Here with me now is White House national security advisor Jake Sullivan. Thank you so much for being here this morning. An Israeli official told CNN that at least one American citizen is expected to be part of today's release of hostages. Can you confirm how many Americans are on that list? And do you know who they are yet?

Well, just taking a step back, Dana, the 50 hostages that were part of this initial four-day deal, those were women and children. And there are three Americans who fall into that category, two women and one child. Now we know those three were missing. We cannot say for certain whether all three of them are still alive. But we do know this. We have reason to believe that today one American will be released. And I say reason to believe because I want to be cautious about making any firm statements until we actually see that individual cross the border to safety and ultimately be reunited with their family. We're dealing with Hamas. We are in a don't trust but verify situation here, and so we have reason to believe that there will be an American release today. We have been in close touch with the Israelis, with the Qatari, with the Egyptians. Over the last 24 hours, President Biden has been personally engaged with the Emir of Qatar on this issue. And so today should be a good day, a joyful day. But until we actually see happen, we are going to remain really at the edge of our seat.

Yeah, and that's completely understandable. Having said that, do you have reason to believe that the American you're talking about is four-year-old Abigail A'Don?

Here's what I'll say. We are now hopeful that Abigail will be released, reunited with her family. She turned four just two days ago. She has been through hell. She had her parents killed right in front of her and has been held hostage for the last several weeks. We are hopeful that she will be released. I'm not going to confirm that it's today, but I am going to say that we have growing optimism about Abigail, and we will now watch and see what happens.

Jake, later in the show, I'm going to talk to the parents of a 22-year-old IDF soldier who is an American citizen. Do you have any information on his condition and that other Americans still in captivity? And is there any progress towards bringing them home?

Diana, which of the IDF soldiers are you referring to?

His name is Omar Nutra.

I actually had the opportunity to meet his parents at the White House, along with the family members of other American hostages. And I know just listening to them that they are going through incredible pain and uncertainty and difficulty, and I can't even imagine what that could possibly feel like. I told them directly, and we've been candid about what we know and don't know that we do not know the specific whereabouts or condition of Omar or other Americans, because until the end of this deal, until the end of tomorrow, we will not have from the Red Cross proof of life or other information related to their ability to visit hostages. So as we learn that information, we will absolutely share it with the parents. But no, I do not sitting here today. I'm not in a position to confirm the precise condition or whereabouts of Omar or other American hostages.

You said that you hope that you will get information from the Red Cross, though, after this initial deal is complete. Prime Minister Netanyahu said that that also said that Red Cross would be allowed to visit hostages still being held by Hamas to ascertain their status. But Israeli officials say it hasn't happened. Did Hamas, in fact, agree to that? And do you have confidence that it will happen if so?

That is part of the deal. We expect it will happen. I'm not going to characterize myself as confident in anything right now because, again, we're in a don't trust but verify circumstance. But we do believe that Hamas is obliged to maintain its part of the commitment on Red Cross visitation of the hostages. And we expect Qatar and Egypt and other countries to hold Hamas accountable to fulfill that commitment by the end of tomorrow.

Israeli officials are signaling that they plan to resume their offensive, the military offensive, as soon as this pause expires. The Defense Minister, Yohav Galant, said yesterday, Any further negotiations will be held under fire. Is Israel rejecting calls from the US to hold off on its offensive in order to try to continue negotiations?

Well, first, Dana, just to be clear about the terms of this deal, Israel has already agreed that it will continue to pause fighting day by day after the end of the four days as long as Hamas keeps releasing hostages. So the ball is really in Hamas's court. If Hamas wants to see an extension of the pause in fighting, it can continue to release hostages. If it chooses not to release hostages, then the end of the pause is its responsibility, not Israel's, because it is holding these hostages completely illegitimately and against all bounds of human decency or the.

Laws of war. So just to be.

Clear-so really, we will see what Hamas ends up choosing.

To do. Yeah. So to be clear, if Hamas, after this four-day pause is over, says, Okay, here's the next list of hostages that we will release. Israel will continue its military pause. No question.

That is correct. 10 hostages per day for as many days as Hamas releases 10 hostages, Israel will continue the pause in the fighting. That's part of the terms of the deal that Israel agreed to. That's a commitment Israel has made. And now, as I said before, the ball is in Hamas's court.

Have any of the hostages who have been freed provided any insight or intelligence to Israel and US officials that could help locate those still in Gaza?

We are just at the beginning of learning about the debriefings of those hostages, so I will withhold comment until there can be more time for that to take place. We're just talking about the last couple of days that hostages have been released, and the early hours have really been much more about caring for their trauma, for their pain, and also getting them reunited with their family. So it's going to take a little while for us to get that information for Israel to get that information. But you can be sure that Israel is focused on learning anything it can about whereabouts, locations, and other information based on conversations they have with the released hostages in the days ahead.

Another major aspect of this deal is that it is allowing for significant amounts of desperately needed humanitarian aid: fuel, medicine, water, food to enter Gaza. President Biden said there are mechanisms in place to ensure those supplies go to civilians and not Hamas. What are those mechanisms? And do you have any indication that they have been in place? Or has Hamas actually benefited from this pause?

Well, first, Stana, there's the inspection mechanism. The Israelis at a crossing called Nitsana check all of the trucks before they go in through the rafa crossing into Gaza. And they check to make sure that it is in fact humanitarian supplies and not goods that could help Hamas in its military campaign. Second, those trucks go to UN depots and to other humanitarian organizations that are vetted and trusted partners. And once they are in the hands of the United Nations and humanitarian organizations, they are distributed directly to the people. And we have seen this work over the course of the last several weeks as humanitarian assistance has ramped up. We've seen at work that it's actually getting to people and that it's not being diverted into the hands of Hamas. But that's something that we have to continue to focus on, on an ongoing basis. President Biden stays in close touch with the Israeli leadership on this, with the UN leadership and with others to make sure, in fact, the aid is getting to where it belongs, which is the innocent people who are suffering.

I want to look ahead a little bit and ask about Prime Minister Netanyahu because he is, as you well know, in a precarious domestic political situation. He knows that as soon as this war with Hamas is over, he's going to face questions that he's been putting off about the failure to prevent the October seventh attacks, questions about his tenure as Prime Minister. Is there any concern inside the Biden administration that Netanyahu doesn't necessarily see it as being in his interest to end this war as quickly as possible?

Look, I'm not going to speculate on Israeli politics. What we're going to do is just stay focused on who is sitting in the chair of Prime Minister, and that is Prime Minister Netanyahu, and deal with him straight up on the issues that we are confronting today. And President Biden has been able, through his direct diplomacy with Prime Minister Netanyahu, as well as his diplomacy with Arab leaders, to generate the introduction of humanitarian assistance, the safe departure of foreign nationals, including Americans from Gaza, the first pause in the fighting in 50 days since this conflict began, and hostage releases. So President Biden believes that his engagement with Prime Minister Netanyahu has paid dividends. He's going to continue to focus on that high-level direct leader-to-leader diplomacy and leave others to determine the politics, the political considerations, we'll stay focused on the task at hand.