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The Situation Room

Now, Israeli Security Cabinet Meeting on Gaza Ceasefire Plan; National Guard Troops Deploy to Chicago as Legal Showdown Looms; Passengers Brace for Possible Delays Amid Government Shutdown. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired October 09, 2025 - 10:00   ET

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

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PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, breaking news, finalizing the Gaza ceasefire. Right now, the Israeli security cabinet is set to meet to approve the first phase of the U.S.-brokered deal to begin the ceasefire and bring home the remaining hostages.

Plus, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene live here in The Situation Room. Why the staunchly conservative representative is bucking her party line and calling out the GOP leadership.

And later, erosion of trust, a new poll finds that just half of Americans think the CDC will give them reliable vaccine information. That's the lowest since COVID.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: President Trump's cabinet meeting coming up next hour. The president will meet with top administration officials and then answer reporter's questions. We'll bring that to you. Live standby for that.

Plus, courtroom showdown, today, two hearings over at the same time involving the fate of President Trump's deployment of National Guard troops to Chicago and Portland.

And later, quote, show up for work, end quote. That's the direct message from the transportation secretary, Sean Duffy, to air traffic controllers as they work without pay during the government's shutdown. It's now day nine.

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer with Pamela Brown, and you're in The Situation Room.

Now we're following the breaking news. Right now, Israel's security cabinet is meeting in Jerusalem to discuss a major breakthrough in the war in Gaza.

Cabinet members are expected to approve a first phase of the ceasefire plan, Hamas will return all hostages to Israel, both living and dead, and Israel will pull back troops to a line that's already agreed upon after two years of war that have left much of Gaza in ruins and 67,000 Palestinians dead. There are celebrations across the region. On social media, President Trump posted this, and I'm quoting him now, all parties will be treated fairly. This is a great day for the Arab and Muslim world, Israel, all surrounding nations and the United States of America, end quote. The president delivered news of the breakthrough by phone to this group of hostages' families.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: You just take care of yourselves. The hostages will come back. They're coming all coming back on Monday.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, sir. Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: He says they're all coming back by Monday. That's amazing.

We're following all the angles. CNN's Jeremy Diamond is joining us from Tel Aviv, CNN's Chief International Anchor Christiane Amanpour in London.

Jeremy, first of all, walk us through the outline of this ceasefire plan and how it's being received in Israel.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, I'm in Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, where for two years we have seen Israelis come here to raise their voices, to express their hope and to demand the release of the Israeli hostages. And today, those hopes and dreams are finally becoming to become -- starting to become a reality.

The Israeli cabinet is indeed set to vote in the coming hours to approve this deal that will see the release of all 48 hostages being held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip. An immediate ceasefire will take effect once the government approves this deal. Israeli forces will carry out an initial withdrawal from parts of the Gaza Strip in the first 24 hours after this agreement is indeed signed and reached. That will then set in motion this 72-hour clock before Hamas actually releases those hostages.

We expect that that release could take place as early as Sunday or on Monday, perhaps as you just heard the president say in that call with hostage families.

Behind me here, you can see so many Israelis have come out to celebrate this incredible moment.

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And, of course, in Gaza, we have seen similar moments of celebration where Palestinians have been cheering what is finally expected to be an end to a two-year long war in the Gaza Strip, one that has killed more than 67,000 Palestinians, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. And, again, for one day here, we finally have both Israelis and Palestinians united by this hope of a better future, at least in the short-term here. And, again, while the Israeli prime minister and President Trump have not explicitly said that this is marking an end of the war, we have heard from the Egyptians, from the Qataris, as well as from Hamas itself, and our sources involved in these negotiations who all say that this ceasefire agreement is different from ones in the past, that this actually will mark an end of the war in Gaza and the return of all of those hostages. Wolf?

BLITZER: And a lot of aid, humanitarian assistance, food, medicine, will be flowing into Gaza as well, part of this arrangement. Pamela?

BROWN: All right, thanks to our Jeremy Diamond in Tel Aviv.

And let's continue this conversation. CNN Chief International Anchor Christiane Amanpour is in London. Christiane, how important is the role of President Trump and his administration in this apparent and significant breakthrough?

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Well, there's absolutely no doubt that it was crucial and that it did lead to what we have today, which is the first part of the 20-point plan, in other words, this phase one, the ceasefire phase, and that you saw and others have written about, including a former hostage negotiated Gershon Baskin, how President Trump corralled basically Benjamin Netanyahu, his key associates, also got all the Arab countries, including countries like Turkey and the others, to get in there and use their pressure and all the leavers that they had on all the parties that they could reach, so the Americans, with the Israelis and the others, pressuring Hamas.

So, it's very, very important that this be acknowledged. It's also very significant that President Trump did say, either on social media or whatever, I heard him say that I told Netanyahu, I said, Bibi, you cannot fight and you cannot win against the whole world. As you know, Netanyahu's position in the world has been gradually plummeting on the poll ratings in the United States and elsewhere for Israel's action, and particularly for Netanyahu have been plummeting. They want an end to this war, summed up by the British prime minister's reaction, what a relief we all feel, he said that the hostages will come back and the brutal war on Gaza will end. So, I think that's absolutely clear.

And, of course, President Trump we know was. Furious with Netanyahu going one or two or three steps way too far when he attacked the American ally, Qatar, you know, in Doha as we know a few weeks ago.

I think another important thing is to say that hostage negotiators and people who've been involved in this say that this could have happened in September 2024. This same deal, very similar deal, was on the table that Hamas had agreed to the points, but the response from the Israelis was the prime minister is not ready to end the war at this time. So, that's important to note as well.

And then the big question is, what happens once the hostages are released and the Palestinian prisoners are released? Because the next phases are almost more difficult than the current one. And to your point about the end of the war, Hamas is now saying that President Trump needs to publicly say on Monday ahead of the hostage release, or simultaneous with the hostage release that this war has ended because they want a formal declaration, Hamas, that the war has ended. Because, as you know, they don't trust that the Israelis won't start it up again if they want to.

BROWN: Right. And, of course, Hamas would be giving up all of its leverage if it, you know, follows through with turning over the hostages, the remaining hostages. So, what are the remaining sticking points? Because Israel still has big demands and so does Hamas.

AMANPOUR: Yes, but those sticking points are for the post-ceasefire phase. Certainly, by the way, it's important to note that the Gazans also want an end to this war. The civilians who have been attacked so brutally for the last, you know, two years, you know, under the guise of going after Hamas, they have been hugely, hugely impacted, the civilian there, but they want an end and they want Hamas out as well. They know that it's not just Israel, but it's also the Hamas leadership that has brought them to this terrible peril.

So, the next -- you know, the next steps are the very difficult step of disarmament and decommissioning of Hamas weapons. We've been here before in other conflicts. There are lessons to learn, for instance, from the end of the Northern Ireland war between the IRA and the United Kingdom. There was a deal that ended the war, the Good Friday Accords, if you remember, in 1998, and it took ten years to actually, finally have paper to say that this is also decommissioning has happened, although the weapons were, by and large, put out of use.

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But the formal end of carrying those weapons took a long, long time.

And then the other, of course, which has not been fully talked about, so, of course, all the details are going to be incredibly difficult and a lot of hard work and diplomacy needed to make sure that this ends in a two-state solution or in some kind of political resolution that gives the Palestinians a sovereign independent state and allows them to live side by side with a secure Israel as well.

So, both sides have to come to a political agreement to finally end this war, and that involves ending the occupation. It involves, as you know, dealing with territory and all the things that we know because this has been in play for decades. But now is a moment that this momentum needs to be seized on. And this administration in the United States, the only one with leverage over Israel, along with Arab allies who've got leverage over Hamas, by the way, so does the United States have leverage over Hamas, they -- you know, clearly everybody expects this momentum to continue and this pressure to continue and the actual peace negotiations to be real.

BROWN: Yes, a pivotal moment, for sure. Christiane Amanpour, thank you for helping us all better understand what this means.

BLITZER: And I think it's significant that the White House has already announced, and President Trump has already announced that on Friday, he's going to go to the Walter Reed Medical facility just outside of Washington for what they describe as a routine physical checkup. And then the president says he will then head off to the Middle East, head off to the region to be there when the hostage deal and the ceasefire deal is implemented. He wants to be there physically on the scene to make some dramatic announcements. We'll be covering all of that, of course, certainly as well. That's a significant moment, that the president of the United States wants to be there when all of these arrangements just begin to be worked out.

BROWN: Yes.

BLITZER: That's significant, indeed.

There's a lot more news coming up here in The Situation Room. Still ahead, breaking overnight, Texas National Guard troops arrive at the Chicago area ICE facility. We're live with the latest as the city and state look to block the troop deployment.

And later, one-on-one with Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, as she calls on her party to come up with a solution as the shutdown drags on and on, now into its ninth day.

Stay with us. You're in The Situation Room.

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BROWN: Happening now, hundreds of National Guard troops are in Chicago on President Trump's orders as tensions over his immigration policies threaten to boil over. A new video today shows troops from the Texas National Guard entering an ICE facility right near the city.

Today, a judge could decide whether their deployment is legal after state and local officials sued the White House, arguing President Trump is exceeding his authority.

So let's go live now to CNN's Omar Jimenez. He is just outside an ICE detention facility right near Chicago. What's playing out where you are, Omar?

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So, Pamela, we have seen Texas National Guard troops sort of pacing back and forth in front of the ICE detention facility behind me this morning. And this comes, as we heard from U.S. Northern Command, that Texas Guardsmen are officially deployed on their duty to help protect federal personnel and property, like this facility here.

Now, this is a very significant step to this point, and all of this is happening as a judge is set to weigh whether all of this is even legal. Because while the governor here in Illinois, J.B. Pritzker, and the mayor of Chicago filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over this deployment, the judge didn't immediately block that deployment. And that's how essentially we have gotten to this point where we are seeing boots on the ground at least outside Chicago.

And as we understand from Northern Command, we've got about 300 Illinois National Guard and 200 Texas Guardsmen that have been activated to this point. And the question that the judge is now going to weigh is not just the legality of whether they can be here, but, of course, what the scope of any deployment would actually look like. So, a significant day ahead here in the Chicago area, Pam.

BROWN: Certainly. Omar Jimenez, thank you so much. Wolf?

BLITZER: We'll certainly stay on top of that story.

Also coming up, stressed out and understaffed. Up next, what the transportation secretary is now saying about air traffic control shortages as travelers around the country are bracing for another day of possible delays.

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BLITZER: Happening now, travelers across the country are preparing for another day of possible delays. Multiple air traffic control operations have faced staffing shortages over the course of the week. Listen.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We do have to call for release on every plane right now. We don't own the airspace any longer. Memphis on the airspace.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, there was only four of us showed up, but us four are happy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right. Let's go to Reagan National Airport. CNN's Pete Muntean is on the scene for us, as he always is. Pete, where are we seeing the most of these shortages?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, the good news right now is that the FAA has put no air traffic control facilities nationwide on its list of concern for delays because of staffing as the day goes on, but it is early. And things have been changing pretty quickly, so we will see.

You know, the beginning of this time yesterday, only about 24 hours ago, there was nothing on the list again, but things change as the day gets later and later. And we saw the tower here at Reagan National Airport added to the list of delays for staffing issues there. Remember, 11,000 air traffic controllers now working without pay in this government shutdown, the staffing shortage here led the FAA to delay flights in the name of safety in and out of Reagan National Airport for about six hours between 4:00 P.M. and 10:00 P.M. It meant about a quarter of all flights here were delayed yesterday.

DCA was not alone. And there were issues with the staffing at the tower at Denver International Airport, also approach control facilities in Orlando, all across the country, really, center facilities in Albuquerque and L.A.

[10:25:08]

And I want you to listen now to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. He said, before this shutdown delays because of short staffing, accounted for about 5 percent of delays. Now, he says it counts for about 53 percent of all delays, and he's putting the pressure on Democrats, he says, to end the shutdown.

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SEAN DUFFY, TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: I am encouraging air traffic controllers to show up for work they need to go to. They need to go to their jobs. They need to, you know, control the airspace. The problem is when I've talked to them, they are stressed out. They are wondering how do they put food on the table, how do they pay their mortgages if their paycheck doesn't come through?

We're having maybe a bit of a rebellion by air traffic controllers caused by the shutdown, but my message to them, they work for me, they got to go to work, show up, control the airspace, and eventually you're going to get paid.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MUNTEAN: The union of air traffic controllers, NACA, is pushing back on that sentiment that there's a rebellion here. They say this is not part of some coordinated sickout effort, and the margins are already so thin because of a nationwide shortage of air traffic controllers. It takes just a handful of controllers nationwide to call out to cause these cascading delays.

Remember, air traffic controllers get their last paycheck next Tuesday, but that is for work they did before this shutdown began. Wolf?

BLITZER: And quickly, Pete, is it just delays? What about flight cancelations?

MUNTEAN: The cancelations are not really piling up. Thankfully, the cancelation numbers have been pretty low. It's the delays that are really piling up, Wolf, and we've seen that in the hundreds of the last few days.

BLITZER: The delays are bad, cancelations obviously a lot worse.

Pete Muntean at Reagan National Airport, thank you very, very much. Pamela?

BROWN: All right, Wolf. Just ahead, GOP Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene joins us here in The Situation Room as she calls out her party's handling of healthcare. What she wants to see happen, that's next.

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