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Early Start with Rahel Solomon

Israel And Hamas Agree To First Phase Of Gaza Plan; US Government Shutdown. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired October 09, 2025 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:35]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

BRIAN ABEL, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning and welcome to our viewers joining us from the United States and all around the world. Thank you for being with us. I'm Brian Abel. It's Thursday, October 9, 4:00 AM here in Washington, DC, 11:00 AM across Israel and Gaza where we have witnessed celebrations and a sense of relief as US President Donald Trump announces Israel and Hamas have signed off on a ceasefire and hostage deal for the first phase of Trump's Gaza plan. President Trump says as part of the deal, Israel will withdraw its troops to an agreed upon line and Hamas will release all the remaining hostages in the coming days. Hamas says it has provided lists of Palestinian prisoners to be released as part of the deal.

In the hours ahead, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to convene a security cabinet meeting followed by a vote on the agreement. News of a deal sparking celebrations on the streets of Gaza where Palestinians cheered the breakthrough, which they hope will mean an end to the two-year war there. Similar scenes of joy in Israel where the families of hostages still held in Gaza anxiously await their return.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, US PRESIDENT: Hostages are going to be released. It's probably our time would be probably Monday. A lot of things are happening right now. As we speak, wo much is happening to get the hostages freed and we think they'll all be coming back on Monday. So it looks like that's the thing. And that'll include the bodies of the dead.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: CNN's Paula Hancocks is joining us now from Abu Dhabi with the latest on this agreement. What do we know and what do we know comes next, Paula?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brian, we're seeing celebrations not just in this region, but we're seeing congratulations from leaders in Europe, around the world. There is a definitely a sense of relief, a sense of joy that this point has been reached. Now, it is just the first phase of this 20 point plan and there is an acknowledgment that there is a lot of negotiations, a lot of tricky negotiations to come -- when it comes to the plans further down the sheet of paper that we saw from the US President. But at this point, what we know is that there is going to be the security Cabinet meeting in about five hours from now in Israel.

Now, we understand from an Israeli official that what they'll be voting on is the Israeli hostages being released in exchange for the Palestinian prisoners. Now, the 20 point plan said there would be some 1700 Palestinian prisoners from Gaza who have been detained since October 7, 2023, and 250 serving life sentences. And there would be those 48 Israeli hostages released. They're not going to be voting on the entire plan this point, just that very specific element.

Now, we also heard from the US President, Donald Trump, saying he believes that the hostages could be released by Monday. He also is suggesting he will be heading to the region. We're hearing that from a number of different sources as well, saying that the Israeli prime minister has invited him to speak to the Israeli cabinet. So we could be seeing some travel over the weekend as well.

Now, we have been seeing a tremendous amount of celebration and relief. Most notably, we're hearing as well from the UN, from NGOs on the ground, that what this means is that an immense amount of humanitarian aid can be taken into Gaza once this whole process starts in earnest. Once the hostages are released, the prisoners are released, the ceasefire is in place, and that is desperately needed.

Now, it's worth pointing out that we haven't seen the guns falling silent yet. We hear from Palestinian journalists on the ground working with CNN that they are still hearing explosions. We see live pictures of Gaza City, and in the last couple of hours we have been seeing smoke rising. The Gaza civil defense also saying they are hearing explosions and reports of strikes still happening. Definitely a lot quieter than it has been.

But as of now, there is not a complete ceasefire that we are seeing on the ground. Brian?

[04:05:10]

ABEL: All right, Paula. And you kind of hinted at this a little bit when you began saying that there are some sticking points here that have yet to be hashed out, at least publicly agreed upon. So what are some of the hurdles moving forward here for any deal to hold?

HANCOCKS: So everyone on each side that we have been hearing from is very much focused on this first phase, the hostage and prisoner release. But of course, once that happens, once the ceasefire is in place, there are many other issues to be considered.

We've heard from President Trump that Israeli military will withdraw to agreed upon areas in Gaza. They will still be within the Gaza Strip when this happens. We don't know for sure whether that plan has changed since the original 20-point plan was published. Certainly there have been many negotiations.

We don't know exactly where the military will withdraw to. Also, of course Hamas has to disarm. We have heard from this plan, there will be a demilitarization of Gaza. We don't know exactly who is going to step in to ensure that Hamas does disarm.

We have heard from the Arab and Muslim nations that they are all signed up to this plan. There will be engagement from them all. But the details, the timelines, the technicalities of these fairly significant moves have not been publicly acknowledged at this point. And the expectation is that they haven't been privately agreed to either.

So there is very much this focus on the first phase to make sure the guns fall silent, make sure that the aid can get into to Gaza, and there is this surge in humanitarian aid which is desperately needed, and then the hostage release and the Palestinian prisoners release. There are a lot of issues to be hammered out beyond that and of course, who takes control of Gaza in the short term.

This board of peace that the US President spoke about in an interview just yesterday with Fox News saying that it is a very important development. The details on that are fairly vague as well. Clearly the details had to be fairly vague for both sides to sign on to them so they can believe that they're signing on to what they want to see in the future.

So once the next few days happens, if President Trump is right and Monday is the day for the hostage release and the Palestinian prisoner release, then some very serious negotiation has to happen to secure the rest of this 20-point plan. Brian?

ABEL: And the future of it will surely start to come into focus in the coming days. Paula Hancocks for us in Abu Dhabi. Paula, thank you.

And we are getting reaction from around the globe, including from UNICEF. A global spokesperson says, he never thought the war would get to the point where the world "failed the Palestinians so badly." He says they are now waking up with an immense sense of relief.

You're seeing images here from Gaza. He also stressed that there's so much more that they need.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNICEF: As a Palestinian man said to me yesterday, everything's been taken from us. Our homes, our ability to protect our children, our ability to feed our children.

People ask the Palestinians have hope. Yes, they have hope. They have hope because it's the one thing they have agency over. They have hope for a better future. And that better future starts with education. Education is that future.

These other things that Palestinians will need right now, education, nutrition, water, no airstrikes, peace, yes. It's a day of hope. (END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: Still ahead on Early Start, tempers flare on Capitol Hill as the US Government shutdown drags on. We'll have the latest on efforts to strike a deal. Plus, staffing shortages at air traffic control towers are causing headaches across the US. We'll have a closer look at the shutdown's effect on the airline industry.

And protesters marching through downtown Chicago as a federal judge prepares to hear arguments on President Trump's National Guard deployment to the city.

[04:09:33]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ABEL: Returning to our breaking news, Israel and Hamas have signed off on a ceasefire and hostage deal for the first phase of President Donald Trump's Gaza plan. Joining me now from Israel is Aviva Siegel, a former Israeli hostage released during a ceasefire in November of 2023. And her husband Keith, who was also taken captive, was freed earlier this year.

Aviva, thank you so much for joining me during this moment. First, I want to get your reaction to this agreement.

AVIVA SIEGEL, FORMER ISRAELI HOSTAGE: Well, I'm just so happy. I'm dancing. I'm the happiest person in Earth. And I just -- and I'm imagining Gali and Zizv, the two twins from our community, coming back and giving their mom a hug.

And it's happening. It's going to happen. It's happening soon. They're coming home. The hostages are coming home.

ABEL: Aviva, I can hear the emotion as well as the excitement in your voice. I do want to focus on the hostages here first. You've experienced this, what they're about to being held captive, not knowing when or if you'll come home, and then that moment of being out of the hands of Hamas.

[04:15:10]

What will that moment be like for these remaining hostages?

SIEGEL: Well, I was told that I'm going home, but I didn't believe them because they used to lie to us all the time. The first moment that I saw the first soldier, Israeli soldier, is that moment that I realized that I'm going home.

I was just so excited. I didn't believe. It was like a dream, and it was like -- I was in a shock. I was in a complete and utterly shock. I mean, to be there underneath the ground and to begging to stay alive and doing everything I could to just stay alive, and nearly did for 51 days, all the time.

Coming out of there and seeing Israel, seeing the people. The people were waiting for us and it was just a very exciting moment. And to meet my family was one of the best moments ever. And I remember Keith was still in Gaza, and I said to myself, when you meet your kids, you have to be happy for them because they've been waiting for you too.

And that's what I did because I was sure that Keith would come home soon. It took Keith another year and two months after I came back to come back. Keith was there for 484 days.

When Keith came back, he came back like a skeleton, very thin. He didn't come back like the kid that I knew. It was difficult. I was in a shock when he came back. And I know that it's a very special moment when they come back but I do know that it's not going to be all very easy.

ABEL: And, Aviva, now multiply that for how long these hostages have been there, longer than Keith, even. What will they need moving forward?

SIEGEL: Well, they need a lot of hugs and a lot of support and, you know, coming from a place that you have to be quiet for 51 days, you're not allowed to talk. If you let -- if you've been able to talk, you can whisper coming back, and then you can talk.

I remember that feeling. OK, I can talk now. And, OK, I can drink some water. OK, I can eat now. It's strange because it's something that I just can't explain by words. It's gonna take time for them, just like it took time for me and it took time for Keith.

But we've been waiting for this moment so much. Everybody's just so excited. I just want to see Keith, he's in the States now, so he's not with me. And I want to see him smile, I want to see him happy.

And I want both of us to say, OK, we finished feeling sad for the hostages that are still there, and for their families. And just be happy and go back to life we haven't lived for the last two years. We haven't.

ABEL: And I know that you will be there to help offer your support and your insight into what life is like moving forward once those hostages are released. Aviva Siegel, really appreciate your time. Thank you.

SIEGEL: I want to thank you and I want to thank everybody for listening to me. It's a very, very special day for all of us, for all the Jews all over the world, for all the people that just want good. And let's just pray together that nothing like this will ever happen to anybody again.

ABEL: We all certainly hope for that.

SIEGEL: Thank you, everybody.

ABEL: Thank you, Aviva. Lawmakers in Washington are starting to lose their cool amid the government shutdown now in its second week. From heated shouting matches to waning party loyalty, the pressure to make a deal to reopen the government is beginning to building the Republican-backed bill to temporarily fund the government has failed a

sixth vote in the Senate with Democrats refusing to give up their fight for changes to health care policy. But some lawmakers are making it very clear neither party wants to concede in the standoff.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN KENNEDY (R-LA): We're not going to budge on our insistence that we have to open government back up.

SEN. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): I'm sorry, I'm aggravated.

SEN. MIKE ROUNDS (R-SD): They've now decided that they're going to hold it hostage because they think they can. You simply can't reward that type of misbehavior.

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): House Republicans are on vacation right now. That's extraordinary.

[04:20:10]

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): So Democrats have three words for this. No (bleep) way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: And one of the effects of this shutdown, flight delays across the US that could get even worse in the coming days because of airport staffing shortages. Officials have reported an increase in air traffic controllers calling out sick amid this government shutdown even though they are supposed to keep working without pay until the shutdown ends.

CNN's Pete Muntean looks at the issues US airports have been facing this week.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The good news is that on Wednesday, the Federal Aviation Administration says it's not too concerned about staffing issues. It's not alerted any possibilities of staffing issues. There was a concern about air traffic controller staffing at a facility near Newark Liberty International Airport, but that has now dropped off the list of concern.

Pales in comparison to the problems on Tuesday where we saw air traffic control facility after facility end up on the list of short staffing, including Houston, Dallas, Indianapolis, Philadelphia, Boston, places we typically don't see on that list. And then, the problems were so dire.

At two major airports that the FAA actually had to slow flights into those airports at Chicago O'Hare International Airport, where about a quarter of all flights were delayed on Tuesday, and at Nashville International Airport, where the approach control facility controlling close range flights at low altitude arriving and departing from the airport that had to close for about five hours on Tuesday night. The most dramatic version of this, though, was on Monday at Burbank Hollywood International Airport where that facility, that tower there, went to ATC0. It completely shut down for a time. NATCA Union president Nick Daniels says this is not part of some coordinated sick out effort in the government shutdown. The controllers are already pushed to the limit and things are pretty dire because of the low staffing levels already.

There is a nationwide shortage of controllers, and so he says it only takes a handful of controllers to call out sick in certain areas to create a real cascading problem, an outsized impact. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says travel and flying is safe right now and the FAA will slow flights if they have to if sick calls increase. Pete Muntean, CNN, Reagan National Airport.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABEL: Pete, thank you. A federal judge in Chicago will hear arguments today on the Trump administration's deployment of National Guard troops to Illinois. The president wants them to help protect federal agents and properties amid protests against immigration enforcement.

On Wednesday, President Trump said Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson should be in jail for failing to protect immigration officers. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRANDON JOHNSON, CHICAGO MAYOR: It's certainly not the first time that Donald Trump has called for the arresting of a black man unjustly. I'm not going anywhere.

JB PRITZKER, ILLINOIS GOVERNOR: I gotta say, this guy's unhinged. He's insecure. He's a wannabe dictator. And there's one thing I really wanna say to Donald Trump. If you come for my people, come through me. So come and get me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: So officials in Chicago are remaining defiant. Meanwhile, a California based appeals court will hear arguments today on the administration's deployment of National Guard troops to Portland, Oregon. More now on the situation in Chicago and elsewhere from CNN's Omar Jimenez.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There are a few different dynamics affecting the Chicago area right now. One is the politics between President Donald Trump, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson. Wednesday, President Trump said that Mayor Johnson and Illinois Governor Pritzker should be jailed because of their failure to protect ICE, as Illinois Governor JB Pritzker pushed back and said any call up of the National Guard constitutes an invasion. And also said that if President Trump was to do something to his folks here in Illinois, he has to go through Pritzker, so that's one dynamic. Then, of course, comes down to where the National Guard may be deployed, if they're deployed at all. One of the places could be to this facility here in Broadview, Illinois, outside Chicago. It's a immigration enforcement facility, a detention facility.

And we bring that up because one of the reasons laid out by the White House is that the Guard deployment could be to protect federal personnel and property. And this is a place that has seen a lot of protests leading up to this point, varying in size, of course. And a lot of this deployment could actually be decided by a federal judge with oral arguments scheduled for Thursday morning. So that's something to watch.

And then, of course, the fallout in the community over increased immigration enforcement. I mean, look, over the course of Wednesday evening, we saw protests through downtown Chicago. We've seen these types of protests before, but again, they vary in sizes. And this comes at a very critical moment where some feel that this is getting to a boiling point.

And by this, I mean mass ICE agents, in some cases jumping out, making in some cases violent arrests on the streets of neighborhoods like Little Village, which is a predominantly Latino neighborhood in the city of Chicago. And we spoke to a restaurant owner there who talked about how his business has really been hollowed out in this climate of fear, as he described. Take a listen to some of what he told us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: You typically see 65 to 70 on a Saturday. And you saw 17 orders.

JOSE "LOUIE" LOPEZ, OWNER, LOS CANDILES RESTAURANT: Seventeen orders, you know, and we usually -- we usually, you know, we stay open till 4:00. We never close early.

JIMENEZ: Yes.

LOPEZ: But we had no other option this Saturday to close at 2:00. It was ghost town, I'm telling you, it's like a pandemic coming all over again, you know.

ABEL: Yes.

LOPEZ: This is what it feels like.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: And he's not alone in what he's dealing with, especially in some of these immigrant communities. Now, I mentioned the oral arguments for this hearing over what will happen with the National Guard. That could mark a very significant new chapter in what happens in this Chicago area. But again, a number of dynamics that this city is dealing with in this latest saga between President Trump and local and state leadership here. Broadview, Illinois.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABEL: Ahead on Early Start, we are monitoring reaction in Gaza to the US President's announcement that Israel and Hamas have agreed on the first phase of a ceasefire plan. Plus, we are also keeping an eye on Tel Aviv and Israel where hostage families are celebrating after hearing their loved ones will return soon.

We'll have those details. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:30:00]