it's been quite an hour, thanks for being with us. there are yet more new developments out of israel when the news continues right now with the source. this is the source, i'm pamela brown in for caitlin coppin. -- collins. the deal was approved by a significant majority according to a source and as part of the deal at least 50 hostages, women and children would be released in exchange for a four- day halt in israel's air and ground campaign. the statement from the israeli government made no mention of the release of palestinian prisoners thought to be a key part of this deal. we have team coverage with the very latest, matthew chance is live in israel. chief correspondent alex marquardt is here with me in washington. let's start with matthew chance in tel aviv. the cabinet met for several hours, finally approving a deal, what do we know? >> yeah, seven hours, which is how long it took the 38 member cabinet to debate the various details of the deal that was agreed with qatari mediation of course, with the palestinian group, hamas. it was the release of 50+ hostages, from the gaza strip, over a course of four days. it will be a low infighting, they don't want to call it a cease-fire but that's effectively what it will amount to. there is a possibility of that low infighting being extended by a day, for every 10 further hostages the hamas want to or agree to release. and so, that was the essence of the deal. in exchange for that, of course, the palestinians would be getting the release of, they didn't mention this but the expectation is that someone hundred 50 or so palestinian prisoners in israeli jails will be released in a staggered way, you know, alongside the releases of hostages. and so that deal has now been done, it seems, there was a pause, a legal pause asked to be implemented now for at least 24 hours, to allow appeals in the supreme court of israel, appeals relating particularly to the release of palestinian prisoners. that is something that is a legal obstacle that remains. but it's not expected to stop the steal going ahead, because as far as we are concerned now, a significant majority as we been hearing from our israeli sources of the cabinet, approved this deal, and it's essentially been greenlighted, pam. >> still so much to learn, how this is all going to play out. for more on that let's go to becky anderson. becky, you've been following with negotiations for days, talking to your sources. explain how the deal was reached, and what it looks like now and moving forward? >> let's talk about what it looks like now and moving forward before we back into how we got to where we are today. what we understand, what we know now is that this deal has been approved by the israeli government. what wdon't have is any detail on when this pause will start. and therefore, when we are likely to start seeing these hostages released. in fact, that is one of the reasons that the mediation team hasn't actually officially announced that this deal is now in play. and as i understand it from a diplomatic source close to the talks, they said that the details on when the pause starts, are still unclear. so no response yet, no statement yet from this mediation team, who's been working night and day, i have to say, in mediating between israel and hamas with support from the united states. we know that david air has been in there, the head of the cia has been working very closely with israel and that mediation team to try and get these talks over the line. so when this pause will start, it still unclear. my understanding is the hope is, that this will be within 24 hours. this deal, this proposal on a deal was delivered to the israelis 24 hours ago. the israelis have known about the complete details of a deal as delivered, it's taken seven hours to get it through the israeli government to get approval on this deal. so as we wait, at this point, for details of when this pause will begin and obviously, you know, details therefore when we will see the first hostages. what we do understand, what we've been told by diplomatic sources is it is very likely you will see a lot of children in this first phase. it does sound now as if we got close to the numbers of the 50, we are looking at something like 30 children or young teenagers, and 12 mothers and eight other women at this stage. so this is very specifically designed around women and children being held by hamas. how did we get here? it's been many weeks in the making, the israelis, from the outset have absolutely did -- demanded that the names and the ids of people being held by hamas would be delivered to the mediators and then, anybody else that they could identify and provide some proof of life of, possibly by other groups, that now seems to be in play. that seems to be something that has been agreed upon by hamas, which is a demand from the israelis. on the flipside, as we understand it, a week ago, when the israelis started their assault on al-shifa hospital, that became, that provided a really difficult. period for negotiators, they didn't want to sign up for a deal while the raids were going on. that is when this proposal went back to the israelis as i say, on monday night, tuesday morning, very early and we are now what, 5:00 in the morning here, on wednesday, and this deal, now agreed in principle but the clear, there is no detail as of yet, provided by the israelis, nor did they have an announcement yet, and until they get details on when this pause begins, and that at the moment, is still unclear. >> we should remind our viewers, it still very delicate, even with the approval from the israeli government and the other side, you know, until these hostages crossed the border, right, it's not essentially a done deal. becky anderson, thank you so much for your tireless reporting working overnight to bring the latest. alex is here with us now in washington, you heard becky make mention of the u.s. role in all this, benjamin netanyahu for his part, thanked president biden for his help with getting a better deal, so tell us more about biden's involvement. >> that comment by benjamin netanyahu tonight before going into this cabinet meeting was quite telling, and what he specifically said in thinking president biden, he helped israel get a better deal, more hostages at a smaller cost to israel. the u.s. had a central role here for a couple of reasons, not least because there are some 10 americans were believed to be hostages, they are missing, the youngest among them is someone who has been mentioned by president biden, young abigail, she's just three years old, she's turning for on friday. there was a hope and expectation that she would be released in this first phase of these 50 hostages that we believe will be coming out in the coming days but of course, the u.s. also plays extremely pivotal role, in that part of the world, they have a lot of leverage with different players involved here, speaking directly of course with egypt, with israel, with qatar, the u.s. does not speak with hamas because it's considered to be a terrorist organization and that is why qatar has been deputized essentially to carry out the conversations with hamas but where needed and when needed, the u.s. can put pressure on those different countries. now some of the seniormost members of the biden administration have been involved in trying to get this deal across the finish line. we saw the most senior middle east advisor for the white house, he just got back from a tour of the middle east that included a stop in qatar where he talked about the hostage negotiations, bill burns, the director of the cia, he's been absolutely no in these negotiations, talking with his israeli counterpart, with the qatari prime minister in doha. we understand from the white house, president biden has requested updates, daily, regular updates in deciding when to personally get involved. he has made numerous calls to the leaders of egypt, of israel, and of qatar. we do hope that there will be, the administration is hoping that some americans will be a part of this release but we certainly expect the u.s. to continue its anticipation as they continue to negotiate for what we will assume will be the vast majority of those hostages that are still being held by hamas. >> thank you so much, alex and as alex mentioned, it's believed 10 americans are held hostage of the youngest american, is a three-year-old little girl. abigail, she could be released in this potential deal her great aunt, liz hurst joins us now. we should note president biden appointed liz to the american heritage abroad. in the wake of this deal, have you heard anything from officials yet? >> we have heard what you have heard, just listening to the people speaking before me, it's basically the only information that we have at this time. >> how hopeful are you that abigail will be released? >> well i am hopeful, our family is hopeful and it's been 45 days since abigail was abducted, taken to gaza, 45 days ago, her mother and father were murdered by hamas terrorists, this little three- year-old is somewhere in gaza i hope she is with the mother that was taking care of her at that time with her own three kids. and i hope that abigail is being taken care of and left, and that this deal will follow through and these hostages, these children, will be back home with their families in the next couple of days. >> again, we don't know who exactly will be released as part of this deal, other than the majority being children and women, but of course, you must prepare for this possibility. and of course, holding out hope that abigail will be released. what are the discussions like among the family right now about welcoming her back in after going through such a traumatizing experience for a three-year-old. i have a three-year-old. i can't imagine. >> exactly. you have a three-year-old, can you imagine that your three- year-old would be with another mother and her three kids for 45 days? i mean, it's excruciating. and for our family, we have spent the last seven weeks, seven weeks, worrying, wondering, praying, hoping, abigail has a sister who is six, a brother who is 10, these two children saw their parents both be murdered. they spent 14 hours in a closet on the 7th of october, hiding . the one thing that we all hold onto is that hope that abigail comes home, she comes home by friday, friday is her fourth birthday and there's nobody that is giving up hope, it's just that we actually need to see abigail come out then we will be able to believe it. we spent all day today, and we watched the news and we are still at this place where we haven't seen, we don't know any details about any of our hostages. and so, i hope that starting tomorrow, we will start to learn more about the hostages and we will start to see children, women, be the first group that is released. >> we all are hoping and praying that she will be released and be able to celebrate her fourth birthday on friday with her family. thank you for coming on. we are all thinking about you and your family right now as we await word about who will be released as part of this deal. thank you. >> thank you for sharing this story. >> what will a pause in the fighting mean for the overall war? would it be a setback for israel or hamas. what minister r benjaminin netanyahu u is saying g right n and anan idf spopokesman i is h with me nenext on this brereaki news. . we will l be right bacack. back with their breaking news. israel's cabinet voting to approve a hostage release deal with hamas after nearly 7 hours of deliberation. in a statement, it says, as part of this deal, 150 palestinian prisoners will be released from israeli jails. according to hamas, the prisoners to be released are women and children aged 18 years and younger. joining us now to discuss all of this is idf spokesman lieutenant colonel jonathan. first off, what can you tell us about this new hostage deal being approved by the cabinet tonight. when can we expect the pause to begin? >> thank you for having me. i think that there is a process of coming into effect, i understand that there's also a short time window for people to appeal. but that is really outside of the bounds of the military. what we will be focusing on is of course on hamas and that military activities, until we will be told to do so by the israeli government, we will continue fighting hamas and when such a deal will come into effect, we will respect that but we will be very vigilant on the ground, because we have bad experiences with hamas from 2014 when they violated a cease- fire, so we know we will have to be vigilant on the ground as we see this unfold, hopefully, we will see the safe return of israeli hostages from 46 days of captivity at the hands of hamas. >> when do you expect the earliest would be for any of these hostages to be released, potentially? and would israel wait for the hostage to actually cross the border before the pause goes into effect? >> so those details will still have to be worked out. you know the government just approved this. and now we will have to translate it on the ground. i can assure you that we will be respectful of any agreement and we will honor the commitments made by the israeli government. i can only hope that they will do the same, based on their past behavior, i'm not so hopeful. hopefully, this will happen as soon as possible. every minute matters and for the families waiting for their loved ones to return, these children, women, babies and infants that have been in captivity for so long, every minute matters. and we will do everything to facilitate it as fast and seamlessly as possible. >> i know you said the details are still being ironed out and you are speaking on behalf of the military but i have to ask, do you have a sense of who the hostages are that could be released beyond just children and women. we just spoke to the great aunt of the three-year-old little american girl, abigail edan, there's a lot of questions about what names are on that list to be released. has hamas handed that over? >> not that i am aware of at this stage. and i can think and assume that hamas will continue with their psychological warfare efforts and they will make things as painful and as excruciating as they can for the families. i don't think they will be humane or fair, after all they abducted civilian so why would they began to act humane now. at the end of the day, we will get the list. i do know that all of the people on the list according to what i have, are israelis, some of them with dual nationalities but all are israelis. >> some of those with dual nationalities, do you know if any of those are american? >> i don't have confirmed information about that at this stage. >> what about the list of palestinian prisoners who i mentioned at the top, hamas said was a part of this, 150 palestinian prisoners will be released. you pointed out there is a 24- hour appeal process for anyone who wants to go to court about this, and tell us about how they were selected. history has told you in the past, for the release of the israeli soldier that was released as part of that was believed to be part of the mastermind of this terrorist attack on october 7th. >> you are absolutely correct. the butcher and that mastermind behind many of the horrible things that are unfolding since october 7th, was indeed released in the latest hostage deal. he was returned to israel and more than 1000 hamas prisoners and terrorists were returned. hopefully, we are not going to make that same mistake, and what i know is the palestinians that are being freed from prisons, they are not at all that caliber of terrorists that we were talking about before, not serious offenders, and once i will have that list, of course we will be able to share it. i do not have that list just yet. >> and you don't know when it'll be released, correct? >> momentarily, i suppose but as you said correctly, there is a process of appeal which needs to be followed, and then i think everything will be made official. >> are you worried that the pause in fighting for the hostage release could be a setback for the idf and give hamas time to regroup? >> yeah, you know, one would hope that hamas has been asking or pleading for this pause for many days now. one would hope that they would use it in order to care for civilians in the southern gaza strip and take care of their needs, but i think one would be naove in doing so. hamas, they don't care about the palestinians, they don't care about their humanitarian needs. and i feel that hamas will use the pause in fighting in order to try and resupply and regroup. and of course, we would rather continue to apply pressure on hamas, continue to fight them and defeat them in our stronghold as we are doing in northern gaza city. but, this pause is of course were a very important cause, and that is why the idf said clearly on record to the israeli government that we do support them. and of course we want to see the hostages back and any means of achieving that is worthwhile doing. we will be vigilant on the ground and we will continue to monitor hamas activities, and we will try and be ready for any such violation and respond accordingly. >> thank you so much. >> thank you for having me. much more time on the major breakthrough in this war. a former israeli national security advisor is here with us and he can help walk us through this deal, and what comes next. we will be right back. back with her breaking news, israel's newly approved deal with hamas that wouldst seal the release 450 hostages in exchange for a four-day truce. jeremy diamond is in israel near the gaza border. jeremy, what have you learned? >> reporter: as you said israel's cabinet has finally approved this deal that would see the release of 50 women and children in exchange for a four- day pause in the fighting. there's a component of releasing palestinian prisoners as well. 150 palestinian president desmond prisoners also women and children, it's effectively three prisoners for everyone civilian hostage that is being released. and hundreds of trucks are expected to enter gaza. i'm told this deal was approved by an overwhelming majority of the cabinet although i am told that the national security administer the far right minister of benjamin netanyahu's cabinet voted against the deal along with another minister. i also just spoke with the special representative for hostage affairs for the prime minister. and he told me that this is only the first phase of hostage release. he really wanted to emphasize that point and in fact, tonight, i'm told he delivered a message directly to the families of those hostages to let them know that the government will do everything in its power to bring back all of the hostages, beyond the first 50 who are expected to get out over those four days. but if hamas releases additional hostages, 10 hostages per day, it could earn them an additional day of truce for every 10 hostages. and that could certainly materialize as we look forward to this. what's also important to keep in mind is the israeli prime minister and his governor -- government tonight making clear that the pause in fighting is not a permanent cease-fire and in fact, they will resume their fighting against hamas and they will continue their effort and continue to try and reach their objective of eradicating hamas once this pause in fighting ends. >> let's get more perspective now from, who has served as a national security advisor to past israeli prime minister's and just got back from israel. you have fresh perspective after just being there. what do you make of the cabinets approval of this deal? >> first of all, it's been a long deliberation. and as expected, they approved that this deal has been negotiated for weeks. israel has insisted that we get the largest group that we could, and within thi