donald trump clearly had real leverage over bibi netanyahu and a funny sort of way, because bibi netanyahu no longer had the leverage of going around joe biden to donald trump. it was a little bit like nixon going to china. right? so trump has the evangelicals, has conservative american jews. and i think that will help get this deal. certainly phase one, probably phase two, because you've got to get all the hostages back. but and that's the big but maybe also the deal with the saudis. i don't think, though, there is any appetite that i have discovered for tackling the fundamentals of the israeli-palestinian issue. so no one should look at this. as good as this is, as welcome. this is this ain't peace. totally agree with you. we are not far down that road at all. to you, bob uecker, we talked about this morning. this is still the first inning here. we've got a long, long ways to go. this is real. not just this israeli government. joe israel has changed in part because of october 7th, in part because of demographics. i'm not sure israel is psychologically and politically prepared to go much

smotrich will resign, in which case bibi netanyahu does not have a majority. is it inevitable that we will never get to the second phase because of that complexity? pres. herzog: no, i believe that there is a clear potential of getting to the second phase. there is a a desire to get to the second phase. we meant it when we signed the agreement. we know that there are challenges and arguments. israel is a democracy and you want, you know, you want to know something. i truly understand those who have reservations and fears because we are going to release terror role terrorists. -- terrible terrorists. this is the whole equation. we are asking to release women and children, and for that we are paying with terrorists, cruel barbaric terrorists, but we all agree that this has to be done. we want them home. it's top priority of the nation of israel. we will have to deal with the real question of the day after in gaza. how do we make sure that this does not recur. how do we make sure that it's not hamas who dictates and leads that place? we have to learn from histori

bibi. netanyahu, the prime minister? yes. 0n the posters, their lives before and after the october 7.ts in the past, and the gaps left by the missing and the dead. for the families, the wait is an agony. for israelis and palestinians, the clock is ticking towards the ceasefire far too slowly. jeremy bowen, bbc news, jerusalem. israeli prime minister benyamin netanyahu has repeatedly neta nyahu has repeatedly promised netanyahu has repeatedly promised to destroy hamas. so after 125 months of conflict, what state is the group in. our diplomatic correspondent has this assessment. when hamas launched its brutal attack on israel in october 7, it was a powerful force. it sent about 3,000 fighters across the border and launched about 5,000 rockets. in all, the armed group and political movement was estimated to have about 30,000 fighters, hidden in hundreds of tunnels across gaza. but after 15 months of war, israel says it is a shadow of its former self. hamas has been decimated. their leadership has been eliminated. their rocket arsenal has been destroyed. their tunnel network has been comp

there is a picture of steve witkoff with bibi netanyahu. their talks, he has been praised as the middle east envoy by the arabs and israelis. palestinians be released. in fact in 2011, sinwar the head of hamas was released as a palestinian prisoner. there are some people that say could this happen again with all of those palestinians being released that somehow hamas reconstitutes and becomes the terrorist threat that it was? >> number one what steve witkoff has been fantastic. he knows how to craft big deals and has the absolutely trust of president trump. we have been in steady talk. that's one. number two, we have made it clear to the israelis. and i want the people of israel to hear me on this. if they need to go back in, we're with them. if hamas doesn't live up to the terms of this agreement, we are with them. hamas is not going to continue as a military entity and it certainly is not going to govern gaza, bret. so, i mean, i want feel hear that crystal, crystal clear. by the way, bret, this is president trump who took out soleimani.

bibi. netanyahu, the prime minister? to the present, of the missing and the dead. families, the weight is in agony. the wait is an agony. for israelis and palestinians, the clock is ticking towards the ceasefire far too slowly. the world health organisation says under the terms of the gaza ceasefire deal, it should be possible to massively scale up aid flows to around 600 trucks a day. that would represent a ten—fold daily increase in lorris from the daily average of 51 that un data shows entered the territory in early january. the who plans to bring in a number of prefabricated hospitals to support gaza's battered health sector. it also hopes the ceasefire will allow for more medical evacuations for the thousands of patients currently on the waiting list, around a third of them children. let's speak to mohammed alkhatib, medicalaid for palestine s deputy director of programmes in gaza? we are seeing a young boy rescued from the blast even after the cease—fire deal was announced and losing members of his family. are you still seeing people caught up in the fighting

bibi. netanyahu, the prime minister? yes. on the posters, their lives before and after the october 7.py moments in the past, and the gaps left by the missing and the dead. for the families, the wait is an agony. for israelis and palestinians, the clock is ticking towards the ceasefire far too slowly. jeremy bowen, bbc news, jerusalem. joining me live now is paul scham, professor of israel studies at the university of maryland, who has decades of experience working on issues involving israel and palestine. thank you very much for your time. what is your reaction to the news the israeli cabinet has okayed this deal? relief but not surprised. _ has okayed this deal? relief but not surprised. i - has okayed this deal? relief but not surprised. i think- has okayed this deal? relief i but not surprised. i think many of us assume that trump poste make outspoken anger at the idea of the hostages still being held at... idea of the hostages still being held at. . .- being held at... are you surprised _ being held at... are you surprised about - being held at... are you surprised about the - bei

and by the way, we have a lot of things that we can offer you, bibi netanyahu, including potentially support for a strike against iran's nuclear program, including potentially support for some of your ambitions with respect to the west bank and other issues. so it's going to be to your benefit to make a deal now so that we can get this issue off the table. but i give credit to the american negotiators, to the biden team, to the incoming trump team. whoever wants to get credit will get credit from me and from the people who've been advocating for the hostage families. but no credit can be given. and as i said, there could be no mission impossible declaration until all the hostages are home. >> director john brennan, thank you for joining us. we're going to see you again in the next hour. and our thanks to jeremy bash and richard engel. richard engel live. staying up for us in jerusalem. thank you both. >> switching gears to events back at home. >> when we come back, she wasn't even donald trump's first choice for the job she auditioned for today. >> but pam bondi today, proving she's

part of the reason that bibi netanyahu did the deal is that he thinks the trump administration will support annexation of the west bank, which would put the kibosh on a two state solution. >> so i think it's the beginning of a very long, difficult process. >> evelyn, the you have a reaction coming out from palestinians in gaza who are asking the question, should we grieve, rejoice, or cry? as reported by the guardian, major unresolved questions now loom over gaza's future reconstruction. if the cease fire reaches its final phase will take several years at least. it may take 30 to 50 years to rebuild. according to some estimates, there is still no agreement who will govern gaza after the war. so while we are very, very excited and very hopeful with the release of the hostages, there's still this this thread, this storyline about gaza. it's place in and relationship with israel. how do you see that narrative, that piece coming into clearer focus over the next few months as this ceasefire plan goes into effect? the thinking and the consideration of actually rebuilding gaza? >> yeah. i mean, mi

bibi netanyahu brought this up with egypt long before egypt also told them, and then even some people on the far right of israel's, of israeli government were celebrating trump for suggesting this. so i think, you know, you've also seen trump authorize the 20 ton bombs in to use in gaza. this is part of a larger pattern that, when it comes to netanyahu, trump is basically giving him green light. >> and we're very, very far from republican president george w. bush and his insistence on a two state solution in the region. all right. coming up here on cnn this morning, a busy week of senate confirmation hearings. can president trump run the table on some of his more controversial picks? plus, vice president vance flip flopping on president trump's january 6th pardons. >> cnn news central today at 7:00 eastern. >> their action hero against a series. >> was that necessary? >> no. >> neither is a blown weekend with paycom. employees do their own payroll so you can fix problems before they become problems. get paycom and make the unnecessary, unnecessary. >> so i'm the sweet dentist on zocdo

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

bibi netanyahu has the votes. and then for a period of about 48 hours, israeli citizens can launch kind of legal protests, if you will, against the release of any palestinian prisoners, terrorists who have been given life sentences. it's kind of their way of letting off steam and expressing their displeasure. but then once that that time period passes, starting sunday, we expect to see the first hostages released. it's expected that women will be released first. they'll be released in phases. women, the elderly and vulnerable will be released in phase one. and then there's an important 42 day period during which the idf has to go from having a cease fire. in other words, stopping the fighting to actually redeploying and leaving the gaza strip. that would lead to a second phase in which the remaining living hostages would be released, and then a third phase in which the remains of all the murdered hostages would be returned to israel. now, i must say, stephanie, one big concern by u.s. policymakers is what is the f

what is bibi netanyahu have? and 2 or 3 days? is this simply something that he works through, or is this actually something of a challenge to his his government? and i think that will be a really interesting space to watch, because that will obviously have implications for domestic and international policy, foreign policy for israel going forward. >> and in fact, richard, i'm so glad you mentioned the israeli politics. we know that those two ministers are fiercely opposed to this right now. netanyahu and the prime minister's office and those closest to him, ron dermer, certainly his closest advisor, and those who were talking to him here in new york and in washington, israeli officials believe that his coalition will hold together, that there will not be a vote of no confidence in the knesset. so they think that they do have. and he was working yesterday with the security cabinet, and then we'll go to the full cabinet. and there's a lot of confidence about that. i want to add one more piece to this, which is not widely known. the

will, will, uh bibi netanyahu lose control of his coalition?hat doesn't seem likely right now, but we have to see how this drags on and drags out over the coming, you know, few weeks. >> it's such a good question because he has so much opposition from right wing members of his cabinet who he depends on, even as israelis are supporting this deal. you know, certainly at this moment. i wonder how you see the next phase, because, as you mentioned, these are the civilian hostages who are going to be coming out in the first phase. i wonder what you think it looks like. and i think of people like edan alexander, who is an israeli american, a member of the idf. how you think it will look to get those folks who were in the idf out in a in another phase? >> yeah. look, it'll be tremendous to get them all out. and because they've been held now for, what, 15, 16 months under horrible conditions and under the threat of being killed on a daily basis. as i said earlier, of those 99 or so hostages remaining, we think about a third of them are probably dead. so

bibi. netanyahu, the prime minister? yes.sters, their lives before and after the 7th of october. happy moments in the past, and the gaps left by the missing and the dead. for the families, the wait is an agony. for israelis and palestinians, the clock is ticking towards the ceasefire far too slowly. jeremy bowen, bbc news, jerusalem. benjamin netanyahu is under strong pressure from the right—wing of his government, which is deeply critical of the ceasefire deal with hamas. so, what shape is hamas in after 15 months of conflict, and what threat might it still pose? james landale has this assessment. when hamas launched its brutal attack on israel in october the 7th, it was a powerful force. it sent about 3,000 fighters across the border and launched about 5,000 rockets. in all, the armed group and political movement was estimated to have about 30,000 fighters, hidden in hundreds of tunnels across gaza. but after 15 months of war, israel says it is a shadow of its former self. hamas has been decimated. their leadership has been

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

i don't think bibi netanyahu was ever interested in pursuing any type of peace process that would give the palestinians self-determination in their own state, and until those palestinian aspirations are addressed in a meaningful way, i think we're going to continue to have this cycle of violence. yes. i'm so glad that there's a respite in the bloodshed that is going been going on in gaza and for the next 42 days or so. i'm pretty confident that they can manage this in a way that's going to allow those hostages and prisoners to be exchanged. but the phase two and phase three aspirations of this deal are really a reach because there are so many security and governance and economic and reconstruction issues that need to be addressed. and there's really been no foundation laid for that. so yes, i am so happy that we've gotten to this point. but there is a broader regional challenge. as ayman pointed out, there's the iran iran issue and whether or not the israelis and the trump administration are going to try to carry out some type of operation against israeli nuclear facilities, either ove

as jamal said, bibi netanyahu may not have been the best friend to joe biden. need to make sure we can negotiate and get working with, with, with israel to make sure that they get everything they need to resolve the issue on their terms with ukraine. we've got to clean up there. there's there's lots of messes around the world. the united states voted to get, you know, get rid of a lot of these entanglements and, and try to bring some peace and stability back to, to the globe. and i think this, this administration is poised to do that. >> and, jamal, just quickly before we go, look, it is, as we've noted, the waning days for joe biden and his presidency. what do you listen? history will tell us the tale. but today now what do you think is his legacy oh, his legacy is going toto be the infrastructure reduction act. the greatest investment in the environment. there are a lot of really big issues that joe biden did a good job on. obviously, he's going to also take on some water for still running. and then the way he got out of that race in the middle of the year, a

and the day-to-day talking tug-of-war match that he has had with bibi netanyahu for a half.eet those historians, of course, embarrassing afghanistan withdrawal. the billions spent funding the ukraine war to a stale made, inflation, unleashing, what, 15 million illegals on our country destroying our energy independence. weaponizeing the doj and then losing, let's not forget that losing. joe biden was a one-man wrecking crew to the united states. and he had to drop out and let somebody even worse run. joining me now ari fleischer. mary katharine ham, fox news contributors and charlie hurt, the new co-host of "fox & friends weekend." what should we expect from biden's farewell address tonight? >> we should expect a sad, sorry episode from a president who i think is only going to be remembered tonight for his age. people are going to watch him on tv and say boy, does he look old. is he kind of hard to hear sometimes. and i think that's going to be the lasting memory. is he going to do his best tonight to sell himself to talk about the good things he did over the last four years.

israeli politics are notably confusing, but bibi netanyahu, benjamin netanyahu, known as bibi, is thef survival in these contexts. what we've been told and certainly read from minister ben uyghur on twitter, was that he is against this deal, that he will not bring down the coalition, but he will resign if it goes forward with the trading of the prisoners, because the prime minister will not agree to resume hostilities, resume the war, in other words. and he thinks that that is a dangerous step. that said, from my understanding, netanyahu has had support from several other members of the knesset, opposition leaders lapid and benny gantz. and so this will not bring down his government. is that your read of it? >> it is good to be with you, andrea. >> and there's nothing about this that isn't immensely complex and deeply agonizing for the people of israel. keep in mind that, again, they may get 33 hostages back over the course of six weeks. we don't know, at the end of the day, how many of those 33 are alive, how many are coming back in an ambulance, and how many are coming back in a box

point is that this important shift in public opinion is forcing the prime minister of israel, bibi netanyahu'se the an agreementment and i think the second major factor is what has been called the trump effect. the biden team has negotiated, has been negotiating this ceasefire for 15 months now. this is been collaboration between outgoing biden team and the incoming trump team on the ceasefire agreement, and i think that that is good. but i think the trump effect is that president-elect trump sent to his of advisers got involved in this, and and the meeting, i think, between witkoff and prime minister netanyahu was decisive in sending a message from the incoming president that he simply does the not want -- does not want this crisis, this lack of a ceasefire and the hostage releases and the prisoner exchanges to be on husband agenda after -- his agenda after his inauguration. so i think these are the two fundamental factors which have brought us to a point where i think -- [audio difficulty] at least in the first stage. liz: that makes sense on both fronts. 80% of americans are supportive of i

however, iran is on its back foot thanks to the leadership of bibi netanyahu and the israelis.ated in an amazing covert operation. everyone said taking out hezbollah's leader would be too escalatory, provocative. they did it. it's led to a real moment of opportunity in lebanon. it has led to the fall of assad and his brutal dictatorship, led to hamas being completely isolated. they always thought the cavalry was going to come from the north with hezbollah. a key reason they've entered into a deal. iran's air defenses are destroyed. this is a moment to make those key decisions and we'll be doing that over the next month. >> margaret: marco rubio is now america's top diplomat. unanimously confirmed by the senate today. in addition what mike waltz talked about there, rubio will likely have to execute president trump's vows today to broker an end to the war in ukraine, possibly rebuild gaza, potentially put tariffs on china, and maybe send troops into neighboring mexico. >> maurice: a lot going on. margaret, thank you. >> john: there's no shortage of opinions on president trump. of

i mean, look, obviously trump, i think, has shown that there's much more room to twist bibi netanyahu'sn biden was willing to take advantage of. and so, clearly, you know, democrats, i think, need to contend with the fact that they were not willing to put the kind of pressure on the israeli government that it looks like trump was in order to get this big, telegenic win on the eve of his inauguration. that said, we don't really know what exactly trump promised bibi, and it very well might have been things that nobody would want trump. i mean, that nobody would want biden to promise if trump promised, you know, that they can resume the war after phase one with even more deadly weapons. if he promised that they can annex the west bank, then this is going to look less like, you know, some kind of brilliant deal making and more just like a really, you know, a stunt. >> yeah. jennifer hahn and michelle goldberg, thank you both for being with us. still ahead, the latest on the devastating wildfires in california and a new wrongful death lawsuit from a family that lost four homes and a beloved

he's also doing it with bibi netanyahu. i don't know. we have one president at a time. and if we let that slide, really, i think our democracy is lost. i think that's what's happening now in a much more way. it was extraordinarily covert back then, it was, you. i finally got in touch with one of bill casey, had a secret network, a secret intelligence network. and i finally sort of got people to talk to me from it. there was a guy named robert sensi, and i tried to get him to talk in 1991. he wouldn't talk to me. 33 years later, he talked to me and he told me he helped. he traveled with casey, setting up some of these these meetings with the iranians in madrid. and casey, he said wore a yellow wig. he traveled on it with a phony passport. the name of daniel o'neill. and he gave me all the details and how he set up these meetings and, why they were so important. similarly, casey was meeting with illegal arms dealers who sold to iran. there was a south african named. he had a, you know, lot of other people who were who were he would go in a dozen different directions at a

bibi netanyahu, that he has to find a way to accommodate the legitimate concerns of a large group of people called palestinians who have no place to live independently. and so how did you how do you deal with those things? so i did really put together a if it doesn't work, i got to take the blame for it. a plan with my national security team. but i believe that we could make it attractive to the arab world, as well as to the jewish community to accommodate the kind of changes necessary to get the prisoners released, get a cease fire, move in a direction where we agreed how this was going to work and how israel's troops were going to move, how we're going to bring in rebuilding the gaza strip and the and the economy. how are we going to clean all this up, how we're going to protect israel? and in the meantime, what we're able to do and i know was very controversial when i did it. we also decided that we were going to protect israel from outside sources. so when iran thought it was going to blow israel off the map they brought in, they had those thousands of missiles heading their way.

smotrich, will resign, in which case bibi netanyahu does not have a majority. is it inevitable that we will never get to the second phase because of that complexity? >> no, i believe that that there is a clear potential of getting to the second phase. there is a desire to get to the second phase. we meant it when we signed the agreement. we know that there are challenges and arguments. israel is a democracy and you want, you know, you want to know something. i truly understand those who have reservations and fears because we are going to release terrible terrorists. this is the whole equation we are asking to release women and children, and for that we are paying with terrorists, cruel, barbaric terrorists. but we all agree that this has to be done. we want them home. it's top priority of the nation of israel. we will have to deal with the real question of the day after in gaza. how do we make sure that this does not recur? how do we make sure that it's not hamas who dictates and leads that place? we have to learn from historic lessons and from all our experien

so trump's aspiration for nobel prize is very soon going to clash with bibi netanyahu's aspirations for political survival. >> okay, so weighing all that you've just said, who then governs gaza well, you know, basically that's its essential question. >> it's a difficult question. but the only way gaza can be stabilized is if you if if you force this weakened hamas, um, uh, to allow an international force, uh, invited in by the palestinian authority from the west bank, which has accepted the oslo peace accords, it would be difficult, but i think very possible. i think the people of gaza are desperate for an end to the war and return to proper governance. hamas would probably have to go along with it. uh, i think it's the least bad option. they're all long shots. this region is completely broken. but, um, but that's where i'd start. and also remember, in lebanon, lebanon is just appointed a new president after over two years of a vacancy, a vacancy and a new prime minister. nawaf salam. these are two terrific, decent, incorruptible guys. and they hold the promise of returning lebanon over

we spent two hours with bibi netanyahu and said, now, after the lebanon deal, this is the this is the catalyst to move back to the ceasefire deal in gaza and the hostage releases. and it wasn't until the end of december, wolf, that hamas, for the first time agreed to the list of hostages to be released in the hostage deal and without hamas agreeing to that, you can't have a deal. and that actually opened up the space to get this done. it is because of the work we've done in the region over months and months, and then the painstaking process just over the last few weeks, and particularly over the last week to nail this down, get the agreement in place, get the agreement from the israelis tonight and implement on sunday. >> president biden brushed off a question the other day about who should get credit for the ceasefire deal, should it be him or president-elect trump. he asked if that was a joke. is that a joke? he said in response to that question from a journalist who deserves more credit right now, president biden or president-elect trump? >> you know, if i literally just returned f

and that's why bibi netanyahu felt comfortable pushing this through his government. as tough as it has been. >> you mentioned hamas. i want to ask you about that, because it has been about 15 months of relentless bombardment inside gaza. and secretary of state antony blinken says hamas has recruited almost as many new militants as it's lost. so how is hamas going to be tamed and removed if it has the numbers? according to the current secretary of state, that it had before, despite the fact that some of its key leaders have been killed. >> yeah. you know, i think there's some excuse me, some debate in those numbers. number one. number two, i wouldn't necessarily describe it as relentless bombardment. there have been israeli soldiers on the ground in brutal hand-to-hand fighting, going from building to building and rooting and carving hamas out. and i don't want to minimize that in any way. and this is an enemy that deliberately hides behind its own people. and even as a matter of strategy, sacrifices civilians so that it gets the pr win to turn world opinion against i

the right wing government of bibi netanyahu, especially ben-gvir and smotrich, are in favor of annexinge another attempt, which is many israelis abhor, to politicize the israeli supreme court. so this is bad news. where will bibi be? why doesn't he take advantage of the opportunity to change his coalition? and i'm guessing if he would do that, a pardon might be in his future as well. he would then go down as a peacemaker, and instead we may be going right back to war. unbelievably, right back to war and endangering. for example, jordan, the neighbor of israel, which has made peace with israel for decades, but which has a huge palestinian population, which will be destabilized if there is a move to annex the west bank. >> now, congresswoman, you lay out the stakes here, and sunday is one step. it is a very important step. it is a step that many people skeptical that would ever come to, we would ever come to see. but there are many more steps after that. in the absence of a partner in the united states that is willing to, you know, have a tough conversation with our friend and ally, the s

. >> we have made clear to bibi netanyahu, to his government, and i want the israeli people to hear me loud and clear. if hamas reneges on this deal, if hamas backs out, moves the goalpost, what have you, we will support israel in doing what it has to do. number one. and number two, hamas will never govern gaza. that is completely unacceptable. >> but the question is, how does israel, how does the united states and maybe others stop hamas from governing in gaza? >> well, you have to eliminate them there. they're not a legitimate governing power. they're a terrorist organization. they don't want peace. they're bloodthirsty, they're cruel. they renege on on every deal they've ever had. and so, of course, it makes sense that mike waltz would make that point. i think it's also important to note the change. this administration is different in the last administration in that it fully backs our allies. it's going to fully back our allies, clearly identify our shared adversaries, and do what's necessary to end these wars on terms that benefit the american people and, of course, our allies who

it isn't happenstance that bibi netanyahu, who had been over and over again not wanting to actually sitn and do this cease fire, did it because donald trump said, if you don't do it, there's going to be hell to pay, not only to hamas and the hostages, but that was the message also to the israeli government. he did not want to come in with this hanging over his administration. we saw what it did to the biden administration. it absolutely torpedoed them in terms of foreign policy, in terms of domestic policy. he wanted to come in with a clean slate. and this is a gift that he is getting as well. this is a joyous day, obviously, for the israelis. palestinians also are celebrating the, you know, at least a respite in this war. but, you know, donald trump is surely going to benefit from this. >> yeah. and, brian, look, you take that piece of it, you take these polling numbers again, not just as as we were talking about, not just trump's popularity, but the popularity of the policies that he wants to enact. if you're looking at some of the new york times polling on immigration, you see a lot

. >> bibi netanyahu said today donald trump was instrumental in getting this deal done. he was also praised by the leadership. the fact is that it would not have been done if donald trump did not win the election. unfortunately, hamas and our allies, it happened because america came together. >> that should be the lesson. >> we're not willing to accede to this administration. they did work together. steve witkoff was in the middle east, and i think that was critical to getting this. >> and hopefully we'll work together to keep ukraine sovereign and not concede on that. you have. we'll see what that looks like. >> congressman mike lawler, thank you both for joining us tonight. up next we're going to go on the ground in california. a live update on the wildfires there. a new fire started today as officials are issuing new warnings about winds picking back up again. >> hey, ryan reynolds here for, i guess, my 100th mint commercial. >> no no no no no no no no no no, i mean, it's unlimited premium wireless for $15 a month. >> i mean, honestly, when i started this, i thought i

the basic perpetuation of the war was bibi netanyahu's decision, backed by joe biden. and i think that will be the legacy of this more than this deal, i just to remind everybody, eamon, over 47,000 people killed in gaza, 16 1600, more than 1600 in lebanon and of course, 1200 killed in israel. >> the lancet, a medical journal, estimates the death toll in gaza is likely 40% higher than 47,000. >> and to add very quickly to ben's point about the legacy of this war, christopher wray, the outgoing fbi director in the us intelligence community, assesses that isis has been able to recruit based off of the gaza war. you know, thousands, if not more radicalized individuals across the region. and you're getting a trump administration that is contemplating right now with a new change in syria, withdrawing u.s. troops that have been involved in the fight against isis. i'm not saying it's good or bad. i'm just saying to you, you're seeing the legacy of this war. it is going to have ripple effects across the region for years, if not generations to come, not just outside of gaza, but

we spent two hours with bibi netanyahu and said, now, after the lebanon deal, this is the this is the catalyst to move back to the ceasefire deal in gaza and the hostage releases. >> and it wasn't until the end of december, wolf, that hamas, for the first time agreed to the list of hostages to be released in the hostage deal and without hamas agreeing to that, you can't have a deal. and that actually opened up the space to get this done. >> hospitals in israel are preparing for the cease fire to take effect in the next step, providing care and treatment for the released hostages and their loved ones. cnn's bianna golodryga reports from tel aviv. >> as israelis anxiously await the release of hostages. six hospitals have spent the past several months preparing for this moment. >> we had some large exercise where we were simulating the arrival of of hostages in the tel aviv sourasky medical center says. >> they treated 17 of the 105 hostages released during the last ceasefire hostage deal in november 2023. >> there is a lot of data suggesting that they may all be suffering from severe ma

for these families that have been tortured every day thinking that they should somehow get to bibi netanyahu, get to joe biden, bring them home, finally, this this could come to an end. there's other families who've already lost their loved ones who've died in captivity. so it's an extraordinary moment. but i and i agree, though, as everyone has mentioned, there's a danger here of spoilers. there's a danger of this unraveling, but it's unquestionably a momentous day for these hostages and for their families. >> and what do they face when they come back? and again, you know, we can only hope that this holds long enough that that the hostages can be released. >> they'll be thrilled at first. they'll struggle with a lot of trauma after that. and as hostage taking has become more common, there's actually a community of former hostages. i'm part of it here in the united states, but also of families that help each other and get them through this transitions, and they will rebuild their lives. it's a common thread i've seen among former hostages that this is part of your life. this is a chapter of

you have to remember that the pressure goes both ways, and bibi netanyahu, the prime minister would want to see something in good light with the incoming administration and the incoming president. and also to trey's point, quickly, that once it happens, if it happens as expected, it does lay the groundwork for the continuing of the abraham accords which started, of course, under president trump, the first administration, and the normalization between israel and saudi arabia. which is still very, very real and was very close to happening prior to the hamas attack october 7th. >> it's a great point. you know, i was there for the signing of four of those peace accords. it was a huge historic accomplishment, and jared kushner believes that saudi normalization would have happened had trump been given a second term right after the first. i wind you are what you think of antony blinken's comments that new recruits have effectively replaced what israel has done. if that's the case, you have to think that israel is worried and concerned, hamas is not gone, they're not nullifyed, they're here to s

although we don't agree a whole lot lately, bibi netanyahu, that he has to find a way to accommodate the legitimate concerns of a large group of people called palestinians who have no place to live independently. >> a key vote by the full israeli cabinet had been postponed earlier this week. if approved, hostage releases could begin sunday. overnight, israel bombarded gaza, killing dozens. let's get right now to cnn anchor and senior global affairs analyst bianna golodryga. you're live in tel aviv. what are you hearing from the prime minister's office and from those who are waiting? hopefully their loved ones to be returned. >> so, sarah, some news to bring you and our viewers. the israeli security cabinet is currently meeting. has not yet voted on agreeing to this ceasefire hostage deal, though it is expected to overwhelmingly support this deal. what we're also learning now is that an hour and a half from now, about 330 local time, the full cabinet will be meeting and is expected to vote in approval of this cease fire hostage deal. the prime minister's office issuing a statement ear

it could result in bibi netanyahu's government collapsing.there a scenario in which arab troops could come in and maintain peace, to a degree to which both sides would would find that comfortable? i ask you this because the arabs have played an unusual role in recent years, which is they have spoken about palestinian rights and palestinian liberty and the palestinian state, but done very little about it and in fact, been, you know, many of the gulf states have been trying to cut deals with israel, normalized relations under the abraham accords. saudi arabia apparently wants to do this. so is there a is there is it possible that you could get a coalition of of arab countries? would the palestinians accept that kind of a presence as a, as one way of allowing the implementation of phases two and three? >> the short answer is no. but before i respond in detail, let me respond to your israeli guest. he claimed that if we have elections, hamas will have a sweeping victory. that's not true. all the polls that are done, since we are following now ful

. >> yeah, i mean, listen, donald trump and bibi netanyahu had a falling out after donald trump lost se netanyahu dared to call joe biden the the president or the president elect. >> they did. they've obviously repaired that relationship through meetings and and whatnot. but beth's point, i think, is a good one, that this is something that the trump administration, president trump wants. he does not want to be weighed down by this. he was not elected because of this. this is not really a central focus, but a reminder that presidents have to deal with whatever comes their way. but i think, interestingly, president biden just a short time ago, who is still president for five more days, he said, in these past few days, we've been speaking as one team, and i think it's members of the team who are involved in this are very important to this because brett mcgurk, who has been a president biden's longtime middle east negotiator, he worked in the bush administration in the rebuilding of iraq. he worked for president obama and whatnot. so these are very core parts of the team. but steve witkof