of the hostages. a u.s. official tells cnn that they are not, not expecting americans to be in this first group of 13 women and children set to be released. it has been eight hours since the fighting was paused in gaza and thetismar temporary truce a be holding a column of tanks heading away from the gaza strip this morning. >> the israeli military says it is ready and prepared to receive the hostages. we are told that each helicopter for those hostages will have a medical team onboard and the released hostages will also be given noise-canceling headphones for that flight to provide a little bit of peace and quiet on that helicopter ride. meantime, southern gaza drone video shows families walking the streets of khan yunis after that. you can see that destruction from the airstrikes. part of the hostage deal was allowing desperately needed humanitarian aid into gaza. this morning we have seen lines of trucks crossing into the region from egypt. >> and egyptian official says 200 trucks full of food and water and medicine will enter gaza daily. we have not seen that number of trucks going into gaza with aid since the war began. now it is an agonizing wait for the families of hostages who don't know if their loved ones will be among the 50 women and children set to be released under this deal. jeremy diamond is near a crossing that hostages may travel through. clarissa ward is at a children's hospital in israel where the hostages may be taken once they are released. let's begin with kaitlan collins, she skbroins us live in tel aviv. really significant development that our reporting is no u.s. citizens will be a part of this initial 13 hostages set to be released and one of the key questions is abigail, her fourth birthday today, and her family pleading to have her home in time for it. >> they really wanted her to be home. of course, she has two siblings that are still alive. they wanted her to be reunited with them on this day she turns 4 years old. we are hearing that americans are not in the initial group of 13 hostages that are going to be released, expected to happen in the next hour. but wie have heard from white house officials they were hopeful they would be in the first group but they were not fully expecting it. they didn't know who initially was going to be released. they are hopeful americans will be in the group of 50 and that is expected to be the total of hostages that are released over the next four days as this temporary truce is expected to go on. of course, the question is whether or not it holds. there has been a history of hostilities and ceasefires between hamas and israel where they have been broken several times. so that's why there is a lot of skepticism and questions about whether or not this deal is going to hold. so far it appears to have done so. since midnight eastern, 7:00 a.m. local, that is when all fighting was supposed to stop and we started to see the aid trucks going into gaza which of course was another snir kint part of this deal and now the question is about the hostages themselves and whether or not they are going to get out, what that looks like, and as you noted, they are going to great lengths to try to put these hostages at ease, giving them noise-canceling headphones for that helicopter ride where they are going to be going from being in gaza to egypt and coming to israel where of course they will have medical screenings, check kwlups, and get to be with their families for the first time since october 7 which is going to be a critical moment that we are watching and also seeing what today means for the next several days. how does it spell out what we believe the future releases could look like. cnn's jeremy diamond is on the israel/gaza border near a possible crossing where we may see hostages being able to come across once they are freed. jeremy, from what you are seeing on the ground, what have you gleaned about what is happening and whether or not had that is going to be a place why we could see the hostages coming out of gaza? >> reporter: well, this crossing is a really important crossing between israel and gaza. also a portion between israel and yegypt as well. right behind me, this is one of the potential locations where some of these hostages, 50 over four days, 13 expected today, could potentially cross from. it is the crossing where gthat soldier held over five years by hamas was held, was brought across into israel in 2011 after being held in captivity for five years. so this is a significant crossing. it is also where the ranan family, some of those two america american israeli hostages released under what hamas called humanitarian grounds brought across the border by israeli officials at this carom shalom crossing as well. so it is potentially one of those locations where we could be seeing hostages come across. my understanding is that once the hostages come across, they will be taken into buses to a nearby air force base. from there they will have the opportunity to speak with their families on the phone or in person and from there depending on an initial medical assessment they may be brought to hospitals. there are six hospitals across israel that are prepared to receive these hostages depending on the severity of their case, depending whether they are adults or children. but certainly there has been an overwhelming massive government effort in israel to prepare for this moment which could happen within the next hour. we will see. and certainly in talking to israeli officials, kaitlan, i can tell you that they are prepared for this moment, but they are still not willing to say 100% it is going to happen. people are crossing their fingers. people are waiting on pins and needles with anxiety to see whether or not this deal will actually come through. whether or not the hostages come 4:00 p.m. will actually be able to cross into israel. certainly the families of those hostages, of those coming today, are waiting for that, but also the hostages going forward. this is going to be an enormous move to prove whether or not hamas is capable of delivering the hostages and whether or not more hostages could potentially be released in the future. >> yeah, of course the release of the hostages and that going well is what the release of the palestinian prisoners in israel is dependent on. jeremy diamond in car em shalom, thank you. you are looking at a map where jeremy was reporting from where we could see potentially hostages coming through. children who are -- we know are among the hostages would then be taken to schneider chirps hospital where we find clarissa ward right now. clar ais a, jeremy was talking about this whole of government approach as they are preparing for the fact that children are going to be among those that are going to be released we believe today. what have you been seeing from where you are? >> reporter: so, we have been talking to some of the staff inside the hospital just behind me. this is where they hope very much to be greeting at some point in the coming hours or later tonight some of those children who are likely to be among the released and also their mothers. they are anticipating that there will be some mothers with the children. they say they will not be separating any mothers from the children, and those who are in reasonable condition will be brought here. those who have more serious medical concerns will be taken to one of a number of different hospitals. they say they have not been sleeping. they are anxious, tense, but also, of course, fervently hopeful that they may be able to receive those hostages later on in the day. this is just one of the nodes of of this operation though as you and jeremy have been outlining, kaitlan. there is a lot of sensitivity around the issue of dealing with these child mortgages. the israeli government and ministry of welfare put out very specific and comprehensive guidelines for israeli forces who will be responsible for handling those children when they come over from the red cross as they then cross into israel. they will be identified. they will be given a cursory or a sort of initial medical examination to make sure that none of them need immediate care. then they will be allowed to have a video or a phone call with family members and a lot of these children, don't forget, may not even know which of their family members have been killed, which of their family members have been alive, and in accordance with that they have been given guidelines, the idf, i want to read from one portion of the guidelines, it says, children will ask questions such as where is mom, where is daddy? soldiers should not answer these questions even if they know the answers. any questions should be answered along the lines, sweet heart, i'm sorry, i don't know, my job is to bring you to israel to a safe place where people who you know will be waiting for you and will answer all your questions. they were also told not to try to pick up the children without asking their permission first because everybody here, while the hopes are so high they will be seeing the release of some of these hostages later, understands the children who come out of gaza may be very different little children to when they first went into gaza. so really trying to approach this in the most sensitive and humane manner as possible, kaitlan. >> yeah. i mean, clarissa, to see the small details of even, you know, preparing to have stuffed animals ready for these children who we don't even know what conditions they have been held in for these 48 days, whether, you know, we heard if rt two elderly women released where it was a shock to see sunlight because they had been underground in tunnels so long that it was almost a shock to their system and just to imagine little children having to deal with that and potentially, as you noted, having to find out their families may not be alive. it's just kind of hard to even prepare for that level of trauma. >> very hard to prepare for that level of trauma. and very hard to be potentially one of those idf soldiers with a small child asking where's mommy, where is ka daddy, knowing something is terrible and not being able to share that and comfort them appropriately. i think everybody is focused on trying to put one foot in front. other. there are so many different moving parts to this. the one glimmer of hope possibly in terms of how the children who have been held hostage -- i should say according to the israeli government 40 minors or children under 18 held inside, is that hamas has gone to great lengths to try to show if only perhaps for propaganda purposes that they are humane, the hostages are getting treatment, they are getting medical care, that they are being fed. but as you point out, and any mother or father or, frankly, human being will understand this, even so, how terrifying if must be for the children separated in many cases from their families, in many cases being held underground for weeks on end, not knowing where they are, not knowing what's going on, not knowing where their families are. you are going to be dealing with some very serious cases of trauma. and i think everybody here is bracing themselves for that and trying to make sure that they are doing everything within their power to make this as smooth a transition back home as possible. kaitlan. >> yeah, clarissa ward, thank you. poppy, it's kind of hard to overstate what this moment means in israel. everywhere you go, the flyers of the hostages are -- there they are. it's on restaurants. it's on the back of cabs. people are wearing it on their shirts saying "bring them home." the idea within the next hour you could potentially see 13 of these hostages finally brought home back to israel reunited with their families carries great significance, obviously, here. >> absolutely does. kaitlan, thank you. within the next hour, we expect to see the first 13 hostages as kaitlan said released, part of the four-day truce agreement between israel and hamas. they will be women and children and according to the israeli government those families have been notified of their loved ones pending release. for our next guest, the painful wait will continue. the parents of 23-year-old israeli american hersh. witnesses say he was taking cover in a bomb shelter at the music festival when hamas gunmen began throwing grenades inside. his parents say they learned his arm was hit and severed below the elbow. he was kidnapped with that severe injury but he fought back while he was being attacked. he tried to protect others the entire time and that says everything about his character. his parents, john and rachel goldberg join us from jerusalem. john and rachel, i will never forget when we spoke almost seven weeks ago, you told me he is the perfect son for me. does it feel like your perfect son is closer to coming home? >> certainly hopeful. praying. you know, we are 49 days in now. and today we are very, very hopeful that this -- you know, everything is very fragile. as we say in english, we don't -- and i have been saying to everyone i don't count my hostages until they are hugging their loved ones. so i'm praying these children and these women get back to their families today and that in these next few days that this deal can progress and more and more children come home where they belong and start to process this trauma that they have been through. and certainly i hope and pray that our day will come and that we will also have our loved one back in our arms. >> john, given the severe injury that hersch was kidnapped with, i wonder if you heard from the israeli government at all in the past, say, 24 hours ahead of this release and also from the red cross about they will be preparing for him, hoping he is released soon to really care for him given what he endured? >> so, rachel talked about how fragile this deal is. part of that is even the information flow, we're hearing basically what you are hearing when it comes to who will be released. it seems quite clear that men are not likely to be a part of this first batch. so in terms of when he gets home, we don't know anything. and also in terms of the red cross. it's been 49 days. the red cross, based on everything we have heard, has not been given any access to the hostages. we hear that access to the hostages is part of this deal, but so much of this is fragile, so much of this is unclear, and we just don't know. but we are very, very hopeful that finally after 49 days the red cross will get in not only to hersch, but all of the wounded and sick hostages and ensure that they are getting every possible medical treatment they can get given the situation. >> let's hope, right? absolutely they need ithat. rachel, this is the first time we met since you met with the pope this week. we have this video of you that is so touching showing a picture of hersch to the pope. could you speak to what that was like? >> oh, well, that was actually not me showing a picture of hersch to the pope. that was me showing the video that anderson cooper and cnn shared with us of hersch being kidnapped with his arm blown off being loaded on to the pickup truck. and that was what i showed him. that's why you see him exclaim and, you know, move his head back, because it's a very -- it's a difficult video to watch. but i wanted him to understand why we were so concerned in addition to anyone being concerned when their loved one is kidnapped. we were very concerned because they are hopeful that hersch got treatment, but we have no idea. we are just hopeful that the rumors that we sometimes hear that maybe hostages are treated, you know, medically, are true. but we have no idea since we haven't had, you know, a humanitarian aid organization confirm anything for us. >> you bring up that video that anderson shared with you. i really want people to watch this. this is from the interview when you brought anderson into your home a couple of weeks ago and you're showing him hersch's room and then we see hersch's bed and, rachel, you made hersch's bed. can you tell why? >> well, i can guarantee you he never makes his bed looking as nicely as i made his bed looking and i wanted his bed to be ready for when he does come home, that he has clean sheets and, you know, just all ready to go for him to just lay down in bed and read the book that he left with the bookmark in it next to his bed. he is reading a book by the dalai lama. i think it's called "the art of happiness." i'd like him to pick up where he left off. >> wow. john, it is friday. and in jewish homes you bless your children on friday night. what is your blessing for hersh? >> well, just the standard blessing that in jewish tradition parents zbuf their child. we will continue to do that. rachel goes out on to the balcony and screams it to the skies and we will do that again in a few hours. our blessing beyond that one is, you know, rachel's mantra has been i love you, stay strong, survive, which she says throughout the day to hersh and to herself. i continue to say that i know that he is really strong in character, really tough mentally, and i know he is going to need or has needed for 49 days every ounce of that strength and i'm praying that he is continuing to find the strength to keep persevering through this. as soon as he gets home, we will take care of him physically, mentally, we will get him every bit of help he needs. but we just hope that he is staying strong in there and that he perseveres to get home to us. >> you are both really remarkable. hersh is very lucky to have you. thank you for being us with today. >> thank you. >> thank you for having us. >> of course. >> i love you, stay strong, survive. well, as we await this moment where we are waiting to see the hostages released, we are keeping a close eye on a prison where they are preparing for the release of palestinian prisoners. the first group of hostages the expected to be release within the next hour. senior advisor to prime minister benjamin netanyahu will join us nextxt to discususs the latest this hostage release. stay with us. breaking news this morning as we are learning that americans are not expected to included in that first group of 13 hostages being released by hamas. something that is expected to happen within the next hour, less than an hour, by 9:00 a.m. eastern time. a u.s. official telling cnn they remain hopeful there will be americans among the initial group of 50 hostages set to be released over the next four days. right now, not part of this group today. for more on what we expect senior advisor to israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu mark regev. is what that what you have heard, no americans are expected to be in this group of 13 released today? >> i can't go under that. we are under strict instructions not even to hint about the identities of the 13 people that should be released today. we are not counting as the previous one of your guests said. we are not counting our chickens before they are hatched. we won't be saying anything until we actually see who is here in israel after they have been released. then we will be releasing the names and all the information necessary. but until it happens, we are waiting. there is a sense of anticipation and we know who we're dealing with. hamas. so once again, until they are in israel on their own soil, we are not going to be saying anything. >> and is that release still on track from your understanding for 4:00 p.m. local/9:00 a.m. eastern? >> i have no information that is new on that and i apologize. that is the agreement. and it doesn't matter if you are 80% there or 90% there, you have to be 100%. it's binary. it's either yes or no. will they be in israel this afternoon as has been promised or will they not? that's the only important question. >> you just mentioned what you can release once they are confirmed to be back. and i think everyone und