The Israeli army is now confirming a group of hostages are back in Israel after being released by Hamas. This new video shows the convoy of 24 hostages leaving Gaza through the Rafa border crossing. Assistant professor of political science at Northwestern University. Danny Gilbert joins me now for more on this. Professor, thank you for being on. I know you're an expert in hostage situations and international security. So first I just want to get your reaction. What do you now that you hear that this first group of hostages is back in Israel?

I'm overjoyed for the hostages and for their families and their communities that have been waiting in agony over the last five weeks after October 7 since they were taken hostage. So it's wonderful news for those who are coming home today, and extremely difficult for those whose family members are still held hostage and everyone who's hoping that more hostages continue to come home.

What is the process like now for this group that just arrived back in Israel? And what do those around them need to consider before, for example, just sending them home?

So former hostages and advocates for hostage recovery will talk about the extremely complicated process that happens when hostages are actually free. They don't simply go back to their normal lives. They have to process in extreme care the trauma, the physical violence, as well as the emotional turmoil that they have been through. And so they are going to be examined medically and treated with mental health professionals, not only dealing with the trauma of the last five weeks, but about helping them as they confront the rest of their lives as former hostages and the pain that they will live with forever.

Now, this is the first group of roughly 50 hostages that are expected to be released in total over the next four days. And it was a lengthy process to get to that deal. What stuck out to you most, as we've reported, on the progress being made and finally making the deal, and now where we are, were there any points that you huh, that's strange.

So I actually thought that the way that the parties who came to these negotiations has been extremely productive and clever. It's long been the case that countries like Qatar and Egypt have played a major role in facilitating hostage negotiations. The United States and Qatar have worked together on hostage deals before. So the fact that there were these intermediaries is actually quite common. And the fact that they've structured this hostage release to be what we might call an iterated game. The fact that ten hostages might be released by Hamas today, and then dozens of Palestinian detainees released from Israeli jails and prisons, and the fact that that might continue, that it's left an open ended ending to the hostage release, that the more hostages that Hamas lets go, the more Palestinian prisoners that Israel will release over time with no set end. So hopefully, we can be cautiously optimistic that that will continue for the next several days and hopefully even longer.

So, professor, what are you looking ahead to over the next four days and maybe beyond, as you say, if they do release more hostages and this ceasefire, temporary ceasefire continues, what are you looking out for and what concerns you most?

The thing that probably concerns me most is the fact that because it's this iteration, one side acts and the other side responds that all it takes is one person or a small group to potentially spoil the deal. That someone who is not in favor of hostages coming home, who's not in favor of ongoing pause in hostilities, could have the power to ruin it. And so, hopefully, the different governments that have been involved, all of the advisors and international organizations who are part of this process are trying to keep their sides in line to ensure that this continues smoothly going forward.

All right. Assistant professor of Political Science at Northwestern University. Danny Gilbert. Danny, thank you.

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