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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Three Palestinian College Students Remain In Intensive Care As Investigators Search For Motive In Vermont Shooting; IDF: 11 Newly Released Hostages Back In Israel; 117 Israeli-Held Palestinian Prisoners Released Over The Weekend, 33 More Expected Today; Freed Hostages In Israel, On Way To Hospital; Aunt: Russian-Israeli Hostage Escaped From Hamas But Was Recaptured Before His Release On Sunday. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired November 27, 2023 - 16:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[16:00:51]

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Another group of hostages kidnapped by Hamas was just released.

THE LEAD starts right now.

After more than 50 days held captive by Hamas, 11 more hostages are freed tonight as Israel and Hamas agreed to pause fighting another few days, meaning even more hostage releases to come.

And, the only Israeli man released by Hamas so fire has a dual Russian Israeli citizenship. Why him? And how did he spend four days on the run in Gaza? Was his release a Hamas favor to Vladimir Putin?

Plus, the Palestinian prisoners who Israel is letting go, and the two tiered justice system for many of them that led to so many of them being held without trial in the first place.

(MUSIC)

TAPPER: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.

Also this hour, we're going to get to the major arrests of the man that police say shot those three college students in Vermont. The suspect was in court today. The college students were speaking English and Arabic at the time of Saturday's shooting, wearing the traditional Palestinian Keffiyeh scarves. A shocking apparent hate crime. New details in that case ahead.

But we start with breaking news. A fourth group of hostages freed by Hamas now back safely in Israel. The spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces says all 11 citizens are Israeli, about is not clear if any of them are dual citizens. The hostages and missing persons form says the freed hostages are 12-year-old Eitan Yahalomi, Sharon Kunio and her 3- year-old kid Emma and Yulio, Karina Engel and her kids 18-year-old Mika and 11-year-old Yuval, 16-year-old Sahar Kalderon and 12-year-old Erez Kalderon, and 16-year-old Or Yaakov and 13-year-old Yagil Yaakov.

I spoke to the mother of Or and Yagil on October 8th, the day after the attack. She was listening to her sons on the phone when they were kidnapped. You might remember that horrible story. It's so great that they're back with her.

Now that this group of hostages has been released, the Israel Hamas pause will be extended by an additional two days under the same conditions. That means another 20 hostages are expected to be freed. He's nearly free hostages during 58 others who have been released in recent days, that includes 40 Israelis, and 4-year-old American Israeli Abigail Edan. She was orphaned in the October 7th terrorist attacks, when Hamas murdered her parents in cold blood, Roy and Smadar Edan.

Let's get straight to CNN's Jeremy Diamond. He's that the Kerem Shalom border crossing at the intersection of Israel, Gaza, and Egypt.

Jeremy, what are you seeing where you are right now?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jake, we just witnessed a very dramatic scene. Three helicopters came very close to our location, and we actually saw them go directly to the Kerem Shalom crossing, landing right there. I'm going to have my cameraman Byron here zoom in on that location where we can actually still see at least one of those helicopters. We saw some buses getting very close to those helicopters, and I'm now told, Jake, that indeed, those hostages are crossing at the Kerem Shalom crossing, and they will shortly board helicopters towards hospitals in Israel.

Now, what's really interesting about this, Jake, is that it appears that this crossing happens simply between Gaza, directly into Israel. Typically, we see those images of the Red Cross vehicles heading to the Rafah Crossing, crossing into Egypt, and then driving that less than two miles through Egypt to the Kerem Shalom crossing, and then coming into Israel. But now, Israeli officials are already confirming that those hostages are indeed on Israeli territory, accompanied by the military. Again, we saw those helicopters coming in very low, to transport helicopters, one that looked very similar to a Black Hawk helicopter, and then landing directly at this Kerem Shalom crossing.

[16:05:02]

So I suspect that very soon, we will see those helicopters once again taking off and heading in the direction of what we are told is one Ichilov Hospital, which is one of the hospitals in Israel that is prepared to receive these hostages. We have watched, Jake, obviously, over the course of the last several days, there's a couple of different modalities have been employed for these hostages to cross into Israel.

Yesterday was the first day that they actually crossed directly from the Gaza Strip into Israel. At the time, we were told that was in part due to the urgent medical condition of one of those newly-released hostages. Over the previous days, they've gone into Egypt first. But now, once again, Jake, it appears, going directly from Gaza into Israel now at this Kerem Shalom crossing right behind us.

TAPPER: And, Jeremy, what can you tell us about these 11 hostages? DIAMOND: Well, Jake, most of these 11 hostages come from that Nir Oz

kibbutz in southern Israel where dozens of people were kidnapped from that kibbutz and taken into the Gaza Strip. We have the names of several of these hostages, and there are a number of children, ranging from the age of three up until 16, 18 years old, all of these hostages. We have a statement, also, from the head of the Nir Oz kibbutz who says that the news this evening brings a sigh of relief to our community. However, we remain deeply concerned about our loved ones that are still held hostage.

And that is, of course, a reminder, Jake, that for every hostage who is released, there are still hostages who are still remaining in Gaza. And that will be the key, Jake, as we watch how this develops over the coming days, with this truce not being extended by an additional two days. Hamas set to release ten civilian hostages for each of those days.

How much further can they keep going? We know that Hamas does not hold all of the hostages inside of Gaza. In fact, several are being held, dozens are being held, in fact, by other militant groups. In fact, tonight, the Israeli military confirmed that Kfir Bibas, that ten month old, the youngest Israeli hostage being held in the Gaza Strip, is being held by another militant group.

So, a lot of questions about Hamas's ability to wrangle these hostages and to return them to Israel as part of this agreement -- Jake.

TAPPER: All right. Jeremy Diamond, thanks so much.

I want to bring in CNN's Oren Liebermann now. He's in Tel Aviv.

Oren, today's release was delayed by hours. Why? What were the issues holding it back?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jake, the fundamental issue here was over the list of hostages to be released. Israel has demanded as part of the agreement that families are kept together, and that is an issue where Israel says Hamas violated over the course of the past several days by separating a daughter from her mother. Hila, from her mother, Raya.

And that led to it own series of issues, roadblocks and delays that eventually took time to work through. From what we're hearing, the same sort of issue -- who was on the list, who is not on the list, that caused the delay today. Still, this isn't on par with what we saw over the weekend, where there was risk of the deal collapsing. It wasn't that grave danger to the overall deal, but it obviously shows the friction taking place and these exchanges, and is part of this truce, and how fragile this all can be.

The effort it took, I apologize for my light being finicky there, the light -- the effort it took to get this across the line and keep this going, especially with the challenges on the ground there.

TAPPER: Oren, what do we know about this two day extension of this pause in fighting? Could it go past that? Could it become three days, even four?

LIEBERMANN: What's critical here is the arrangement for when they have this pause in fighting. Israel said from the very beginning it would take the release of ten Israeli hostages for another day of a pause in fighting. It's crucial to know this is specific to women and children. At least as of the numbers released earlier today from these really prime minister's office, there are still, and this is before today's release, I should note, 52 women and 14 children.

So, there is at least, in principle, enough hostages under this agreement to keep this pause going for a few more days. It's also worth noting that when Israel put out their list of hostages held in Gaza, the number was 300. That's twice the initial agreement for 150, which means at least that Israel is paying for the possibility of an extension as well.

Still, Qatar announced, and we only heard from Hamas, Egypt and others, 48 hours of extension right now to keep that going. And probably will take another massive diplomatic effort.

TAPPER: In Tel Aviv, thanks so much.

Let's bring in CNN's Alex Marquardt.

And, Alex, have U.S. officials given any indication when they think the nine Americans who they believe are being held by Hamas, nine Americans, might be released?

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're certainly hoping, Jake, that two American women will come out in the next two days. There was an expectation that during this four- day pause, that three Americans would get released. And one of them was young Abigail Edan, the four-year-old, and then they had hoped that by today you would have these two American women, because this deal, of course, was for women and children.

[16:10:02]

That did not happen. And that is one of the reasons that we bet, you know, the Biden administration is really pushing for this extension. John Kirby, the White House spokesman for the National Security Council, he confirmed just a short time ago on CNN that today's release would not see any more Americans released. Here's a bit more about what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KIRBY, NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL COORDINATOR FOR STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS: We are working very, very hard to keep this flow of hostages going. We're glad to see that there is a two-day extension, and we certainly would hope that in the next two days, in this next couple of installments, we'll see some Americans coming out. But it's difficult to know for sure, day to day, exactly how Hamas is making these decisions.

(END VIDEO CLIP) MARQUARDT: So, Jake, the hope is two more Americans in the next two days. You have to imagine, the U.S. is pressing Hamas via Qatar and Egypt to release these Americans. Certainly, Hamas knows how valuable these American prisoners are.

And then there's the question of the seven others who are men, and Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser, said that by tonight, they are expecting an update from Hamas as to the conditions of those seven American men, whether they're alive or not, what medical condition they're in.

Jake, we should note that at least three of these seven, we believe, have something to do with the Israeli military. Whether they're reservist, which we believe one is, and two are IDF soldiers. We believe that will make negotiations much more complicated down the line.

TAPPER: Yeah. You've got to believe Hamas is playing with fire there, holding on to those Americans for so long. What role did the U.S. play in this agreement announced by Qatar to extend this pause, this humanitarian pause between Israel and Hamas and Gaza strip for these additional two days?

MARQUARDT: A pivotal role, a really central one. This is something that the U.S. has been pushing for since the very beginning of this pause. They say the deal was designed so that in order to incentivize Hamas to release more prisoners, very simple deal.

TAPPER: Not prisoners. They're --

MARQUARDT: Hostages.

TAPPER: Hostages.

MARQUARDT: Absolutely, they're hostages. That you get another day of pause, essentially, for every ten hostages released. And so, we know that the president himself has been intimately involved. He has been speaking with his counterparts over the weekend, speaking with the emir of Qatar, as well as the prime minister of Israel.

So at all levels, really, from the president on down, the U.S. has been very involved in pushing this. And as you've noted, the U.S. is hoping that this extension in the pause goes beyond these two days, so that more hostages can be released, so that more aid can get in.

TAPPER: Yeah. One wonders, though, how long President Biden's patience can last.

MARQUARDT: And Israel's.

TAPPER: And Israel's. Yeah.

All right, Alex Marquardt, thanks so much.

It's been a remarkable for days full of anticipation, drama, some disappointment, also some jubilation. As we await more reunions of hostages with their families, those already reunited are sharing in moments of joy, and relief.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TAPPER (voice-over): It was a particularly excruciating weekend for the families of the hostages being held by Hamas. Once the temporary pause between Israel and Hamas began, many of them hoping, praying, that their loved ones would be the ones released. Among the first wave of hostages freed, nine-year-old Ohad Munder seeing his father for the first time in this emotional video. He was kidnapped from kibbutz Nir Oz with his mother, Karen, and 78-year-old grandmother, Ruth, as well as his grandfather.

Another emotional moment. Nine-year-old Emily Hand reuniting with her father, who previously thought she'd been killed by Hamas. All weekend, many Americans were holding out hope that four-year-old Israeli American Abigail Edan would be released. But her parents had been murdered by Hamas in a kibbutz Kfar Aza. And son Sunday, she was finally freed in the third round of hostage releases.

Also included in that third wave, the Brodutch family. Hagar Brodutch was kidnapped from Kfar Aza, along with her children, Ofry, Yuval and Oria. A few weeks ago in Tel Aviv, their father told me he was eager for any sort of swap with Palestinian prisoners.

Do the swap. Whatever swap they want, do it.

AVIHAL BRODUTCH, FAMILY HELD HOSTAGE BY HAMAS: Just do everything. Just do everything just for this. You know, my family is there, it's been over three weeks. Just do everything for my family over there. I really want my kids to, you know, to be right here, and, you know, I want Yuval to play soccer, and Oria to play on his Xbox, and, you know, Ofry to play her guitar and my wife to be with me.

TAPPER: Another family that was released, the Goldstein-Almog family, Chen Goldstein-Almog was kidnapped along with three children, Agam, Gal and Tal. Her husband Nadav and eldest daughter Yam were killed in the safe room of their home, in kibbutz Kfar Aza.

I spoke to Chen's brother Omri when I was in Israel a few weeks ago.

OMRI ALMOG, FAMILY KILLED AND OTHERS KIDNAPPED BY HAMAS: So, it's a difficult situation, but we -- we fight. And I need the world, somebody needs to help them to make it back from Gaza Strip, back to Israel.

[16:15:02]

They cannot do them this -- they cannot do it themselves.

TAPPER: After the Goldstein-Almog family safely returned to Israel, Omri revealed that the family knew all along that their loved ones have made it.

ALMOG: I'm very happy to inform everybody that my sister Chen Goldstein-Almog and her three kids, Agam, Gal and Tal are back to us, and they're feeling good and well. They knew the whole time that (INAUDIBLE) they went to Gaza as hostages, they kidnapped. We're very happy to have them. They're healthy and in good spirits.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TAPEPR: And we are just getting the very first images of the Goldstein-Almog hostages reuniting with their family members at the Schneider Children Hospitals outside Tel Aviv. Hugs, smiles, tears, speak volumes. We hope this scene repeat itself many, many times over until all the hostages are free.

Even with more releases today, Hamas is still holding more than half of all the hostages taken on October 7th. A father looking for an inkling of what about his son will not join me next.

Plus, the lone Russian released by Hamas, how he once managed to escape activity and roam Gaza for four full days before being recaptured.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:20:18]

TAPPER: Desperate families in Israel are waiting to hear if their loved ones might be among the next hostages released, including my next guest. His son 22-year-old Omer Wenkert was taken hostage when Hamas attacked that Nova music festival in southern Israel.

Shai Wenkert joins me now.

Shai, thank you so much for being here.

Your son, Omar, we should point out, suffered from a chronic medical condition. Have officials given you any updates on his condition on how he might be doing?

SHAI WENKERT, SON TAKEN HOSTAGE BY HAMAS: Thank you, Jake.

No, we did not have any information. My son is 52 days as a hostage of Hamas. I do not know if he is getting any medical aid or any medicine. The chronic disease is getting severe, when you are in a stress situation like -- like he probably do.

This is unfortunately -- it's worst case that I can think about, that is not getting any medical aid, and the Red Cross is supposed to go inside tomorrow, as they are part of the deal. I don't know, I did not get any information from the Red Cross or any other health care.

They're going to go inside to visit the hostages or maybe to give them some medicine that he needs, and to bring a sign of life. This is what I want.

TAPPER: Yeah.

WENKERT: I think part of the deal that is supposed to go in a few days I demand that they carry the -- all sick people and also my son inside, to take them out, the sick people are not -- they can't stay there. They can't stay there anymore. We saw one hostage that came out, Elma Raham (ph), and she was in a

hospital in a very serious and bad condition. So, I don't want to think about my son in this situation. We need to take all the sick people out, everyone.

TAPPER: Yeah, it must be very painful for the family members of men, young men, especially given the fact that obviously they are prioritizing older people, women, and children, understandably so. But, the love you have for your son is very apparent.

WENKERT: Yeah, I welcome all the hostages that are released, it is very helpful for the families to give them more strength. Some of them are combined -- a boy went out but he is still a hostage. I cannot imagine what he feels about it. This is a horrible things.

And again, I demand to take all hostages out, and first we have to do with the sick people. They are lying down on the ground probably, and we don't know anything about them, if they're getting treatment, if they're getting any medicine.

TAPPER: And, Shai, you first learned about Omar being taken hostage by Hamas from a video that was shared on social media. I'm going to show it which permission. I want to warn our viewers that the video is disturbing.

Your son is visible in the video. He's in the back of a pick up truck stripped to his underwear, surrounded by these armed terrorists that were repeatedly beating him. That must have been horrifying to see when you saw that. Although, at the same time, you do see your son is alive.

WENKERT: It's horrible to see my son like this, handcuffed only with underwear, he's getting beaten. He's slaughtered. And they're pointing a gun at him.

I don't -- it's horrible to think about it. Yes, I can see my son is alive. He's kidnapped in this SUV of Hamas. He is alive and looking at the camera, there's a photo that he's only with underwear handcuffed on sandbags that are supposed to go to Palestinian refugees.

TAPPER: Yeah.

WENKERT: Hamas did a terror act and take all the action. So, this is horrible.

[16:25:03]

I know my son is alive from the video, but since then, I don't know anything.

TAPPER: Yeah.

WENKERT: I don't know anything. I don't want to think my son will be the next body that comes out of Gaza.

TAPPER: Well, let's not -- let's not think about that. Let's hope -- let's hope for the best.

What should people know about Omer? What do you want people to think about when they think about Omer? Because I don't want to think about that image when I think about Omer. I want to think about what you tell me about him right now.

What do you want -- when I think about Omer tonight when I go home, what do you want me to know about him?

WENKERT: First, you can see from the photos, he's a very smiley guy. He is 22 years old. He is the manager of a restaurant and this is the career that he wants to do.

He also needs to study about the restaurant management. He's very friendly, he's like a human magnets. Everybody wants to be around him. He has a lot of friends, and he does friendship very easy.

He's doing -- also he went to the youth group we have here (INAUDIBLE). So, he likes the good life, and this is how I want people to know Omer. He likes to go to chef restaurants, he likes to go to parties, music, drink some wine, and this is how I want people to know Omer.

He is a very handsome guy and I miss him a lot. I did not see him for 52 days. It's unimaginable, unimaginable.

TAPPER: But you know what?

WENKERT: I want everybody to imagine that he is coming home. This is make me more happy and more faithful. We're waiting for him.

TAPPER: Shai, the very first person I interviewed who had somebody kidnapped was a woman named Renana Yaakov. I interviewed her on November 8th. Her two sons were return today. Her two sons were returned today.

And let's hope that that will be you. That will be used soon enough.

Shai Wenkert, thanks for being with us today.

WENKERT: Thank you very much. I have to ask you from the reporters and all the media, we have to keep doing the mission that the hostage need to be on the front page. We are very happy for the release of hostages, but, we still have 160 hostages.

TAPPER: Shai Wenkert, you're on my show right now, Shai. I know. I know. You are on right now. You are live on international TV right now. I am not stopping, don't worry.

Coming up, ahead, some Palestinian prisoners held in custody without ever being charged with a crime. How did that happen? Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:32:25] TAPPER: We're back with our worldly, 33 more Israeli held Palestinian prisoners are expected to be released today in exchange for Israeli hostages. That's on top of the 117 Palestinian prisoners who have already been freed in part of this pause between Israel and Hamas.

Some of these individuals were convicted in a court of law for criminal acts, such as, for example, 38-year-old Ezra Javez (ph) in 2015. Israel sentenced her to 13 years in prison. She had been convicted in the courts of law of attempted murder, when she drove up her car and with gas canisters, her car blew up at a checkpoint and the explosion wounded a police officer. She was accused of yelling "Allahu Akbar", she denies it, but the police officer was wounded.

But then there are also a host of Palestinians who have been freed who had been denied even basic due process, such a 17 year old Wasam Tamimi (ph). He was arrested by Israel defense forces in June, accused of offenses including possessing a weapon, but he was never even charged. He sat in prison for five months.

And as CNN's Nima Elbagir reports, Israeli law actually allows Palestinian prisoners to be detained indefinitely without a trial or even a charge.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The moment a mother finally sees her daughter for the first time after eight years in Israeli prison. The relief, the anguish, the utter joy.

Malak Salman was part of the first wave of hostage-prisoner exchange between Israel and Hamas.

MALAK SALMAN, RELEASED PRISONER (through translated): It was painful, because I was leaving the sisters I made inside prison, and they feel like my freedom was paid for with the blood of the 14,000 Gazans killed.

ELBAGIR: Malak, then 16, was charged attempted stabbing of Israelis. Israeli authorities say no one was injured, and yet she was convicted of attempted murder, and sentenced to ten years. When her family appealed, it came down to nine.

Malak served almost eight of those seven years, but in the remainder of teenage years behind bars. Her family maintains her innocence.

Fatina, Malak's mother, had dreams of this day for years, to embrace her daughter, to share the joy with her community. She says, this was denied.

FATINA SALMAN, MOTHER (through translator): The Israeli authorities were with us from 2:00 p.m.

[16:35:02]

They surrounded the house and rip down the decorations of any display of celebrations. They stole the joy of my daughter's release.

ELBAGIR: To be released doesn't mean you are fully free. Israeli national security Minister Itamar Bin Gvir who is himself found guilty in 2007 before he was a minister of incitement to racism against Arabs and supporting a terrorist organization. Ben Gvir instructed Israeli forces to use an iron fist, preventing Palestinians from celebrating the release of their loved ones, saying the prisoners were terrorists.

ITAMAR BEN GVIR, ISRAELI NATIONAL SECURITY MINISTER: Expressions of joy and support for terrorism, celebrations of victory give strength to those same human scum, those Nazis. The policy here is very, very, very clear -- not to allow these expressions of joy, and strive to make contact and stop any support for these Nazis.

ELBAGIR: Another night, another scene of Israeli forces removing well- wishes and journalists at the home of a released Palestinian prison, taking a heavy-handed approach, as ordered by their national security minister.

In Bethlehem, in the occupied West Bank, they were able to defy Ben Gvir, celebrating the release of Fatima Shahin and others from the city. Fatima left her home walking, and returned almost seven months later with life-changing injuries, shot by Israeli soldiers and accused of attempted murder.

FATIMA SHAHIN, RELEASED PRISONER (through translator): They accused me of carrying out a stabbing. It is not true. They opened fire on me. I was hit in the spine with two bullets. Two vertebrae were damaged. They replace them with titanium. I cannot feel my legs or standup. They also removed five centimeters from my liver and one kidney.

ELBAGIR: For months, Fatima's family say they were denied access, even as her attention stretched on.

SHAHIN: It was forbidden for relatives to visit me or even the lawyers. I was not allowed to make any calls.

ELBAGIR: Israel says Fatima committed murder, and yet, she's only detained and not charged. She did not go to trial, she was not given any opportunity to defend herself, and this is a story we keep hearing again and again from released prisoners, that they aren't given due process, and yet, this crime exists alongside their names.

The Israeli prison service responded to these allegations saying: National security prisoners who are released from Israeli prison during the past two days were serving time for serious crimes, such as attempted murder, assault, and throwing explosives, all prisoners in custody are held according to the law. That's not true.

CNN broke down the numbers in a list of 300 Palestinian prisoners, identified by Israel as eligible for release, 80 percent are listed as just detained, which means, they have not been formally sentenced.

Israel operates two systems of law in the occupied territories, Palestinians under the military, Israelis under civil law, creating a low bar for the arrest of increasing numbers of Palestinians. As Israeli hard-liners like Ben Gvir and others in this far-right

government seek to characterize every Palestinian as a terrorist. That number is rising every day.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ELBAGIR (on camera): The Israeli Defense Forces not respond to our request for comment. But, numbers speak for themselves, Jake. That was just a very small sample that was released by Israel's Department of Justice, but the number of Palestinians who have been swept up in Israeli jails within the last 23 months are almost 9,000.

And if Fatima and Malak are any -- give us any kind of insight into what those other thousands of Palestinians are going through, there's a real concern that there is no distinction between a Palestinian and a terrorist in the way that Israel chooses to apply its laws to them. It is martial law -- Jake.

TAPPER: Nima Elbagir, in east Jerusalem, thank you so much for that report.

Coming up next, the Hamas relationship with Vladimir Putin that seems to have led to the release of one man among so many women and children who are being released.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:43:49]

TAPPER: And we have breaking news for you now. A military helicopter just took off from the Kerem Shalom border. That's at the intersection of Israel, Gaza and Egypt. That's where we find CNN's Jeremy Diamond.

Jeremy, walk us through what you are seeing there.

DIAMOND: Well, Jake, over the last hour, we've watched as three helicopters landed at the Kerem Shalom crossing. We got confirmation that those 11 Israeli hostages did indeed come into Israel via that Kerem Shalom crossing. It appears directly from Gaza.

And moments ago, we saw helicopters taking off. We saw one helicopter take off from Kerem Shalom and heading in the direction of Tel Aviv. We know that those 11 hostages are heading to a hospital in Tel Aviv tonight, and we believe that that one helicopter was likely carrying those hostages. We're still watching to see if two more to take off, but it was quite the scene, Jake.

TAPPER: All right. Jeremy Diamond, thank you so much.

So far, the hostages released by Hamas have primarily been women and children with an exception of 25-year-old Roni Kriboy, an Israeli Russian.

As CNN's Fred Pleitgen reports for us now, Hamas cites intervention of Russian President Vladimir Putin and, quote, the supportive Russian position for the Palestinian cause.

[16:45:11]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Israel's rejoicing over the hostage release in the prisoner swap with Hamas, almost exclusively women and children.

Only one military age male Israeli has been set free so far. Roni Kriboy pictured in this Hamas video, showing the exchange with the Red Cross.

Kriboy is also a Russian citizen and his brother thanked the Russian government for making the release happened.

IGOR KRIBOY, RONI KRIBOY'S BROTHER (through translator): We see what Russians can do, they helped us and we believe they can help others, too.

PLEITGEN: Roni Kriboy's aunt told Israeli media that he escaped captors after the house he was kept in was bombed, but that he was apprehended by Hamas again after four days.

His release now was not part of the larger prisoner swap agreement between Israel and Hamas, it happened thanks to Moscow's good relations with Hamas's leadership, Russian officials say.

His release was possible following direct intensive contacts between our diplomats and Hamas representatives, Russia's ambassador to Israel says.

After Hamas's October 7th assault on southern Israel, killing more than 1,200 people, and leaving more than 200 in captivity inside Gaza, much of the world condemned Hamas, but to not Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Instead, the Kremlin invited a high-level Hamas delegation to Moscow for talks.

Putin has ripped into Israel over its military response to Hamas's raid, which has killed and wounded many people across the Gaza Strip. Putin even comparing his invasion of Ukraine to Hamas's war against Israel.

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): I understand this war with Ukraine, death of people, must be shocking. But what about the bloody state coup in Ukraine in 2014, which was followed by the war of the Kyiv regime against their own people in Donbas. Is it not shocking? Was that the elimination of civilians in Palestine, in Gaza?

ELBAGIR: For its part, Hamas clearly views Moscow as an ally. Hamas leaders making clear, Russian hostages captured on October 7th will get preferential treatment and have good chances of getting released faster. MOUSA ABU MARZOUK, CHIEF DEPUTY, HAMAS POLITICAL BUREAU (through

translator): This request from Russia, we treat more positively and attentively than others within the nature of our relations with Russia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PLEITGEN (on camera): And, Jake, so far, the Russians have not said how many Russian citizens are still being held by Hamas. However they have said that the Russians that are still being held are also dual Russian Israeli citizens.

So, in this case, those good relations that the Kremlin has with Hamas is quite beneficial for Israelis. At the same time, you do have Vladimir Putin ripping into Israel, the same time also ripping into the U.S. saying, essentially, he believes the U.S. needs instability in the Middle East to dominate the place, Jake.

TAPPER: Fred Pleitgen, thanks so much.

Coming up next, the court appearance today in Vermont for the man, the police say shot three innocent college students.

Stay with us.

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[16:52:47]

TAPPER: Three Palestinian college students went out for a walk in Vermont. They were wearing their keffiyehs. They're speaking Arabic and English. They were shot, shot before they can even make it home for dinner. All three remain in intensive care as investigators today are looking for a motive.

As CNN's Polo Sandoval reports, this attack comes, of course, amid horrific rise in anti-Muslim and anti-Arab incidents ever since this war between Israel and Hamas began.

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MAYOR MIRO WEINBERGER, BURLINGTON, VERMONT: Saturday evening shooting of three young Palestinian college students, visiting Burlington on holiday break, was one of the most shocking and disturbing events in this city's history.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After shooting in Vermont left three young Palestinian men scarred forever, at least one of them still in critical condition, the suspect now charged with three counts of attempted second degree murder. Forty-eight-year-old Jason Eaton even was arraigned at Burlington this morning, and pleaded not guilty and being held without bail.

CHIEF JON MURAD, BURLINGTON POLICE: Upon knocking on one door, the ATF agents were greeted by a man who stepped out of the door towards them with his palms up at waist height and stated something to be effective I've been waiting for you. ATF agents said, why is that? The gentleman said in some substance, I would like a lawyer.

SANDOVAL: The three victims, each 20 years old, are Hisham Awartani, a student at Brown University in Rhode Island who now has a bullet lodged in his spine, Kinnan Abdalhamid, a student at Haverford College in Pennsylvania who was shot in the glute, and Tahseen Ali Ahmed, a student at Trinity College in Connecticut still has a bullet in his chest.

Police say the students were walking down the street Saturday evening while visiting one of their relatives for Thanksgiving.

MURAD: They were speaking in a mixture of English and Arabic, which is their want. Two were wearing keffiyehs, and they had no knowledge of this individual, have not encountered him before. He stepped off a porch and produced a firearm and began discharging that firearm.

SANDOVAL: Amid rising reports of targeted violence against Jews and Palestinian since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war, the shooing immediately prompted calls that should be considered a hate crime.

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ABED AYOUB, ATTORNEY FOR VICTIMS' FAMILIES: I believe the family's fear that this was motivated by hate, that these boys were -- these young men were targeted because they were Arabs, that they were wearing keffiyehs, I think that is our fear.

SANDOVAL: Federal officials investigating whether it was a hate crime at the eyes of the law. Families of the victims say they thought their loved ones would be safe here.

RODDY TAMIMI, UNCLE OF VERMONT SHOOTING VITIM KINNAN ABDELHAMID: Kinnan grew up in the West Bank, and we always thought that that could be more of a risk in terms of his safety. And sending him here would be the right decision, you feel somehow betrayed in that decision here.

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SANDOVAL (on camera): Having had an opportunity to speak with some of these family members today. They really did underscore that, Jake, which is that these young men left a conflict zone, came to the United States to do what they hope to be the relative safety only to be shot in the street that you see behind me.

Before we wrap, we should mention, that Burlington police confirmed they have been able to established ballistic connection between the pistol that were seized in the suspect home, which is the apartment that you see behind me, with the casings that were recovered from the street. So, they have that piece of the puzzle in the bag, and the next big challenge will be establishing whether or not this wasn't actually hate-driven crime.

TAPPER: Absolutely disgraceful.

Polo Sandoval, thank you so much. I really appreciate it. Right now, we are monitoring hostages being released from Hamas

custody believed to be on a helicopter right now, headed for hospital in Tel Aviv.

Our coverage continues right after this quick break.

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