Cnn is reporting that Israel's cabinet has approved a deal that would see the release of some hostages from Gaza. So, Aaron, there you have it, the results of that hours-long meeting there, but perhaps an outcome that was expected.

Absolutely. Netanyahu knew he had the support for this, and it's not just within his government. Certainly there were some elements that were trying to push against this, but not only did they not have the votes to scuttle the deal, they also didn't have the votes to take down his government. Netanyahu, probably not too worried here. He also knew, based on public opinion polls we have seen, that this was what the Israeli public was demanding. Even if it wasn't a deal for all of the hostages, it was a demand to begin the process of bringing home at least some of the hostages. Not a surprise, women and children are first. They have gotten, frankly, much of the attention and many of the international calls were to release women and children. So after hours of debate and a legal and political process, again, the smaller war cabinet, the security cabinet, and then the full cabinet, the deal itself has been approved as we've reported. I will point out one more thing quickly, John. There is now a 24-hour period where anybody who opposes the deal can file at the Supreme Court and try to stop it. That is part of this process.

It is largely, however, a formality, the expectation. This is going through, and we could see some hostages released into Thursday morning, perhaps Friday, depending on the timeline of all of this. That too will play out in a process, about 10 hostages a day over the course of this multi-day pause in the fighting. What's unclear, at least from what I'm seeing right now, is when the Palestinian prisoners will be released, 150 women and children released from Israeli prisons.

All right, Oren Lieberman in Tel Aviv, we're reporting this in real time. We'll let you get back to working your sources. Let us know if you hear anything new. In the meantime, Israel's Prime Minister today thanked President Biden for his role in the hostage talks. We can now call it the hostage deal. Seen as Alex Marquart is with us more from the effort on that. And Alex, what are you hearing from your sources now from the White House about this deal?

The hostage deal and the prisoner swap, John, as Oren was just noting there, that we expect Palestinian prisoners to also be released from Israeli prisons. I should note I'm also looking at my phone here because another part of what we expect to happen in the coming hours is a statement by Qatar, which has been the main mediator in all of this. They have a very important role as the ones who speak directly with Hamas. They also engage at the same time with Egypt and the United States. The US, of course, doesn't deal directly with Hamas because they are a terrorist organization, so we are expecting a statement to come from Qatar. It is a possibility that it comes tomorrow because it is so late in the region. But John, the US has been central to this process, not least because you have American hostages who are involved, some 10 American citizens who are missing, believed to be hostages, a mix of men, women, and children. One of the most famous cases is someone who was mentioned by President Biden a few days ago after a phone call with the Emir of Qatar, Abigail, Nun, who is a three-year-old in Hamas custody.

She is turning four years old on Friday. So this has been so important for the Biden administration because of those citizens, but also because they have unique leverage with each of these players. And the senior most members of the Biden administration have been intimately involved with every step of this process since October seventh. We've just seen the top White House official for the Middle East, Brett McGurk, returned from the Middle East, where he was continuing with talks. The CIA Director, Bill Burns, has been in the region speaking with his Israeli and Qatari counterparts. And then the President himself has also played a significant role on the phone repeatedly with his counterparts from Israel, from Egypt, from Qatar. We heard from the White House earlier today saying that he usually gets updates multiple times a day jumping in where he feels appropriate on a personal level. So this is going to be something that we expect the US to continue to participate in. We do believe that some American citizens will be among this first release of these 50 hostages. Hopefully, it will be more in the days after that. And that this framework, these conversations will continue.

Prime Minister, Netanyahu, saying two important things today, thanking President Biden for getting a better deal for the Israeli people, but also saying that the fighting will continue after this pause in the fighting. So we do expect those negotiations to continue, as Oren was just touching on, even if, say, 50 to 70 hostages are released in the coming days, the vast majority of those 236 hostages held by Hamas will still be in Gaza, John.

All right, Alex, Markwart, standby. Getting a little more information, we are hearing that the deal was approved by the Israeli cabinet with a significant majority that is, according to a government source, talking to CNN. Let's go now to CNN, Becky Anderson in Doha, in Qatar, where the framework agreement was hammered out. Becky, at this late hour where you are, what are you now hearing?

Yep, well, we haven't got the official announcement from here yet. The understanding from here was that the Qateris would be putting that announcement out first, given that they mediated these talks. We haven't got that as of yet. That's not to suggest that this deal hasn't now been agreed upon. It was a proposal that was delivered to Israel in the early hours of yesterday morning. The time here now is just after four o'clock in the morning on Wednesday. So the Israelis have had this for 24 hours. The parameters, as we've been discussing, is 50-plus women and children over a four to five-day period. Aid coming in, aid trucks coming in through the border, and this pause during which hostilities would cease both on the ground and for periods in the air, as I say, nothing further from the Qatari who've been mediating these talks for weeks. They have been complicated. They have been very, very difficult. I've spoken to the mediators here on a number of occasions, and they have said that they've just been looking over the weeks for a period of calm to get this done. But at this stage, that period of calm will only come now that this pause will start.

That's the news from here. Excuse me.

Becky Anderson, thank you very much for that. 4:00 AM in Qatar is a central player in working out this deal, which the breaking news is has now been approved by the Israeli cabinet. As many as 50 Israeli hostages are expected to be released in the next several days in exchange for 150 Palestinians and a four to five day pause in the fighting.