close, could bring some of the hostages home very soon, but i don't want to get into details or things because nothing is done until it's done. and we have more to say, we will. but things are looking good at the moment. >> sandra: at this hour, awaiting updates from both the state department and the pentagon on the war in the middle east of a the president there says a hostage deal with hamas is very close and he is optimistic. and also an update is expected from the pentagon a short time from now after the u.s. military carried out an airstrike last night, killing several militants from iranian proxy group. a lot to learn in the coming minutes and hours. hello, welcome, john, great to be with you. >> john: good to be with you as well, sandra. john roberts in washington. "america reports". an agreement could be announced at any moment but what we know at this hour about the hostages. the deal on the table would free about 50 israeli women and children in exchange for 150 palestinian prisoners. and more could be released if fighting in gaza is paused for several days. >> sandra: some military officials warn any agreement could give hamas days to regroup and launch a counteroffensive on israeli troops. >> john: the former israeli ambassador to the united states michael orin, but first, trey yingst, what are you hearing from your sources on this possible deal. >> yeah, hey, john, good afternoon. we understand that israel's war cabinet just wrapped up a meeting shortly the security cabinet will have another meeting and then the entire government expected to meet later to vote on this proposed ceasefire and hostage deal could see dozens of israeli civilians, mostly women and children, headed back to israel in exchange for palestinian prisoners. these conversations have been taking place at a very high level over the past several weeks. qataris helping to negotiate along with the americans, trying to get a ceasefire together for 4 to 5 days with the possibility of extension. staggered, the initial group expected to be 10 to 12 hostages released into israeli custody. after this 24-hour waiting period that is expected to allow the process to play out in israel before the deal moves forward. listen to prime minister benjamin netanyahu who spoke about the possibility of a ceasefire and israel's goals. >> voice of translator: the first goal, eliminating hamas. we will not stop until they are done. the second goal bringing the hostages back. we are making progress. i don't think we need to discuss it further, not even at this moment. but i hope we will have good news soon. >> at this moment you can hear the buzz of israeli drone overhead. israelis are still surveiling the gaza strip. but as part of this agreement, there are reports that indicate israel will reduce that surveillance as something that hamas requested. we do understand as the agreement goes into place more fuel and aid will still enter the gaza strip. at this moment you can see some aftermath video from gaza's second largest city of khan younis. there are still people inside gaza in need of food and water, and israel says the enemy is not the civilian population but rather hamas, and we will see a pause in fighting but the israelis tell fox news they will continue to go after hamas leadership when the deal is complete. john. >> john: that was one of the questions i had, what happens after the amazon fire is over. the other question i had, trey, what is hamas expected to do during this ceasefire, the fears from israel would be any ceasefire would only play into their hands, allowing them to regroup, rearm and get ready for any onslaught that might come after a ceasefire. >> yeah, absolutely. there are huge questions right now about what happens the day after a ceasefire. israeli officials told us today the fighting will continue, they will continue to go after hamas leadership, not just in the northern part of gaza, but also the central and the southern part of gaza. we are talking about two major population centers, khan younis and rafah, the southern cities, but israelis have told all the palestinians to head south, so raises questions how they will operate in this area with the firm understanding most of the leadership from hamas is no longer in the northern part of the gaza strip. they have moved south, they are in the tunnel network beneath gaza and even if they do release women and children, they still have israeli civilian men held captive, hostage inside gaza and the soldiers that are taken, dozens of them, not even on the table as part of this agreement. john. >> sandra: we are getting closer than we have been, john kirby says, we believe we are getting closer, this after the president as we have been reporting says he feels optimistic but nothing is done until it's done. and john kirby and his comments talking about he doesn't want to say anything in these delicate hours that could put this deal at greater risk. trey, we are left wondering how much time before we learn that this is indeed happening, and those hostages actually get transferred. >> so the announcement could come in a matter of hours following the government meeting and israel and the approval of such a deal. then likely will be a 24-hour waiting period where there could be people in the israeli government who actually opposed this, surprisingly, saying it's not a harsh enough response against hamas and the court would overrule that and move forward. that's how it's expected to play out in israel. but when we talk about how sensitive this deal is, i was speaking with a regional source, someone who often provides a lot of information about these negotiations, and he requested every part of our conversation off the record. understanding on the ground that any information or movement or any development on the ground inside gaza could put this deal at risk. even once the initial push that gets 10 to 12 hostages moves forward. it still could collapse because in the past we have seen ceasefires collapse very quickly. hamas and islamic jihad are not rational actors and despite coming to the table to regroup and get leadership into safer areas of gaza, in the past they have fired on israeli forces during these lulls in fighting. they still have to remain on high alert inside gaza. there are thousands of infantry troops in the strip, they could be ambushed, attacked, and the israelis will be on high alert. >> john: of the idf continues to operate at al-shifa hospital, and also jabalia camp now. looking for hamas tunnels, looking for hamas infrastructure. does the idf still believe the hamas leadership is headquartered under al-shifa, or the main players perhaps bugged out of there and headed for safer parts maybe in the south of gaza? >> it's likely that they left gaza city, possibly even weeks ago. they are likely in khan younis. the nickname is the butcher of khan younis, he was born and raised, and the other man is his neighbor growing up. the two master minds behind the october 7th massacre in southern israel. so israel will go after these individuals. understanding on the ground that even once this war is over, whether it be weeks or months from now, that the israelis, they have a long memory and they will continue to hunt down hamas leadership even if they don't kill them in the war. we have been raising questions about how they will operate in the southern part of gaza. projected this idea that they will operate to destroy hamas leadership throughout the strip and completely de militarize gaza, but the death toll keeps rising, and asking questions inside gaza. focus remains on the highly anticipated prisoner swap, a thr3 to one deal. so three palestinian prisoners in exchange for one israeli hostage. talking about women and children here, and one caveat on the deal. do not want anyone who was convicted of murder in an israeli prison to be released. they want to ensure they are not releasing the most dangerous people out into the streets where they are from, either in gaza or the west bank, so that they could commit another attack. john, sandra. >> sandra: trey, yesterday i had an interview with the israel president herzog and he said they are dealing with a psychopath in these negotiations, you know, so all of these conditions, they have to just somehow assume in making this deal that they are going to come through and meet these conditions and we have yet to know what condition these hostages will be in when they are passed over, if they are passed over. >> you raise a great point and during our reporting in the past inside the gaza strip, i have set with leadership posed questions about israel and the existence of the jewish state. and the mindset is so different from the israelis. they don't care if they lose thousands of their own civilians. we saw that on display when they committed a massacre they knew would draw such a heavy israeli response. when we talk about the release of the hostages, israelis have to go into the negotiations, get what they can now. if that means dozens of women and children, they will take it as part of a deal in the security cabinet, but also understand the negotiations could collapse at any moment, the deal could collapse at any moment, won't necessarily take five days, they could renew rocket fire on major populations here, they have to keep that in mind understanding they are not negotiateing with a reasonable actor and move forward, they will operate in the gaza strip understanding that some of the civilians and some of the soldiers that were dragged against their will into gaza on october 7th just simply may never return home. >> sandra: all right. >> john: trey yingst the latest from southern israel. stand by as we wait to see if this deal actually comes together. meantime, james carafano, senior counselor to the president at the heritage foundation. deconstruct the deal for us, looks like 50 women and children to be released in groups of a dozen over a number of hours. it's a 3-1 swap for palestinian prisoners and then what do you think hamas does in the time it's not bombarded or chased down by the idf. >> if you think of the way this could unfold, think like a tree with branches, and i think from the start at the base of the tree is iran who is i think most of us believe orchestrating the entire effort, and there are different ways you can do it. so iran just got a $10 billion pay-off from the u.s., and that makes them appear from the u.s. perspective that iran is being reasonable and cooperating, so that's almost the get out of jail free card. there seems to be very little interest in really expanding a major second front and so an off ramp is okay, we've gotten money out of this, we have not really paid a price for this, does not look like a second front, does not look like the world will force israel to stop, so this is an off ramp that was always there, the gradual ending of this, the exchange for hostages, which is apparently, was part of the strategy from the beginning. because remember, taking hostages was part of the plan, and then we have seen this before, we saw it in 2014, and it is extremely common in these exchanges to see the israelis pay a high price to get hostages back. israeli for 10 or 15 people, that's not really unexpected. >> sandra: and because, james, they would be released, these hostages in phases, a lot could change in between the different batches of hostages. obviously the conditions could be -- could rise coming from hamas, their demands could become more, we just have no idea how they are going to come through, even if a deal is indeed reached. >> think about it, right. once you have given up the last hostage, you've run out of off ramp. so you're only gonna do that when you are basically ready to stop fighting a major war. >> sandra: got it. james carafano live on that as we await breaking news on a hostage deal, james, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> sandra: michael orin is with us, ambassador, thank you for joining us. what do you want to tell us in this moment we could get news any time now that these hostages could be released and a swap could happen? >> i would caution you, good afternoon, i caution you to curb your enthusiasm, ok. we are dealing with hamas. hamas does not negotiate in good faith. it has broken every ceasefire agreement over the last 15 years. hamas could say oh, we'll release 50 people but could not find 15 or 20 of them and try to drag out the ceasefire. four days to six days to two weeks, a ceasefire means hamas wins, gets away with mass murder, it can rearm, regroup, and strike again, and it has pledged to do that. very, very cautious. hamas will use the ceasefire to move its troops around, to boobytrap the entire gaza strip so it's going to cost israel in terms of soldiers lives when the ceasefire ends, and the pressure to have another ceasefire will mount, not the least of which whose families did not get out in this deal. so a lot of potential, you know, mine fields along the way, i would recommend not to get overenthusiastic just yet. >> john: so i can -- michael, what do they do with the possibility hamas regroups, rearms, moves assets or people, part of the deal is israel has to end surveillance over northern gaza for six hours a day. that seems like don't, don't look because we are going to be doing bad things when you take those drones away. >> why do you think hamas doesn't want the drones, precisely that reason. and i would be surprised and dismayed if israel agrees to that break of drone activity to hold off on the drone activity, that's crucial. the drone activity shows what's going on above the surface, not below the surface, where the major hamas forces and terrorists are located in the 300 miles beneath the surface. they come out once in a while and fire an rpg and ambush a patrol, but that's about it. so it's fraught with dangers for israel, the agreement. tremendous pressures. and pressures probably from the administration as well, but it doesn't mean this is in any way a long-term, you know, no cost development. >> sandra: ambassador, i'll ask you the question, i'm sure they are dealing with right now behind closed doors, going back to my point about the israeli president yesterday, when i spoke with him saying they are dealing with a psychopath in these negotiations. how do you do that? >> it's like negotiating with al-qaeda, how do you negotiate with isis. the person got famous by killing palestinians and jews. so we are going to be delighted and more delighted to see the hostages come home and reunited with their families, but again, we have to think about the cost to our troops, the cost of the other families whose loved ones are not getting out and the eye on the ball, that is israel cannot have a ceasefire. ceasefire means hamas wins, israel cannot restore security, israel loses. >> john: michael oren, always great to get your thoughts on things. appreciate it, as we watch the developing news. good to see you, michael. amid the growing conflict in the middle east, new reports suggest new york city is facing its own increased threats of a possible terror attack. the state is now beefing up security and increasing staffing of joint terrorism task force. what's governor hochul saying about all this? >> according to state officials, an increase in the chatter about terror threat targeting new york because of the ongoing war in israel and comes just a day from the start of the most festive time of the year, some of the biggest events happening here in the big apple. the governor of new york, kathy hochul says they are working to stay ahead of the threats. >> all of our intelligent operations are on high alert, no doubt about it, they have been since october 7th, from our online monitoring, there are no credible threats toward violence at any particular event. >> still hochul's plan includes increasing security at major events like the macy's thanksgiving day parade, as thousands of tourists pour into new york, and 400% rise in hate threat since october 7th, and terrorist threats. hochul is calling out social media companies to better monitor their sites as they are the main tools of online radicalization. while there is stepped up security, it will not restrict freedoms. >> we are not blocking any one for expressing opposition or support for action in the middle east. that's what we are not doing. we are not tolerating the spread of hate. >> and repeat, state officials say there is no credibility threat against any event or location here in new york, john. >> john: lauren, thank you. >> sandra: the u.s. economy mie be showing -- may be showing signs of life on paper. why isn't it 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