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Israel Source: Remaining Living Hostages Are With Red Cross; Trump To Address Knesset Shortly; First Seven Hostages Are At Re'im Military Base For Medical Checks; Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired October 13, 2025 - 04:00   ET

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

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[4:00:51]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Tel Aviv reporting the latest developments.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Kaitlan Collins.

And any moment, we are expecting the president to address Israeli's parliament, the Knesset here. Obviously, Wolf, something that only two U.S. presidents have done before.

BLITZER: It will be a significant moment. We'll, of course, have the live coverage. Indeed it's been a day a very, very moving fast paced developments here not Israel.

COLLINS: Yes. We're watching all of these hostages get released, finally making it to Israeli soil for the first time.

We have confirmed seven living hostages have been released by Hamas in recent hours. They're back on Israeli soil for the first time in 738 days, back with their loved ones, a we're watching these emotional reunions start to take place.

A second group of hostages are set to be released soon to the Red Cross, and we're watching that very closely.

All as we are also seeing the U.S. president land here in the car with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, as they are on their way to Jerusalem to the Israeli Knesset where soon President Trump will speak. We'll bring you those remarks live when they happen.

This first group of hostages are at the Re'im military facility in southern Israel. They're getting their initial medical evaluations there and also reuniting with their families, most importantly, Wolf.

BLITZER: Indeed. Large crowds, very large crowds have packed Hostages Square here in Tel Aviv where we've been seeing an outpouring of emotion as all these dramatic developments continue and they've been cheering these developments over at Hostages Square as well. COLLINS: Yes. And in the last hour, the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, we saw him greeting President Trump as he landed here in Israel with the red carpet rolled out.

Ahead of that arrival, the U.S. president had this to say to reporters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Everybody is happy, whether it's Jewish or Muslim or the Arab countries. Every country is dancing in the streets.

And it's a point in time I don't think you'd ever see it again. They've never seen it for 3,000 years. If you like one group, you don't like the other group. And if you like the other group, you don't like the first group.

And it's the first time they've ever seen where everybody's unified.

The war is over. The war is over. The war is over. OK? You understand that?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: And after President Trump's speaks and addresses the Knesset Israel's parliament meets with hostage families as well, the president will be leaving here in Israel heading over to Egypt for meetings with other world leaders as they try to get ready.

I want to go to CNN's Jerusalem correspondent Jeremy Diamond. He's over at that remote air base, military base, I should say, in southern Israel, not far from Gaza where some of these released hostages will be arriving.

Set the scene for us, Jeremy.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right, Wolf. And you can see right over my right shoulder here, one of those military transport planes that we expect will be taking these Israeli hostages to hospitals in the Tel Aviv area, once they are released from this base.

We know that there are already seven Israeli hostages who have been freed and who are currently meeting their families right behind me at this military base, which is just about five miles away from the Gaza border.

We have yet to get pictures of those reunions, but what we have gotten are still photos released by the Israeli military of those first seven Israeli hostages meeting representatives of the Israeli military inside of Gaza for the first time.

You can -- we may have some of those images to show our audience right now. You can see that they all appear to be, at least at first glance, in relatively good health, but again, this is just the kind of first glance of what we're seeing.

All of them do, however, appear to be quite pale, which is something that we have seen from the other hostages who have been in captivity for a long time. Many of them not having seen sunlight for months and months at a time.

We know that some of those hostages, we had already had information that some of them had been wounded like Alon Ohel, for example, who is believed to have an injury to one of his eyes.

So they will undergo an initial medical evac -- evaluation here at a -- at Re'im military base and then, of course, some more thorough evaluation once they are at hospitals in the Tel Aviv area where they will have a full suite of support from physical to mental health resources and also be able to spend some quality time with their families.

[4:05:20]

This is obviously an enormous moment for those families who have waited more than two years, who have suffered in anguish for two years, who have fought for their loved ones for more than two years, whether it is at protests across this country or traveling abroad, meeting with foreign representatives.

So many of these loved ones have done everything they can to arrive at this moment and having seen some of them already as they were arriving at this base. I can tell you that for these families there simply is nothing sweeter at this moment. Wolf.

BLITZER: All right Jeremy. Thank you very much. Jeremy Diamond at Re'im, at the Israeli military base.

Re'im, not far from Gaza and southern Israel.

I want to go to CNN's Clarissa Ward right now. She's over at Hostages Square here in Tel Aviv, where hundreds, if not thousands, many thousands of Israelis have gathered in their support and their excitement, their happiness.

Finally, some of these Israeli hostages have actually been released there in Israeli hands right now, more are on the way.

What's the latest over there Clarissa?

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, some people were waiting here since 4:00, 5:00 in the morning to bear witness to this historic moment. And the crowd has been incredibly emotional as those first images have come out of the hostages safely in Israel at the Re'im air base.

There were particularly loud cheers when we saw those first images of Alon Ohel, who I remember hearing a lot about when I interviewed the released hostage, Eliya Cohen. Eliya spent months and months and months with Alon Ohel and described just how difficult and painful it was when it was his turn to be released to leave behind a man who had become his brother effectively.

Alon was also taken from the Nova Music Festival. He was injured again as Jeremy mentioned. They will be taken to hospitals to assess the degree of those injuries and the treatment needed.

But Alon was also known to many in this square as a musician and as a gifted pianist. And actually you can't see it from my location here, but there's a yellow piano here in Hostages Square that was given by Alon's family to give a sense of his spirit, to keep those spirits high during some of the darkest times as family members and loved ones and people were gathering here, chanting day in day out, week in week out, to desperately try to push to bring those hostages home.

And we've heard a lot of songs as well, people chanting and singing over and over again, habayta, habayta, coming home, coming home.

And there's a sense of, frankly, disbelief and some moments of just ecstatic spontaneous cheering and crying and laughing and trying to process the enormity of this moment, what it means for this country, what it means for this war going forward.

And I should add as well, Wolf, of course, there have been tears. There have been tears. There have been prayers. There is a lot of pain. There is a lot of grief.

Many of those hostages coming home today, coming home in coffins. Twenty-eight deceased hostages are to be released as part of the agreement, though it's important to underscore that not all of them will be released today. Israel's leadership has made it clear that it could take some time to locate their remains and bring them home.

But I think you can feel and see as well, Wolf, that clock behind me that has been ticking for every second, every minute, every hour of every day as Israel has waited with bated breath for this moment, Wolf.

BLITZER: All right. Clarissa Ward over at Hostages Square for us.

You know, Kaitlan, the president of the United States is now arriving at the Knesset. We're showing our viewers pictures. He's meeting with some members of the Knesset. There you see the prime minister as well.

COLLINS: Let's see if we can hear him saying.

BLITZER: I don't know if everybody has to see but what we can -- that's his wife Sara, the prime minister's wife.

This might be a very important speech by the president. And it -- it could go on for a while. It's not going to be a short two-minute, three-minute speech.

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COLLINS: Yes. I would expect it to be quite a lengthy speech. Here's the president. Let's see what he's signing here, Wolf. You can see as his (INAUDIBLE) BLITZER: When you come to the Knesset, Israel's Parliament, there's a welcoming book and he'll sign in as a visitor and make an appearance. And then I'll head over to the floor of the Knesset for the actual speech.

He joins a relatively tight list of world leaders who have been invited to speak before the Israeli parliament.

COLLINS: Yes. And only the third U.S. president will do (INAUDIBLE) the first. Bill Clinton did and so did George Bush. And -- and Donald Trump will soon be the third U.S. president to join the parliament.

BLITZER: Yes.

COLLINS: Sometimes in moments like this, President Trump will take a shouted question from reporters. I'm curious if he'll do those here.

BLITZER: He has to sign this document.

COLLINS: He's writing a message, clearly.

BLITZER: Yes. I think he -- I think it's fair to say that President Trump is a happy guy today.

COLLINS: Yes. I mean, he -- he doesn't always get a warm reception when he travels overseas, but certainly here.

I mean, I should know as he was entering Jerusalem, they had huge banners depicting him as the Nobel Peace Prize winner, Wolf. Obviously, they were essentially saying, you're our Nobel Peace Prize winner or something.

BLITZER: Right.

COLLINS: He sought for --

BLITZER: And when I was at Hostages Square yesterday, and I was walking around, I saw a bunch of Israelis who were wearing MAGA, Make America Great Again, hats in the audience there.

COLLINS: I even saw a Donald Trump impersonator in Hostages Square.

BLITZER: Really?

COLLINS: Yes. It -- I mean, it was -- it was quite a moment.

BLITZER: Well, they're grateful to him for this ceasefire agreement for the release of these hostages who are being reunited with its family.

COLLINS: He calls it, this is my great honor, a great and beautiful day, and there at the end he says a new beginning, is what the president has written there in the welcome book.

BLITZER: Yes. He's going to get up and he's going to be escorted to the floor of the Knesset for this big speech. We'll, of course, have live coverage of that.

(CHATTER)

BLITZER: Over to the floor of the Knesset.

I don't know, Kaitlan, if there's a pool of reporters inside of the shout-a-question or two. Normally, if there were American reporters there, they would. I'm not sure about Israeli reporters, but I don't think there are reporters nearby who could start asking questions.

COLLINS: Yes, it's not clear. There is a pool certainly traveling with him. I'm looking closely to see if I recognize any of the faces.

And another question I have is whether or not if he's now going to meet with the hostages as he is scheduled to do at the parliament. They've been there for hours.

I spoke to one of the family members who told me around 5:00 A.M. local this morning. He was headed over there to -- to be with President Trump. And obviously, they'll meet with him behind closed doors, we're expecting.

And these are familiar faces for President Trump. People he's hosted inside the Oval Office that he has spoken with and had phone calls. They have -- a lot of them had dinner with his Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick last week.

And here comes President Trump back this way. We'll see if he -- if he addresses the cameras.

BLITZER: Is he joined by Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner? Do we see them?

COLLINS: I see Ivanka Trump. And I see obviously the prime minister, Netanyahu. I don't see

BLITZER: Yes.

COLLINS: -- Steve Witkoff yet. There's -- yes, there's Jared Kushner.

BLITZER: Yes.

COLLINS: Walking in the background of the president there.

I mean, remarkable to just see him walking the halls of the -- of the Knesset.

BLITZER: And he will be very enthusiastically received, not just by the Likud, the majority party in the Knesset, Prime Minister Netanyahu's party, but for the opposition as well. They're very, very excited, all Israelis are that these hostages are -- hostages being reunited right now. Thanks to his work and work of others to bring these hostages back home.

(CHATTER) COLLINS: And to speak in that popularity, Wolf. You -- you see him next to a prime minister that has been incredibly embattled here, especially --

BLITZER: Yes.

COLLINS: -- in the aftermath of October 7th.

And with -- there is a political lens to this for -- for Netanyahu's future in terms of elections that are going to be held here next year, potentially sooner than -- than one year from now.

Obviously, these photo opportunity moments to show him close with Trump will be useful to him.

BLITZER: Politically, it's very important for Netanyahu. President Trump is extremely popular here in Israel for what he's done. He was popular even before this whole hostage crisis erupted because he moved the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital during his first term.

[4:15:03]

Also recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, which used to be part of Syria.

COLLINS: I think he's going to speak. Let's listen in. It's the first time (INAUDIBLE) if he does speak (INAUDIBLE) there in Israel.

(CHATTER)

COLLINS: (INAUDIBLE) in there, Wolf. But is there a meeting. And there's Jared Kushner. Also, you're kind of seeing the president bask in this moment. No way that he is about to get such a warm reception by the parliament.

BLITZER: Well, we hear some shouted questions, he's not really answering. Although we did hear him say it's a great day. He's obviously thrilled by what's going on right now.

COLLINS: And you part of that, Wolf, is he was watching that demonstration in Hostages Square two nights ago when there were so many people, thousands of people gathered there for this moment today waiting for it.

I was told that the president saw a lot of that coverage and --

BLITZER: And every time his name was mentioned, there was huge applause. Every time Netanyahu's name was mentioned, there were boos in the -- from of that crowd. It was a pretty dramatic moment indeed.

Another more shouted question for whoever in trouble hearing those questions.

COLLINS: Yes. I mean, it's remarkable what a packed, busy hallway this is and how close the reporters are to the president, to the prime minister. They're there in the middle of this scrum, as you can see.

It's like a mix of security officials, reporters, diplomats, the president's family. Ivanka Trump, who's not someone we've seen as president this second term of Donald Trump's, obviously given how closely her husband.

BLITZER: She spoke of the hostages (INAUDIBLE) rally over there. That was very strong.

COLLINS: Yes. Yes. And that's -- you know, we don't often hear from her, certainly in the public eye in terms of her father's presidency. This time we certainly have.

And obviously we're going to be watching this closely to see what the president has to say to the Israeli parliament when he greets them, when he gives a speak. There will be a few speeches before him, including from Netanyahu himself as the two are at odds over whether or not the war in Gaza is really over, because as Netanyahu was saying, the fighting continues, President Trump was saying no, flatly, this war is over.

BLITZER: We'll see if it's over. We'll see what's going on. The ceasefire, thank God, seems to be working right now. And that is very encouraging as well.

COLLINS: Absolutely.

BLITZER: All right. We're going to stand by. We'll hear from the president of the United States when he addresses the Knesset. That's coming up very, very soon. He'll also be meeting with hostage families. We'll have that. A lot of news unfolding on this historic, very dramatic day.

We'll be right back.

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[4:20:27]

BLITZER: Welcome back to our special coverage. We're here in Tel Aviv.

The president of the United States is at Jerusalem getting ready to address the Knesset, Israel's parliament, and he's already there. He's been -- we've been seeing, Kaitlan, him walking around getting ready to make a major speech before the Knesset.

And if you take a look at "The Jerusalem Post" front page, full page advertisement from the World Jewish Congress, Israel, "God bless the peacemaker," with a huge picture of Donald Trump.

And there are other full page ads from other Jewish organizations praising Donald Trump and what he's achieved, the ceasefire and the start of the release of these Israeli hostages.

COLLINS: Yes. And just to give people a sense of what it's like here on the ground in Israel, in addition to -- to what you're seeing in the front pages of papers like "The Jerusalem Post," there's also a massive banner when you enter Jerusalem depicting Trump on a Nobel Peace Prize medal, his -- his outline and his -- his profile is on there saying essentially, you're our Nobel Peace Prize winner, as the president was clearly seeking that and hoping to get it for his role in brokering this ceasefire.

There's a large banner stretched out on the beaches of Tel Aviv that Air Force One passed over as the president was on his way here thanking him.

You just get a sense of -- of certainly the -- the position of the hostage families, the Israelis here in terms of the president's role in this moment.

BLITZER: Significant moment indeed in the history of Israel, history of the United States, history in the US-Israeli relationship with the president of the United States, Donald Trump so warmly, enthusiastically received here in Israel.

And I assume there will be a lot of applause, a lot of standing ovations once he begins his address before the Knesset.

COLLINS: Yes. And obviously, we'll be monitoring that live and watching what he says, but also what the Israeli Prime Minister has to say before him.

BLITZER: We're going to go to Jeremy Diamond. He's over at the Re'im military base and not far from Gaza and southern Israel. Jeremy, set the scene for us over there because this is where some of the hostages, I take it, are going to make their first stop in Israel.

DIAMOND: Yes, that's right, Wolf. As of now, 20 -- all 20 living Israeli hostages have been released by Hamas. Seven of them are right behind me at the Re'im military base where they are reuniting with their families for the first time in more than two years.

The other 13 are in the hands of the international Red Cross at this point, according to Israeli officials. We expect that those 13 hostages will also be making their way first into the hands of the IDF inside of the Gaza Strip and then be driven right behind me to this Re'im military base.

But I do anticipate that those first seven hostages will soon be leaving this Re'im base and being flown to hospitals in central Israel.

[4:25:07]

And that's because if you see behind me here over my left shoulder. You can see this tent that's been moved right alongside one of the helicopters. That indicates that that is going to be one of the first helicopters that is going to be taking some of those Israeli hostages inside. And then that that will take off and head towards Central Israel.

So this tent was moved here just in the last few minutes, suggesting that we are getting closer to the departure of those Israeli hostages.

Obviously, the Israeli military doing what it can to provide those hostages with the privacy that they need in this moment.

We do however expect that like with previous releases, we will get images that have been approved by the families, approved by the hostages themselves to be released. That will include videos presumably of those hostages reuniting with their families for the first time. Emotional scenes that we have seen over the course of the last two ceasefires as well.

But this time, obviously, with a new meaning because these are the last living Israeli hostages to finally be released by Hamas as part of this ceasefire agreement.

Still questions looming over the bodies of the 28 other hostages still being held by Hamas as well. Some of those bodies expected to be released perhaps as early as this afternoon.

But as we have been reporting, it appears that not all of those bodies will initially be released. Some will still have to be found in Gaza beneath the rubble. Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes. And a lot of families want those bodies so there could be proper burial services here in Israel for their loved ones, usually sons.

Our Jeremy Diamond, thank you very, very much.

COLLINS: And, Wolf, you heard Jeremy mention their emotional reunions and these moments that we have seen before during hostage releases. And there's actually a video of one of a family that we've spoken with a lot, which is Lishay Miran-Lavi. Her husband, Omri has been captured and held in Gaza for 738 days.

And I was speaking to her brother yesterday about what this moment is meant for their family. He has two small daughters, one of whom almost only six months old when he was kidnapped and taken into Gaza. The other, Roni was two years old.

And she actually just posted this video that we're showing here. That is Lishay, FaceTiming with her daughters and telling them that their dad is home.

I was actually reading a story in one of the Israeli papers, Wolf, where Omri's dad said that basically they hadn't told the girls yet that their dad was coming home because they just wanted to make sure everything went well. Everything went right before, you know, telling these two young babies and trying to explain to them, you know, why they haven't seen their father or heard his voice in two years.

And this is just one of the hostage families that is getting the best news today, getting reunited with their loved ones.

And one thing that -- that Lishay's brother told me is that every night, they would go out, Omri and his daughter would go out and look at the stars. And so after he was kidnapped into Gaza, she would take her out every single night and -- and tell the -- look at the stars and tell her dad good night as he was being held somewhere in Gaza. And now this is the first night where they won't have to do that without him being there.

BLITZER: You know, it's so sad when you think about it, the kids. So many of these hostages are young men married with families and they were taken away. And their young kids have not seen them in a year.

And when I was at the Ichilov Hospital, I met with a psychiatrist there who has been treating some of these freed hostages. She told me that one of the problems is that these young kids who may have been six, seven, eight years old when their fathers were kidnapped, they might not recognize their father now when they see them up close because of the malnutrition and the treatment that the father has received.

And this will be a shock for these young kids. They might not even recognize their own dad after these two years after what their dads have gone through.

COLLINS: Yes. It just speaks to the devastation of what these two years have stolen from these families and what this moment means.

But to see that moment, to see Lishay, who has fought so hard for her husband's release and -- and advocated for this for so long and met with world leaders, was in Washington, D.C. actually just last week, when word of this ceasefire came down, it's a beautiful moment, Wolf.

BLITZER: Certainly is. And there are going to be more beautiful moments as this day continues. We'll try to show you as many of them as we possibly can.

We'll be right back with more on all this historic breaking news.

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