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00:00We are waiting for the imminent release of the three Israeli hostages, three men, scheduled
00:08to be released today.
00:11We are also waiting subsequently.
00:14Once they're already in Israeli territory, we await the release of more than 100 Palestinian
00:23detainees and prisoners.
00:28And right now, the hostages here in Tel Aviv have really filled up, and did you just hear
00:37that, too?
00:38For the first time, there's a site of one of the three hostages surrounded by armed
00:44Hamas men in Deir el-Balak, in central Gaza.
00:49The entire crowd has just erupted in cries of joy, and we're expecting a few more scenes
00:59like this during the course of the day.
01:01Yes, Noga, we have those images on air right now, that split screen of the first hostage
01:08being escorted up the stage there.
01:11On the right side of the screen, hostage square, people clearly rejoicing.
01:18Tell us just how emotional this is in Tel Aviv.
01:23It's hugely emotional.
01:24The sun has finally come out, and thousands have joined the square here.
01:31It's really jam-packed, families, strollers, people with their dogs on the morning walk,
01:39and family members of hostages who are here also, and who we hope to be able to interview
01:49in the coming few moments on the screen.
01:52And the three men being released today, we have their names.
01:57What more can you tell us about them?
01:59Well, two are men from Kibbutz Beiri in their 50s, Oded Ohad Ben Amir, whose wife was also
02:09taken hostage and who was released.
02:14She was released in November.
02:16Eli Sharabi, whose entire family was massacred, whose brother and wife and two daughters were
02:24killed in the attack of October 7th.
02:27And then the third man to be released, we have yet to see, is Olavi, a 34-year-old from
02:33very nearby to where we're standing, from Givatayim, a suburb of Tel Aviv.
02:40He's expected to be released any minute.
02:42And his wife also was killed in the attack of October 7th.
02:49And his three-year-old son, sorry, I'm being corrected here by members of the public that
02:55she was murdered, not killed.
02:59And their three-year-old son has been waiting for his father all this time with no parents.
03:07And we've had quite a few, this is the fifth hostage exchange prisoner swap since the ceasefire
03:14began.
03:15So I know you've been meeting family members of hostages who have yet to be released.
03:21Are they hopeful for future exchanges?
03:27They're hopeful and at the same time very fearful.
03:30I would say the future of the ceasefire is extremely uncertain right now.
03:36And the Israeli families are especially afraid that the Israeli government, they take for
03:45granted that Hamas has interest to try and keep this war going, but their great fear
03:50is that the Israeli government for political reasons also has an interest in keeping the
03:57war going and thus not ensuring that all the hostages will be released.
04:02Just a reminder, viewers, what we're seeing on air right now, live from Gaza, is Hamas
04:08with the three Israeli hostages standing before a crowd of hundreds of people ahead of their
04:14official release.
04:16On the right side of your screen, hostage square in Tel Aviv, that's where our correspondent
04:20Noga Tarnopolsky is joining us from.
04:22Noga, you're just talking about that uncertainty, about what's next in this very difficult and
04:27complicated process.
04:30We know that phase two negotiations were supposed to have begun last Monday, they clearly
04:35did not.
04:36Any idea if or when they will begin?
04:41Not really.
04:42Prime Minister Netanyahu did order a team of Israeli negotiators to head to Doha.
04:52As you said, with some delay, this was a unilateral decision on his part to delay this,
05:00not welcomed by his own people.
05:06He has sent, the team that will be sent to Doha tomorrow is a very low level team that
05:12as far as we know is not authorized to hold any substantial discussions on phase two of
05:20the ceasefire.
05:21They're only allowed to discuss a possible extension of phase one, and this is one of
05:27the reasons that Israelis are so fearful of what may come next.
05:32The government appears to be acting erratically and trying to basically de facto tell the
05:42Trump team, yes, yes, we are sending a negotiation team, but in reality sending such a low level
05:51team with such little authority that in fact it doesn't really mean that Israelis will
05:57be able to negotiate this.
06:00It also appears that the Netanyahu government is testing the Trump team to see whether or
06:06not they're serious about continuing these negotiations.
06:10Noga, I'm not sure if you have the images in front of you, but we see the hostages on
06:16stage.
06:18They do appear to be thin, perhaps emaciated.
06:23I think once they leave the stage, they'll be getting in the Red Cross vehicles and be
06:27transported back into Israel where their medical conditions will be examined more thoroughly.
06:32But what can you tell us in general so far, the state of health that these Israeli hostages
06:38have been in after they've been released?
06:42In the previous hour, Dr. Hadai Levine, who is in charge of the medical aspect of all
06:49of the families of hostages, he's the chairman of the Israeli Association of Public Health
06:54Physicians, and he describes us a situation where on the one hand there is an initial
07:00euphoria when the teams come, when the hostages are first released, euphoria both among Israelis
07:08and the hostages themselves, who are in some cases seeing light for the first time in months
07:16or longer than a year.
07:17And yet on the other hand, he said that there are severe problems ranging from emotional
07:23problems to severe health problems and health system problems, which become evident in the
07:31initial days and sometimes weeks or months after the release.
07:38Yeah, and it's important to remind our viewers that the men we're looking at on our screen,
07:45they were abducted on October 7th, 2023.
07:50They've been in captivity 491 days, Noga.
07:56They have been.
07:57They've been in captivity for a very long time.
08:01It's a year and three full months.
08:06And some of them are even elderly.
08:09Some of the hostages still being held are well into their 80s.
08:19And now we still see Hamas conducting, for lack of a better word, these interviews with
08:25these Israeli hostages on stage.
08:29What has reaction been there in Israel with how Hamas has been framing and constructing
08:37and in some degrees parading these hostages?
08:41Well, the reaction here has been a bit of a mumble, I'd say.
08:47In two respects, there's been a lot of shock and offense, seeing especially the young female
08:53soldiers who were released and who were treated as war trophies on stage.
08:58And on the other hand, there's also been a bit of confusion about how the Israeli authorities
09:03have treated their return, in some cases with cameras awaiting the hostages before they
09:08have even stepped foot in Israeli territory.
09:11There's a lot of thirst for these images, as you see.
09:15Even images put out by Hamas are shown here live on the screen.
09:19And yet, there are mixed feelings.
09:24Now that we hear the announcement, I don't know if you're seeing me on the screen.
09:29Are you seeing me?
09:30Yes.
09:31Yes.
09:32Yes.
09:33And just to remind our viewers, 18 hostages, more than 550 Palestinian prisoners have been
09:39freed in that time.
09:40Add three more of these Israelis, once they are released, that would make 21.