long, because we the people did not allow it. the work before us might take a long time. there's no way to know where we are in this fight. it's not a sprint, but it's not a marathon either. because when you're running a marathon, at least you know how many miles you have left. think of this as a relay. we push ahead as far and as fast as we can, and then we pass the baton to the next person passing that baton over and over and over again, knowing that every stride gets us closer to our shared goal of reclaiming our democracy. as timothy snyder, the historian and expert on authoritarian authoritarianism, writes, quote, most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. in times like these individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want and then offer themselves without being asked. a citizen who adapts in this way is teaching power what it can do. end quote. so do not obey. do not adapt. hold the

line. president biden gave his final address to the american people on wednesday night, saying, quote, we must not be bullied into sacrificing the future, the future of our children and our grandchildren. we must keep pushing forward and push faster. there is no time to waste. now it's your turn to stand guard. may you all be the keeper of the flame. may you keep the faith. end quote. it's a sentiment that is not unlike the one that doctor king shared with the students of spelman college 65 years ago. if you can't fly, run. if you can't run, walk. if you can't walk, crawl. but by all means, keep moving. i told you about the importance of holding the line on democracy. democracy, especially in this moment, as donald trump is set to return to power tomorrow. for more on this, i'm joined by jon meacham. he's the distinguished professor and chair in the of in the american presidency at vanderbilt university. he's a pulitzer prize winning author. he's the presidential biographer. i should mention

that jon occasionally advises president biden on historical matters and major speeches. john, thank you for being with us today. i'm not making this up. i really believe i'm not turning away tomorrow. i am going to see this as a work that needs to be done. no one is off the hook. if your team didn't win, you're not off the hook. in the preservation of democracy. >> not at all. i think you're exactly right. and i was thinking when you were quoting doctor king in his final sunday sermon in 1968, four days before he'd be shot to death in memphis, he was at the washington national cathedral, and he said, i can never be what i ought to be until you are what you ought to be, and you can never be what you ought to be until i am what i ought to be. >> that's the way god's universe is made. >> that's the way it's structured. this is a moral question. democracy is fundamentally a human undertaking. it's a recognition of human frailty, of human appetite. >> it's an attempt to check us

from our worst impulses and to point a way to where our best impulses might find fruition. >> and so, because it's human, it's going to be up and down and back and forth. >> i mean, everyone watching is a better person than i am, but i know that which is not hard. >> so don't get cocky. >> but i know that if i do the right thing 51% of the time, that's a heck of a good day. so why would the country be any different? as a democracy is the manifestation of all of us. the other moment that i think of sometimes when i'm feeling some self-pity about the wages of history as it unfolds, is 1857, when a supreme court ruled that black people were not included in the declaration of independence, had no standing in the american order other than the fact of their enslavement. and there were a lot of white progressives, as we would call

them now, who wanted to pull out of the constitutional compact. at that point, william lloyd garrison and others burned copies of the constitution, said it was an agreement with death and a covenant with hell didn't really seem to think out. well, what would happen to the 4 million enslaved people if the north pulled away? and it was frederick douglass who had been born and enslaved men in maryland who said, no, that the fiat of the almighty let there be light, has not yet spent its force, and that there is no soil more conducive to the growth of reform than american soil. if a man born into enslavement in the middle of the 19th century can think that, i think we can. >> i'm writing it down. there's no soil more conducive to reform than the american soil. it also strikes me, and i've covered inaugurations, as you have for years. they are important. they are stately. there are all sorts of things, but it does not make the person being inaugurated

more important than the most important person in america, who continues to remain the american citizen. and i think that becomes hard to understand because we don't have ceremonies often celebrating just american citizens. but you as an american citizen who casts a ballot, we fought in revolutions and in wars to make sure that the american citizen is a the utmost primacy in our democracy. >> yeah. >> well, that's the entire complication. >> it's the hard work of democracy, which is, i believe, counterintuitive. i think democracy is countercultural to who how human beings are arranged. i wish we were all better people. i wish that we all did the right thing because it was the right thing. but all human history tells us that we tend to do what's good for us, at the expense of what might be good for the many, right? the good for the whole. and so the brilliance of the american

founding was to recognize that, to recognize our fallibility, to recognize our frailties, and to create a system where no one force could be predominant. and so the we, the people, and as you said, in a brilliant way earlier, the definition of we the people in many ways is the story of the country. what is the antecedent of we the people? to go full dork is in many ways the story of the american experiment, and it continues to unfold. and questions of human identity and power and respect, shared prosperity. these are all absolutely at the heart of who we are. and it is a we and a president. and look, given what i do, i study the presidency. i write about it. i'm fascinated by it. but presidents are not

just makers of who we are. they're also mirrors. right? and so we are part of this. all politicians, all people, i would argue. but certainly politicians, as lincoln said, act on incentive. and so one thing for people to do is if someone in the congress or if someone in public life is doing something you approve of in these coming 48 months, let them know, because everybody lives on their phone. right? steve jobs, the most important american who was never president, let them know, because let me tell you something. the people who want them to do the wrong thing are applying that pressure. and so don't as as you quoted timothy snyder, don't preemptively surrender, don't unilaterally disarm. >> the benefit of being a

historian is that you understand, and this is not just in america, but around the world. there have been dark, dark moments where the worst things have happened, and it looks like that it can never get better, and yet it does, and yet it can. we just have no sense of the timeline. we don't know whether this is a two year thing or a four year thing, or a 40 year thing, a generational thing, we don't know. but if you don't know, you have no other choice than to be who you were before the election. i'm going to just interrupt you for me for a second. john, we are getting confirmation now out of israel. the israeli military has confirmed now that three hostages, the three hostages, who we are expecting to have been freed. this is hostage square in tel aviv that you're looking for. we are getting confirmation now from the israeli government that three hostages have been released and are on their way out of gaza. now, this information is very fluid. it's moving very quickly. so i'm going to ask my control room to keep confirming to me whether we know they are out of gaza or they are at an idf base.

the description that we are getting from the idf is that they are on their way out of gaza. now, here's the mechanics of this. we saw a helicopter that will take the most likely to a base, but the, the, the place they're going to come from in a gaza border crossing will probably be via ambulance. we saw a convoy of red cross ambulances who are going in to get the three women who we understand are being released today. there are three women. we do understand from reporting that we've been getting that they are in need of health care. so they will be taken first by the red cross. at some point, they'll be transferred into a helicopter, where they will probably be taken to a medical center, both for treatment and for and for debriefing before they are given over to their families. what we do not know of, and what we believe will be later in the day after this has happened. again, it is it is many hours later already. you

can see darkness in in hostage square in tel aviv. we will then see the return of palestinian prisoners, probably about 90 of them women and children, and they will be going to a point in the west bank. that's where they will be released. nobody, no, no, palestinians are being released back into gaza just yet, and civilians are not being allowed, who are not in gaza are not being allowed back into gaza just yet. so the released, the released palestinians will go to the west bank. you can see everybody watching very closely. these are families and supporters in hostage square in tel aviv who are gathered waiting for something. you can see expectant looks on their faces, but we all we know now is the idf has said they are on their way out of gaza. we will continue to follow this very closely and as i get more information, i will pass it on to you. so at the moment, that's what we're going to stick with. i think we're going to hang on

to that for a second. i think i'm going to go back to you for a second, john, to ask you just about this particular moment. this comes on the last day of joe biden's presidency. obviously, this will stretch into into donald trump's presidency because this is this will be a many week episode. one of them, it will form one of the most important parts of this presidency. >> president biden spent 52 years involved in the life of the nation. as you mentioned before, he's my friend and i've helped him what i could. and so take this for what it's worth, but it was a has been a remarkable life. and the fact that this is unfolding in the final hours of his presidency is a reminder of the importance of that work. and that work doesn't end right. it depends on who the you know, no matter who the

president is important life and death, flesh and blood things unfold every day. that's why this job matters. that's why the calculus of democracy that we're talking about matters so much. and so there's something poignant, and it's wonderful that the hostages are are being freed. obviously, we can't ever forget. sometimes it's very easy to forget. i know i do in the cut and thrust of, of the political battle, that there are human beings in the center of this. and i'll tell you one thing, that's something that joe biden never forgot. >> the there's been a lot of talk donald trump had his his guy steve witkoff in on the discussions. and there's been talk about the fact that they were helpful and questions about who gets the blame or who gets, you know, who takes credit for it. i couldn't care less at this

point. i mean, i know this is the business of historians, but if there are hostages were freed and there are palestinians who get to live without the bombing of the place they live, anybody who wants can take credit for it. >> absolutely. we shall know them by their fruit. right? yeah. no, i don't think it. i don't think it matters a bit. and i think that a reminder of what a mature democracy should do is we should be focused on results and not the credit. at this point. you're right. we can settle all that in the fullness of time. but what matters is that american power was used for good, and that's what's got. that's what we're here to talk about, right? that's what we're here at a potential inflection point to worry about is will american power be used for the good? >> we don't have active troops fighting in wars around the world. but your question is

really valid. will american force be used for good? because we're in a dangerous world. we're looking right now at a dangerous part of it where if this ceasefire goes into place, it will be marginally less dangerous than it was yesterday. you know, by by people are cheering and very excited, by the way, in hostage square. so it does seem that they've got some word that these hostages are on their way in israel. by the way, people use telegram and whatsapp, so they may be getting information faster than we are, but there's a look of anticipation and, and, and happiness on the face of a lot of those people. but but, john, the world's not a safe place at the moment. we've got we've got north korea, we've got china and taiwan, we've got russia and ukraine coming up on the third year of that. we've got an actual genocide going on in, in sudan. and the role of america in the world is a tricky thing going forward. there have been some indications that donald trump would like to be an isolationist, except that he wants to take over greenland and the panama canal and, and canada. but but the world kind

of needs america to be at its best in the next few years. >> and i would argue it always has. american power is not the same as american force. i want to be clear about that there, particularly in the middle of the 20th century, thinking about the post-world war ii period. if you look at what president truman and president eisenhower and president kennedy confronted almost on a daily basis, you're talking about the potential for conflicts in a seemingly isolated part of the world having an impact that might create a nuclear crisis. and it happened again and again and again. it was happened in suez. it happened in quemoy and matsu. it just happens. and that's not going to change. that's what statecraft and diplomacy are. and it's why the american

presidency, particularly particularly since 1945, matters so much. there's a very important thing, if you'll allow me, that's going to happen tomorrow is and that is that president trump is going to receive again the means by which to deploy the deadliest arsenal ever rendered in human history, the american nuclear arsenal. it is the most power we, the world has ever put in a single person's hands. and that has been true since the summer of 1945. it's why, i think, besides all the other reasons, it's kind of the threshold point of why this office matters so much. and so that will shift tomorrow. you know, we'll see the pageantry and we'll see. and there will be the notion that we've moving

back to a period that so many people wished had been an aberration, as opposed to a feature of american life, but that's really the most important tactical, tactile, i should say, tactile thing that's going to happen tomorrow. and that is that this immense military power is changing hands, and it will do so because of president biden and because of vice president harris. it will do so in 2025 without a bump. does it not do that in 2020 and 2021? president trump did not extend that tradition. it has been restored. the question now is will the fact will the attempt to undo an election have been an aberration, or will we see it

again? >> one of the things i want to get back to this, what we're looking at on the screen, you're seeing bottom right of your screen. we've got a lot going on here. underneath the picture of john and me is charleston, south carolina. that is where president biden has just landed, and he is on his way to a church where he will be delivering remarks, which we will bring you live as well. there you can see the back of his head there, president biden on the left. you're looking at hostage square in tel aviv, which has been a daily regular gathering point not just for hostage families, but for protesters and people who have taken great issue with the israeli government. one of the important things to note is this deal, this this cease fire deal, which seems to have gone into effect, was a deal that was largely available to all the parties on may 25th, may 1st of this year. in fact, it was a deal that was initially negotiated by the biden administration. since then, at

least one hostage is known to have died, and many, many palestinians have been killed in the ongoing war. so there's a great deal of frustration. while there's jubilation and excitement that prisoners will be freed and hostages will be released. and that is a good thing. and there's jubilation and excitement about the fact that there will be a cease fire. that is a good thing. but there are a lot of people frustrated, saying, if this was essentially the deal that you could have had all those months ago, why did we wait for this? so there's a great deal of frustration within the israeli government at the moment. we'll be speaking to people about that through the course of this, this, this couple of hours. but what you've got is joe biden on the right in charleston, carolina, you've got hostage square. what we do have is confirmation from the idf that three hostages as planned, three women have been handed by hamas to the international red cross, and they are in a convoy. i guess they're being checked. these are the three women. they are they are being debriefed and being given the medical attention that they require. they may be sent to an air force

base that is adjacent to gaza before going home to wherever their families are. i want to go to tel aviv. i don't know if she's in tel aviv right now. she's somewhere between israel and the west bank. i know that she's been moving. this morning, nbc news international correspondent daniele hamamdjian. danielle, where are you and what's the latest on the ground right now? >> yeah. good afternoon to you, ali. we're in a place called beitunia in the west bank. and behind me is the drop off location where the palestinian prisoners will be dropped off by bus. ofer prison, which is where many of people here are held, is behind that white van. you can't you can't really see it. i'm going to turn around the camera. these are the family members of the prisoners who have been waiting here all afternoon. they'll be waiting all evening to be reunited with the prisoners who are going to be released. 90 in all, 69 women and 21 children, most of them

from the west bank. and they are the first batch of prisoners released in exchange for the first three hostages. now, it's unclear how many of them were detained in what's called administrative detention, which is a law that dates back to 1945. before israel was even created. it was it was used under the british mandate of palestine. and prisoners are held without being charged, tried often, don't even know what the evidence is against them, and they're held indefinitely. and save the children will tell you that the most common alleged offense is stone throwing, which carries up to a sentence of up to 20 years. now, again, it's unclear how many of the children have been held for those reasons. we're still waiting for a bit of clarification, but that is the scene here tonight and we are told as part of the terms of this deal, for every civilian released, there will be 30 palestinian prisoners for every

soldier released, there will be up to 50 in all, well over a thousand prisoners will be released, some of them serving multiple life sentences described by israeli officials as having blood on their hands. and they will not be able to live either in gaza or the west bank. but they'll have to live in a third country, whether it's be qatar, turkey or egypt. but those prisoners, some high profile ones only yet have yet to be determined and will likely be released in the second phase of this ceasefire deal if we ever get there. ali. >> right. and that everybody who talks about this talks about if we get to the second phase, that people will be very happy if this first phase actually works out and sets the ground for further discussions. there is some talk that if within the six weeks of the first phase, everything is not completed, as long as negotiations continue to be underway, they will complete them. it's 5:30 p.m. where you are right now. we do know that the idf, the red cross, has the

three women who hostages, who we understood to be that were going to be released. so that part is completed. the palestinian prisoners that you're expecting to be released. tell me about timing on that. >> that's still unclear. what i can tell you is that the women, 69 in all, they were bused in from another prison in haifa, which is in northern israel, northwestern israel, and they are going to be bused in to ofer prison, which is here in the west bank. and i understand that they'll be bused to this location where, as you can see, family members and friends are here. i have to say, if this is anything like last time back in november 2023, they will have been told that they are not allowed to celebrate their release. no parades will be allowed. and ben-gvir, itamar ben-gvir, who was up until just a few hours ago, the national

security minister, of course, he resigned in objecting to this deal, said that it was like supporting terrorism. so no celebrations expected. and, you know, some of them have been you know, if you ask people here, some people have been arrested in the past for social media posts that israeli officials found questionable. i have been here so many times trying to talk to people on camera, asking them their thoughts on the war. and so many people have told me, we've got friends who've been arrested for facebook posts. we're not going to say anything publicly on camera. and human rights organizations will tell you that the bar is very low for arrest in the west bank. there have been reports and investigations, certainly by nbc and by human rights organizations, on the conditions inside those prisons, allegations of abuse, of torture, not just physical abuse, but sexual abuse as well. and so those are the conditions. and those conditions have

worsened since october 7th, 2023. the number of children, the number of individuals in administrative detention has surged. and as part of this deal, as i mentioned, many of them will be released well over a thousand. how many of them more high profile prisoners we've yet to know. and i know you've done reporting on this before. one person, one prisoner many people are waiting on is the fate of marwan barghouti, who, of course, in poll after poll over many, many years, is the one palestinian leader who would get the majority of votes here in gaza and the west bank poll has. poll after poll has shown that he would have the support of hamas. supporters of the fatah, more progressive supporters, which critics would say is exactly why israel would never let him out. he is serving five life sentences. if he's going to be released in the second stage, we'll have to wait and see. >> and i'm glad you brought that up, because it's not a name that

is familiar to everybody, but it is an important name, possibly in the future of a palestinian state. is there real potential discussion that marwan barghouti will be discussed? there'll be a discussion about his release in phase two, because most of the hard line israelis have said that's a nonstarter. >> you're right. i have spoken to israeli officials who have who have called for him to be released because they believe he is the only man who can bring security to israel because he would be able to lead a palestinian state and therefore bring security to israel. whether or not he'll be released. look, i can tell you from conversations i've had that hamas has in the past been very clear that they are committed to his release. he is high up there on their priority list. it surely would have been a sticking point in the last minute negotiations. but as i say, you know what happens in

stage one will dictate what, if anything, happens in stage two. if he is released, it is very possible that he is forced to live in exile. but he has been in prison for well over 20 years now. he's been compared to a he's been called the palestinian mandela. there is a statue of a nelson mandela here in ramallah. often, you know, people refer to him as that and they hope that he will replace mahmoud abbas, who is close to 90 years old, not respected by any means. here he is viewed by many as being corrupt, as you know, working hand in hand with the israelis, and they would like to see him replaced by marwan barghouti, who, you know, i could go on and on. i could tell you that he has written a book behind bars on how to survive in an israeli jail. he speaks hebrew, he speaks english. he teaches other prisoners, other detainees. he is given authorities to hand diplomas in prison, and believes

that education is the key to the future of palestine. that is what his son and his family members say. but as i say, he's been in there for more than 20 years now. whether or not we will see the day where israeli authorities will let him out, we'll find out perhaps in well over in just over six weeks from now. if everything goes according to plan here, that's many days for things to have to go right. >> but we'll stay on top of it and we'll stay on top of this coverage with you. danielle. thank you, danielle hamamdjian for us in the west bank. i want to go back to israel now in tel aviv, outside of the hospital where the hostages will be brought. raf sanchez is standing by. raf, give me a sense of timeline there. where these hostages, the three hostages, the three women who have been released, where they are now, and what the process is before they end up where you are. >> yeah. >> ali. >> so we are standing outside sheba hospital. it's one of the main hospitals here in tel aviv. and it is the staff here who have been given the task of

caring for the three young women you see on your screen, romy gonin, doron steinbrecher and emily demari. after their 471 days in captivity. as you can imagine, a lot of thought has been given to the medical protocols how to care for these hostages as they emerge from gaza. first stage, they go from the captivity of hamas to the red cross. red cross transfers them over to the israeli military, and there they will be given an initial round of medical checks. now, if any of these three women are found to need emergency treatment, they are going to be taken to two hospitals in the south of israel. but assuming that none of them are in any kind of crisis condition, we are expecting ali that they will be loaded onto israeli military helicopters and they will be flown here. and that is something that could potentially happen quite quickly. you know, one of the great, great mental disconnects of this war, tel

aviv and gaza, are just a few dozen miles apart from each other, war raging there. here, a normal ish city. a helicopter flight would be a matter of minutes, so it may not be long now before we start to hear the rotor blades of those israeli military helicopters. we expect they will land at a landing pad not that far from here, and will be brought by ambulance. and ali, if the control room wants to come back to our shot in full, i can explain. this is the front of one of the major hospitals here in israel, and you can see authorities have erected this plastic sheeting and that is designed to protect the privacy of these three women. the world's media is gathered outside this hospital. but medical staff have told us one of the real priorities is preserving the dignity and preserving the humanity of these people who have been through so much. we got a chance to see some of the hospital rooms where

these women are going to be cared for, where some of the other hostages will be cared for. assuming that this cease fire holds a couple of specific medical conditions that doctors are thinking about, given what these hostages have been through, it's possible that, like many people in gaza, they have had very little to eat in recent months. if you give somebody who is severely malnourished a heavy meal, it can send their body into shock. it can even cause death. that is known as refeeding syndrome. they're thinking very carefully about what kind of nutrition to give to these women. it is possible that they have been held underground in tunnels. they may not have seen daylight for a long time now. the sun has gone down here in israel, so that isn't an issue right now. but they are thinking about the shock to the system as these women adjust to sunlight, potentially for the first time in a long time. and then you can imagine, ali, there is just a

whole raft of both physical and mental care that they are poised to provide. and one of the things that the doctors here told us they're caring, not just for the hostages, but also for their families who have been under such intense strain over the last 15 months. the most natural instinct in the world would be to surround these hostages with their loved ones, with their extended families. the guidance is try not to overstimulate them. try not to overwhelm them as they take these first steps on what is likely to be a very, very long journey. >> all right, raf, we'll continue to stay with you on the main part of your screen. you're looking at hostage square in tel aviv. they are. there's a lot of response by the people in the square. they're watching things happen. here's what we know to have happened. the idf says the three hostages, the three women who were released, the first three have been released into the custody of the red cross. they will get initial treatment. they'll end up on a helicopter. they will end up finally where

raf is at the sheba hospital in tel aviv, where they are prepared to give them any necessary treatment that they need. i think their families will be able to join them there. and then, of course, the public will will meet them if that's suitable. on the palestinian side, we just saw daniele hamamdjian in the west bank. they're expecting 65, 69 people to be released, many of them prisoners held under something called administrative detention, which is often detention without charge, in which they do not know their charges. they're held without trial in some cases. there are some who argue that some of these people are rounded up specifically for the reason of being able to exchange with for other prisoners, but that's another topic for another day. we do have information coming into our newsroom. courtesy of andrea mitchell. according to a senior administration official, a u.s. official and a diplomatic official, the first american to be released will be 65 year old keith segal, and this will take

place on day 14 of the cease fire. today's day one. soon after that 36 year old sagi dekel chen, who is injured, will also be released. that's an american. the other five americans, alive and dead, will not be released until phase two. that's more than six weeks away. the only one still alive is 20 year old egon alexander, who is of military age. his condition is not known. aaron david miller joins us now. he's a senior fellow with the carnegie endowment for international peace. aaron has been helping us understand this situation not just since day one. we've been talking for years, and certainly in the two years of disquiet in israel that that preceded october 7th. aaron, it's whether you're where danielle is in the west bank or you're you're looking at hostage square. the expressions don't capture the sentiment on the ground in israel or in the occupied

territories. there is elation to some. there is joy to some, there's remarkable sadness. to some, there's frustration that this deal looks very much like a deal that could have happened in may before a whole lot more people died. but overwhelmingly, there seems to be some sense of hope that maybe the next thing can happen. now, what's your sense of it? >> you know, i think what what these scenes reflect, and thanks for bringing it to your viewers is the is the essential human dimension, the tragedy, the sense of trauma, the loss that israelis and palestinians have experienced over the course of the last 15 months. i and that's got to be deeply felt. the trauma of october 7th, the sexual predation, the mutilation and the indiscriminate killing of israeli civilians, the israeli response in an effort to prosecute its war against hamas, the exponential rise of palestinian deaths, the suffering, the elimination of entire families, the

humanitarian catastrophe that has befallen fallen gaza. courtesy of hamas, i might add, who gained an enormous amount of blackening israel's image as the israelis, as the israeli death toll and killing palestinians mounted. but i think it's a moment. and again, i, i want to be realistic about this. this is not an agreement between israel and or, sorry, between the us and switzerland. this is an agreement between two parties who are pledged to one another's mutual destruction. and i fear, or i sense that this is going to be a day by day agreement. this is not an ordinary agreement between israel and egypt, or israel and syria or israel in jordan. and i think we have to bake that into this, to our analysis as this goes forward. so, yes, hope, a moment of elation, mourning for those

hostages that will not return alive, and certainly mourning for those palestinians who have been killed during the course of the last year. >> i want to ask you about something. i was talking to daniele hamamdjian about. there are these ratios about how many palestinian prisoners, some of whom are in administrative detention, get released per israeli hostage. a little complicated, more than than than our viewers probably need to know about. but there are a couple of very well-known prisoners. israel has no interest in getting rid of them. one of them is marwan barghouti. and the palestinians would really like him released. he is one of the few people who enjoys what you might call popular support in the palestinian street. there is a question of palestinian leadership. hamas has decimated the plo, is not well regarded by a lot of palestinians, including a lot of young palestinians. how do you think about palestinian leadership? we can we can discuss until the cows come home, israeli leadership, we

know what the problems are on that side. but what about palestinian leadership? >> i mean, that's the greatest challenge, i think, and certainly on the palestinian side, because the reality is it hamas will remain as an insurgency. it will not be able to govern gaza, but it will control and influence events there through intimidation. co-optation on one hand, mahmoud abbas, in his late 80s, a leader with authoritarian tendencies whose popularity in comparison with marwan barghouti is in single digits. it's the issue of legitimacy, ali, and whether or not marwan barghouti out of jail will be able to create the kind of leadership and legitimacy that is going to be required in the minds of palestinians, both in gaza and the west bank, is going to depend on many things. it could depend on his capacity to improve the economy and end the israeli occupation. and the israelis will have to play their own role because they've they've played a considerable role in delegitimizing mahmoud abbas, although he's contributed to

this through his own ineptitude and corruption and authoritarianism. so this is an unanswered question. it's going to take months to sort out. and i suspect leadership in the end, on both sides is going to be the key as to whether or not what we're watching today, in the weeks to come, will be a strategic sort of cul de sac, a dead end, a return to conflict, or an alternative pathway that, for the first time gives israelis and palestinians the chance to deal with the issues that have fueled and sustained their conflict for decades. >> so there's another piece of leadership here. we're talking about the israeli leadership. we're talking about the and i'm hoping to speak with tzipi livni, the former vice prime minister of israel, shortly. i'll speak to diana bhutto, who held a position with the plo. but you wrote in an op ed for the new york times, the success of this agreement will depend on donald trump's policies as president. he now owns the process, the return of all the hostages, the release of more palestinian prisoners, and

turning a six week ceasefire into an end to the war. all of that will be challenging in its failure or success, will determine whether the agreement was simply a respite between rounds or an actual pathway to peace. end quote. talk to me about this. at the moment, it does seem like like donald trump's envoy to these negotiations, reporting initial reporting that he was helpful to the process. but what happens next? >> look, the reality is, if the president elect believed that somehow this issue was going to be resolved and taken off his agenda by january 20th, he's not looking at things in a realistic way. he now owns this agreement. steven witkoff is special envoy, and it's an extraordinary demonstration, ali, of something i've never witnessed in the 27 years i was at the department of state, an inaugurated president, his unofficial envoy actually played a highly visible and frankly, some people don't want to admit it, an effective role in bringing this agreement to

fruition. but now donald trump owns this implementation, is going to stand or fall on his watch, and he's going to have to make a decision. he can certainly walk away from this and blame the israelis and hamas in the process, but it will be a significant embarrassment to this new administration if he's faced with a crisis in the first six weeks. and i suspect it won't be long before israeli and palestinian fundamental suspicions and mistrust of one another begin to impact in phase two, even before a smooth implementation of this this deal, he owns this. now he's going to have to make a decision as to how important it is to him and to american national interests. >> in a few moments, president biden will be at a church in charleston, south carolina, which means that in the middle of our conversation, aaron, i may have to cut away from you

and go to the go to the president. i do want to go to the west bank for a moment where daniele hamamdjian is standing by. we've been watching to see what is happening there in the west bank. danielle, what are you seeing? >> hey, ali. so i am down the road from where we spoke to you just a few moments ago. there's a lot of commotion here, as you can hear and as you can see lots of young men over there. and we are told that they are expecting the idf to move in shortly. the busses will be coming with the palestinian prisoners who have been released, and so the medics are right here. actually, we've got some medics here. we've got them all over and we are told by some officials here that they are expecting some commotion. so we wanted to just show you the scene. now, you know, you mentioned earlier, ali, the administrative detention. this is a very controversial tactic

used by the israeli officials and palestinian leaders accuse israel of having arrested as many people as possible in preparation for this moment. so they would have essentially bargaining chips in this exchange of hostage for prisoners. we are, as i said earlier, expecting 90 prisoners released today, among them 69 women, 21 children. the youngest, i am told, is 14 years old. he is from east jerusalem, a place called silwan. silwan is very significant because there have been attempts by the israelis, either settlers or the government, to destroy the homes of many palestinians there. and this 14 year old boy, i understand, has been accused of trying to shoot a settler, and that is why he was being held. i don't have any more information

on that, but that just gives you an idea. but some of them will have been held in administrative detention. and as we discussed earlier, this is a law that dates back to 1945, before the establishment of the state of israel. this was under the british mandate of palestine, and the israelis kept the law and incorporated into israeli society. you get a you can see there there are dozens and dozens of young men waiting, some of them perhaps trying to cause a bit of trouble is the sense i'm getting here. but as i said as well, if last if the last release is any indication, the families will have been warned that they are not to celebrate the release of these prisoners. israeli officials said last time that that would be essentially the same thing as supporting terrorism. so there are no celebrations, i've been told don't celebrate no parades. and so we await their release. the women were held in israel. the children, i'm not yet clear, but some of them will have been

held in ofer prison, which is in the west bank, not far from where i'm standing. so this is the scene here in beitunia ali. very noisy, very, very chaotic. as family and friends wait for the prisoners to be released. >> and i just want to be clear. you are north of jerusalem, where obviously the palestinians and the israelis have both said the claim is their capital. but the de facto capital of the west bank is ramallah, and beitunia is sort of about ten minutes from the middle of ramallah. you're you're you're sort of a contiguous city. you're kind of the next city over. so you're north of jerusalem, you're west of ramallah. so this is a very active center for, for palestinian life, cultural life, commercial life. and, and the demonstrations that despite the fact that ben-gvir and others have said can't take place, likely there will be the kind of thing you're listening to. horns beeping, people saying things. so there might be a very thin line between no parades allowed and some of what you're already

hearing. >> yeah. >> and, you know, you asked most palestinians, they view palestinians who have been held in administrative detention as hostages. they see them as palestinian hostages of the israeli incarceration system. and, you know, there have been reports by human rights organizations. and when the children come out, they report having been abused, they report having been stripped naked and held in extreme temperatures. >> hold that thought. danielle, i'm going to president biden, who's now at the church in south carolina. >> he's talking about the peace deal in gaza. and today we're seeing hostages being released. three israeli women held against their will in the dark tunnels for 470 days. four more women will be released in seven days, three additional hostages every seven days thereafter, including the least two american citizens in this first phase. we pray for them and their families, for

they're going to be a long recovery ahead. by the 16th day of the deal, talks will begin in the second phase. this phase includes the release of israeli soldiers and a permanent end of the war without hamas. without hamas in power, or able to threaten israel. hundreds of trucks are entering gaza as i speak. they're carrying assistance for civilians who suffered enormously from the war that hamas started on october 7th, 2023, nearly 15 months ago. today alone, we anticipate several hundred trucks will enter the gaza strip, as i'm probably as i'm speaking. and after so much pain, destruction and loss of life today, the guns in gaza have gone silent. this was the deal that i outlined for the world back in may 31st. many of you covered it at the time. i was endorsed. i was endorsed overwhelmingly by folks around the world, including the u.n. security council unanimously endorsed the deal and developed a coordination with i developed

in coordination with egypt, qatar and israel. i've worked in foreign policy for decades, and this is one of the toughest negotiations i've been part of. many of you have followed these negotiations will attest that the road to this deal has been not easy at all. and the long road. but we've reached the point today because of the pressure israel built on hamas, backed by the united states. some said my policy of a firm support for israel is relentlessly pursuing diplomacy risks drawing america into a wider war in the region. i listened to those voices, many of whom i respected a great deal. but i concluded abandoning the course i was on would not have led us to the cease fire we're seeing today, but instead it would have risked a wider war in the region that so many feared. now the region has been fundamentally transformed. hamas's longtime leader, sinwar, is dead. hamas sponsors in the middle east have been badly weakened by israel, backed by

the united states. hezbollah, one of hamas's biggest backers, was significantly weakened on the battlefield, and its leadership was destroyed. even as we worked for diplomatic solutions in lebanon, we provided ongoing assistance to support israel's military campaign against hezbollah, including its efforts to take out the terror. the terror infrastructure along the border between israel and lebanon. israel's campaign was extensive, extremely successful, so much so that by the end of november, the united states had brokered a cease fire in lebanon. hezbollah did what it said it would never do. it cut its it cut its deal and abandoned hamas. and today, lebanon, in lebanon is finally a new president and prime minister, both of whom supported a sovereign lebanon. without hezbollah ruling the show, running the show or playing any part in it. the assad regime next door in syria is gone, removing iran's ready access to lebanon. iran is in the weakest

position in decades. after the u.s. military helped defend israel from iranian missiles and supported israel's military response inside iran. just look across the region. in lebanon, there's an opportunity for a future free from the grip of hezbollah. in syria, a future free from the assad, the tyranny of assad. for the palestinian people, a credible path to a state of their own. and for the for the region and the future normalization and integration of israel with all its arab neighbors, including saudi arabia, which i've spoken with. you know, we've had many difficult days since hamas began this terrible war. we've encountered roadblocks and setbacks, but we haven't given up. and a special thanks to my team, particularly brett mcgurk, who many of you know, who spent weeks and months working nonstop to reach this deal. many of those weeks and months out of the out of the country. today, ceasefire in gaza and the release of hostages is a result of a principled and effective

policy that we presided over for months. and we got we got here without a wider war in the middle east, many predicted. and now it falls to the next administration to help implement this deal. i was pleased to have our team speak as one voice in the final days. it was both necessary and effective and unprecedented. but success is going to require persistence and continuing support for our friends in the region. and the belief in diplomacy backed by deterrence. so as we reflect on the news from gaza today, we also remember all the victims of this war. they were we were mindful. we're mindful that the pursuit of a lasting peace, while never easy or quick, must always be our calling. so thank you all for listening. may god bless you all and may god protect our troops. i'm looking forward to this deal being fully implemented. and i'm sorry, i'm not going to take any questions now because i'm waiting. there's a whole congregation waiting for me, and i'm sure the remainder of the day i'll have an

opportunity to speak with you. >> thank you very much about the condition of the hostages that were released today. >> and the others? yes. >> i just got a call saying the three are released into gaza to the out of the hands of their captors, and they appear to be in good health. but it's too early to tell. they're literally being. they may be across the border of the gaza strip into israel. now, i'm not certain. >> thank you sir. >> any concerns about hamas regrouping? >> president biden in charleston, south carolina, says he's not taking questions. but hold on. >> no way out. i would do. >> all right. >> he is going to speak to a congregational congregation. meanwhile, what we have is three israeli hostages who have been released into the custody of the red cross. you just heard president biden saying he's not sure whether they're over the border from gaza into israel yet. but what we do know is that they are in the custody of the red cross. they will be they will be