February 29, 2024 - Israel-Hamas war

Israel still has not provided evidence to support its allegations that members of the main United Nations aid agency in Gaza were involved in the October 7 Hamas attacks, the head of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said Wednesday.

“We keep now calling to the Israeli authority to cooperate with the investigation team so that we can come to a swift conclusion,” he continued.

"We haven’t received anything more than what we see on the media," he said.

Lazzarini called footage that purports to show a UNRWA staff member participating in the kidnapping of Yonatan Samerano — who was killed in kibbutz Be’eri on October 7 — "shocking images."

Background on the footage: A video screened last week during a press conference with the Hostage and Missing Families Forum showed a white SUV approaching the entrance of what appears to be the kibbutz. Two men exit the vehicle and are seen carrying a body from the road into the vehicle. One of the men is identified in the footage as an UNWRA worker. CNN could not independently verify the identity of the men or Israel’s allegations about his involvement with Hamas.

Lazzarini said that he "personally cannot recognize the person on the video." He called for "more forensic evidence to be provided," while acknowledging the name of the accused man in the video "matched our staff list" and that his UNRWA contract was terminated.

Remember: UNRWA fired 10 of the 12 staff members accused by Israel of involvement in the October 7 attacks and launched an investigation into the allegations, in hopes of keeping international funding to the agency flowing at a critical time. At least 16 countries have paused or suspended funding to UNRWA since the allegations emerged, Lazzarini said, warning that operations beyond March will be impacted unless more money is donated.

The right side of Roba Abu Jibba’s face is almost completely gone – a deep, bloody wound is where her eye should be.

The 18-year-old, confused and in pain, lies on a gurney in Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza. She tries to explain how she got there. She had been sheltering with her family for two months in an industrial warehouse on Salaheddin Street, the strip’s main north-south highway, she explains, when they came under heavy fire from the Israeli military.

In a whisper, she recalls being shot at, explosions and bulldozing. She says she watched her brothers and sisters die around her. Her mother and three of her siblings were able to flee, but she’s not sure where they went.

After a chance encounter and the discovery of Roba’s identification card under rubble, a weeks-long CNN investigation has been able to piece together what happened during one terrifying night in early January, which left five of her siblings dead. Their story offers a window into the Israeli military’s overwhelming and often indiscriminate use of force in areas where civilians were told they would be safe, helping to uncover an atrocity that would otherwise have remained hidden.

CNN interviewed seven eyewitnesses to the attack, tracking down relatives now scattered across the enclave, including Roba’s mother. Their testimonies were cross-referenced with hospital records, satellite imagery and dozens of videos and photos from the scene, reviewed by forensics and ballistic experts, who analyzed the damage to the building and injuries of the people found inside of it.

Read more about the CNN special report here.

The last moments of Mohammad Khdour’s life could be those of any American teenager: taking the car out during a study break, snacking on chocolate waffles, posing for Instagram.

Those carefree moments with his cousin along the hillsides of Biddu, in the occupied West Bank, were captured in photos and videos reviewed by CNN.

They were snuffed out, his family says, when an Israeli gunman opened fire on their car, shooting the 17-year-old Mohammad in the head.

The death of Mohammad, a Florida-born US citizen, just weeks after another 17-year-old American citizen was shot under strikingly similar circumstances in the occupied West Bank, has underscored the frustrations among Palestinian-Americans who say the United States is doing little to respond to the deaths of their loved ones.

Videos from the aftermath of the February 10 shooting show several people rushing to the damaged car, pulling Mohammad's limp, bloodied body out from the shattered glass.

Mohammad died hours later at a Ramallah hospital, his family said.

The Israel Defense Forces referred questions about the case to the Israeli Security Agency, which did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment.

Some context: The killing or detention of American citizens in occupied Palestinian territories by Israelis and the concerns about a lack of accountability date back years.

In 2003, 23-year-old American activist Rachel Corrie was crushed by an Israeli army bulldozer while trying to block it from razing Palestinian homes in Gaza. Nine years later, an Israeli civil court ruled Corrie’s death an accident.

Read more about Palestinian Americans who were killed in the region.

Families of hostages in Gaza started a four-day march on Wednesday from the site of the Nova Festival in southern Israel's Re'im to Jerusalem, repeating calls for the release of those kidnapped on October 7.

"March with us for the hostages," the Hostages Families Forum Headquarters said on Wednesday.

Remember: Hamas militants stormed the Nova Festival on October 7 in an attack that killed over 360 people.

In the attacks on Israel that day, 1,200 people were killed and more than 240 were taken hostage.

There are believed to be 130 hostages still in Gaza, of which 99 are believed to be alive.

Pressure is mounting for a hostage-for-ceasefire deal in Gaza, with negotiations ongoing.