More hostages and prisoners to be released as Israel and Hamas extend temporary cease-fire

Amna Nawaz:

It appears tonight that the lull in the Israel-Hamas war will last a little longer. The two sides agreed today to extend their cease-fire for two more days.

Geoff Bennett:

The announcement came as the initial four-day pause was in its final hours. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his policy has not changed.

Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister (through interpreter):

With regard to the hostages, we are continuing with the outline as agreed and we are also continuing with the main goal we said, to bring about the release of our hostages, to complete the elimination of Hamas and, of course, also to ensure that this threat will not repeat itself in Gaza.

Amna Nawaz:

In the meantime, Hamas released 11 more hostages, who are almost all children, for 33 Palestinians held by Israel. It was the fourth exchange under the cease-fire. The pause has also created a window for hundreds of trucks loaded with fuel and humanitarian aid to flow into Gaza.

Today, the White House welcomed the prospect of additional days of calm.

John Kirby, NSC Coordinator For Strategic Communications:

The approach that were taking with Israel and, quite frankly, with our partners in the region is working. It's getting aid into people that need it. It's getting a pause in the fighting. It's getting hostages out. It's getting Americans out.

And, quite frankly, we continue to urge and will continue to urge the Israelis as they conduct military operations to do so with the utmost care for innocent civilian life.

Geoff Bennett:

Foreign affairs and defense correspondent Nick Schifrin joins us now.

Nick, it's good to see you.

So, what are the terms of this two-day extension, and what were the sticking points in getting to this deal?

Nick Schifrin:

The core of the agreement is an extension of what we have already seen, and that is that 10 or so Israeli hostages are released today for 30 Palestinian detainees released every day, as Israel holds fire, and, as we just saw, Israel allows a significant more amount of humanitarian aid to reach Gaza, including fuel.

So, that seems straightforward, just to add two days. But it's been very difficult to get there. The United States originally wanted this first part of the deal, the four-day pause, to have all 90 women and children released all at the same time.

But what Hamas told mediators in Qatar and Egypt is that it only had 50. It could only actually find 50 of those 90 women and children. And so it's not clear if the cease-fire has allowed Hamas to find about 20 or so more women and children. That would be the next two days. Or if Hamas has collected those women and children from other terrorist groups that we know have taken some of these people from Israel on October the 7th.

But the bottom line is that, for Israel, Hamas has been able to pledge that it can find these 20 extra hostages. And, today, the White House welcomed this deal and said that it wanted the truce to extend until all 90 women and children could be released, in fact, possibly all the hostages, up to 240, could be released.

And those include two American women, 7-year-old Judith Higai (ph) and 49-year-old Liat Azili (ph), currently at this point still hostages.

Geoff Bennett:

And we know 11 more hostages were released today. What more can you tell us about them, based on your reporting?

Nick Schifrin:

Yes.

As we have been saying, this is all focused on women and children, perhaps none more so obviously than today. Of the 11, nine were children. Nine were children, all of them kidnapped from the kibbutz Nir Oz, where one out of four residents on October the 7th were either killed or captured.

Among those released today, the Calderon family, you see them there, Sahar, 16, Erez, 12-year-old. There's video of Erez being taken. You see that there on the morning of October 7. One thing you might notice also there is that the people taking Erez were not wearing the traditional Hamas flag.

That day, their father, Ofer Calderon, was also taken. You see him there. He is still a hostage. Also released today, the Cunio family, 33-year-old Sharon and her 3-year-old twins, Emma and Yuli. Their father also remain. remains a hostage.

The others released today include the Engel family, again, a mother and two children. The father remains a hostage. And 12-year-old Eitan Yahalomi was released by himself. His father also remains a hostage. And for all of those children and women, they're all going to go into Israeli hospitals, where they will receive the mental and physical care they need.

And part of this, Geoff, as we have been talking about, is this ratio. For every Israeli hostage release, you get three Palestinians released. And that has meant that we have been seeing every day Palestinian prisoners released from Israeli detention. That was one, of course, Hamas' stated aims of the October 7 terrorist attack, to force Israel to release Palestinian prisoners, a step that has been part of the Palestinian national movement for decades.