good day. i'm chris jansing in new york city. we are following the biggest diplomatic breakthrough in israel's war with hamas. after 49 days in captivity, we can now report that 13 israeli women and children have been reunited with their families. they are safely in israel. we know who four of them are. in the west bank, dozens of palestinians have been released from israeli prisons. we're covering this story from all angles with live reports from nbc correspondent across the region, with the latest on the identities of those hostages as we are learning them in real time now. from the white house, we have details on the biden administration's key role in getting this deal together. plus the tenuous nature of the cease-fire that appears to be holding as well as israel's new warning to palestinians to stay in south gaza as aid trucks begin to arrive as part of the deal. a lot to get to. we want to get you the latest this hour. we just learned, confirmed 13 israeli women and children held hostage by hamas for over a month have been released. they are now safely in israel. they have been reunited with their families. now they will be carefully attended to by israeli military forces before being brought to hospitals in and around tel aviv to receive medical attention. ten thai and one filipino citizen have been released according to qatari officials. this first wave does not include any americans, that includes 3-year-old israeli american abigail. the preparations to receive the child hostages have been extremely delicate. the israeli military has toys ready for them as well as noise-cancelling headphones to minimize their trauma. israeli soldiers have been instructed not to cover their faces so as not to scare the children. in the west bank today, vans appearing to carry palestinian prisoners have been seen outside an israeli jail, presumably carrying the women and teenage boys who will be swapped for the hostages. at the rafah border crossing in southern gaza today, we have seen aid trucks arriving. that, as i said, also part of the deal. joining me now, jason strazuzio. let me ask you, we are getting names of three of the hostages. one of them is margalete moses, 78 years old, a cancer survivor. there's 72-year-old adina moshi. in addition, we have a third person and a daughter, danielle and her 6-year-old daughter emilia. can you give us more information about the hostages themselves or anything about their conditions? >> the release operation today that was just completed a short while ago, that involved eight of our personnel picking up the total of 24 hostages that you have mentioned. they were transported across gaza from the possession of hamas into egyptian and israeli officials in four vehicles with a bright red cross on the side of them from the international committee of the red cross. i do want to say that i think that the emotion here is relief. relief for those hostages. relief for their families. also, eagerness and anxiety for the other families and hostages who are yet to be released. to address your question, as to their health, their condition, some of the details about the personnel that were in the vehicles that you have identified, it's part of our work that we would protect the privacy of the people. we're just glad we were able to move them from one place that was not safe to a place that is much more safe. >> we just got some information from the idf. this may not be news to you, but it is news for us, that they are currently with idf special forces with the released hostages. they underwent the initial military assessment inside israeli territory. will continue to be with soldiers as they make their way to hospitals where they will be reunited with their families. at this moment, what is the red cross part of this? >> our part was the initial intermediary, the trusted middle man, which is a vital aspect, to be trusted by hamas and israel to safely carry this out. as for the hostages that you mentioned, for the 24 that were released today, our role is over. we were just, in this case, the middle man transporting. now they are in the hands of the authorities. they will do medical checks and into the hands of their family and whatever recovery they need to take there. i could add that the operation at large is still ongoing. the other half of this is that palestinian detainees that you mentioned are being transferred even as we speak. our role in that operation is still taking place. >> can you tell us anything about the possibility of the red cross getting in to, first of all, confirm that the other hostages who are being held are alive, what their medical conditions are, and what their needs, any specific needs may be if and when they are released? >> we have been insisting on access to these hostages from day one. we want to do what you just mentioned, check on their health, deliver medication if possible, if needed, and to be able to facilitate contact with their family. we have been asking and asking and asking that. there were reports that this was part of the deal. from our point of view, it's something we are still insisting that be made available to us. we don't yet have permission to do that. >> jason, thank you so much. thanks to all the folks in the red cross who take on this extremely delicate and important work. joining me now, raf sanchez who continues to report for us in tel aviv, former cia director john brennan and former fbi supervisor carl schmae who trained israeli forces and is a hamas expert. raf, let me start with you. what's the latest as we have been watching and hearing word of the hostages being released? >> reporter: chris, 49 days into this crisis, the israeli military finally releasing that statement, this country has been waiting for, those 13 hostages are back inside of israel. they crossed over from the egyptian israel border, taken to an air base in southern israel and we believe are on their way to hospitals across this country. it is that point that they will finally be back in the arms of their loved ones after these seven agonizing weeks. they were given an initial medical check as soon as they were taken into israeli custody at the border. the israeli military also visually i.d.ing the hostages to make sure that the people that they have in their hands match the 13 names that had been agreed to in this deal mediated by qatar. today is the beginning of what's going to be a long, painful, difficult journey for these hostages. we believe that they have spent most if not all of the last 49 days underground. we don't know medically what condition they are in. we can assume many of them have not seen the sunlight at all these last seven weeks. we also, as you mentioned, have those ten thai, one filipino hostage released today. it was not part of the negotiations. hamas said it released them as a gesture of good will to the people of thailand. at the same time, those 39 prisoners being released from a jail in the occupied west bank, women and male teenagers, as part of this deal. chris, the hope is that this is the first day of hostage releases. as you know, the overall framework of this deal, 50 women and children released in exchange for four days of cease-fire as well as 150 palestinian prisoners released. we are some 12 hours into that cease-fire now. it seems to be holding. there is real hope in this country right now that what has happened today is proof of concept that israel and hamas, mortal enemies who vowed to destroy each other, are able, through third-party mediation, to come to a deal on this exchange and to stick to it. the hope is that tomorrow and the day after and the day after there will be more releases. this deal is structured in a way that there can be additional days of cease-fire in exchange for ten more hostages per day. from the perspective of israeli officials, they want to get through the first 50 hostages to begin with, and then we will see where we are. >> thank you so much for that, raf. director brennan, i want to pick up there. it was never assured that this would even happen, what we are seeing today. there certainly are families and loved ones who are joyous today after what has been a harrowing 49 days for them. we are getting word from qatari foreign affairs. we continue to monitor the situation and are relaying information between both sides and the international red cross in real time to ensure that any issues that occur are immediately addressed. from your perspective and your experience, how delicate is this situation in spite of this initial success? how delicate these ongoing negotiations and movements are. >> it's very delicate. yet, it's a very welcome and hopeful development that we have seen today. as raf pointed out, it appears as though the pause in the fighting has held sufficiently for the first group of the releases to take place. i think what everybody is going to be looking at is how the follow through is going to happen in terms of the successive days and the follow on releases. there's going to be a very close eye on how hamas in particular, the islamic jihad will adhere to the terms of the pause and to see whether we can get through the four or five days and to extend it to see whether additional individuals can be released and if there can be an extended respite from violence and bloodshed. >> director brennan, no americans were released today. do you think that that is about leverage for hamas, that if they continue to hold americans, that is the one piece of strong leverage they really have in the face of what has been a military disadvantage? >> i think they are trying to accomplish several things with the releases. they're trying to achieve some tactical advantage in terms of being able to reposition some of the forces and maybe do resupplying. also, i think it recognizes that there is growing international criticism and condemnation of israel's bombing of gaza. i think they're trying to generate good will by the humanitarian gestures. i would expect there will be americans released during these subsequent releases in the coming days, because the united states has played a pivotal role. i'm sure that there is going to be some of these americans released soon. as you point out, i think hamas is going to try to maintain as much leverage as possible. it has still -- will have after these initial releases, 150 hostages. hamas will try to draw this out. they recognize that the united states is actively working to try to ensure that there's going to be an extension of the pause or a reduced amount of fighting. so they are going to take full advantage of whatever leverage they have. >> if i can go back to raf. i understand we have gotten the complete list of the hostages who have been released. they include a 4, a 5 and a 9-year-old child. >> reporter: this is pretty extraordinary. we have in our hands now from the prime minister's office the list of hostages released today. i can start by telling you on there is raz, she's 4. and her little sister who is 2, as well as their mother who is 34. we met their father on october 9, less than 48 hours after his family was kidnapped by hamas terrorists. we met a man who was dealing with the most unimaginable nightmare, his wife, his two daughters taken at gunpoint by terrorists. he watched his wife's cell as it went from israel into gaza and disappeared. we spoke to him again this week. he was thin. he was desperate. he tonight is going to be reunited with his two little daughters and with his wife. just going down this list, you may remember you and i spoke about this on air, a little boy called ohad. he was 8 years old at the time. his family was desperately worried about whether he had his glasses. he couldn't see without his glasses. he is 9 now. he spent his 9th birthday as a hostage inside gaza. the israeli government says he is now safe. he is back inside israel. as is his mother, as is his grandmother. is there bittersweetness to the list. his grandfather was also taken hostage. because he is a man, he is not on this list. he was not released today. this family will be celebrating tonight but their grandfather is still a hostage inside of gaza. scrolling down through this list, i can see that there are five older women aged 70 and above. the oldest of whom is 85 years old. one of these women we saw in those chaotic first hours of october 7th being carried by hamas in a golf cart inside of gaza. an image almost too surreal to believe. she is now back inside of israel. extraordinary, extraordinary news for the families of those 13 former hostages, we can call them, who are now safe back inside this country. many, many, many more families hoping that their loved ones will be out soon. >> thank you so much for that. we all do remember that little boy and the concern, the tears that were shed by his family out of concern for the fact of how afraid he would be that he could not see. those details remind us what these last days have been like, these seven weeks have been like. carl, a big part of this, a big part of how these children and how these elderly folks, many of them as we have pointed out who have serious medical problems, are going to begin to make readjustment. it's in the hands of idf, the specialized soldiers, who have been very clearly instructed and trained. tell us about that kind of training, who these folks are, and how important we know it is that they understand what these folks may have gone through. >> good morning, chris. the idf has specially trained soldiers. they are going to be joined most likely by officers from the security agency. the first thing is to make sure the physical well-being of the hostages, doing a complete medical check, making sure that they address any immediate medical concerns. after that is done, then the focus is going to start on the mental issues that these folks have been dealing with. you had a doctor on earlier talking about the folks have been dealing with tremendous trauma. especially for the children. they are so young. they probably don't have a way to conceptualize what's going on, what's happening to them over the last seven weeks. there's going to be a lot of adjustment. these folks will have a chance to reunite with families as well. it's a great relief to see those vans finally rolling across the rafah gate. watching this process has been excruciating. it's been so fragile. it's been like watching a candle flickering in the wind. know that flame could have blown out at any time. right now, that flame of hope is alive. we hope that that continues for the next four days. >> again, i think we want to reiterate among the 13 are a 2-year-old, a 4-year-old, a 5-year-old, and 9-year-old and as raf just pointed out, 72, 76, 77, 79, 85-year-olds who have been held. director brennan, as many as 100 hostages may be being held by groups other than hamas. perhaps they have not survived. we don't know. how good is the intel that americans and israelis may have on what has happened to the rest of the presumed hostages, those who are not in the hands of hamas? >> i think the intelligence is far less than either we or the israelis would like. i'm sure there's been an intensive effort on the part of the israelis as well as american intelligence to gather any possible information that might be available, including from the previously released hostages. they will be debriefed. there will be information gleaned from them. there is great uncertainty given the extensive network of tunnels inside of gaza. i'm sure many of these hostages have been isolated in small groups. yes, this is a joyous moment. i'm wondering the trauma that the hostages experienced during the seven weeks and if they come out and find out some of their loved ones were killed on october 7th, that's traumatic for them. i think what we are going to be seeing over the coming days is an effort by all sides, hopefully by hamas as well, to try to keep this pause in place in order to get more of the releases accomplished. but the big question is, what happens after these initial releases are done? how are we going to bring this conflict, this war, this bloodshed to an end and address the longstanding problems and issues that triggered this? >> raf, we are looking at right now these -- this is the moment, the exact moment, the video we are looking at -- it's the exact moment that ambulances went into israeli territory. we are told they are going to the hospitals in tel aviv specifically, a children's hospital. what's the plan going forward now from this moment, raf? >> reporter: yeah. my understanding of that video you just mentioned is this is this convoy of ambulances being taken from egypt, crossing the southern border into israel. we believe that from there, they went to an air force base down in the south. we saw videos of that base earlier. it had been converted into a reception center. there were blankets, baby wipes, toys for those littlest hostages there. from that point, this group of 13 was going to be dispersed, likely by helicopter, to hospitals all across israel, including where we are now in tel aviv, which has some world class hospitals, including children's facilities. we know that yoni is waiting at one of the children's hospitals. it is there that he is going to be able to hug his 2 and 4-year-old daughters, his wife, who the last time he saw any of them was in a video. they were in the back of a pickup truck. he watched as his wife was being blindfolded. he watched his wife, unable to see, but casting a protective arm around one of her daughters. there are going to be reunions like that across israel tonight. we haven't yet seen images from any of them. i'm sure some of the families, this is going to be an intensely private moment. other famiies will want to share their joy with the world. we will see what happens. the plan is, these 13 hostages are heading for hospitals. the israeli military, israeli government is resetting. they are hoping that they will be able to do the same thing tomorrow and that they will be able to deliver another 10, 12, 13 hostages back to safety. >> the joy and the relief during those reunions has to be indescribable. what an extraordinary moment. raf sanchez, i know you will keep us posted. i want to turn now to david noriega who is live on west bank. what have we learned about the 39 palestinian prisoners? >> reporter: the situation right now is chaotic. i'm not sure how long i'm going to be able to be with you. i don't know how much you can see behind me. those are clouds of tear gas. there have been crowds gathered. we are up from the prison. that crowd has been in confrontation with israeli forces throughout the evening. >> peaceful. hostages -- >> reporter: israeli forces firing tear gas. we hear rubber bullets at the palestinians who are here gathered awaiting the release of the prisoners. i cannot tell you whether this side of the deal has actually been fulfilled. we can say that the hostages from gaza were released. i cannot tell you the prisoners have been released and this side of the deal has been met. from where i'm standing, this is an extremely tense situation. people here are not going to be satisfied until we actually see those prisoners released, which has not yet happened. it's a chaotic and extremely tense situation. like i said, from where i'm standing, this issue is not yet resolved. i want to leave you with one last thing. everyone i have spoken with said they hope this truce leads not only to four days of cease-fire, but an end to this conflict. >> david, stay safe there, you and your crew. thank you so much. i want to bring in tel aviv bureau chief martin fletcher, who had two of his wife's family members killed, two others released. others are still inside gaza. i want to ask you about your family in a moment. you have long experience in that region. what do you ma