April 24, 2024 - Israel-Hamas war

The Biden administration received video of an Israeli-American hostage on Monday, two days before Hamas made the footage public on Wednesday, according to a United States official. Officials have since been in contact with Hersh Goldberg-Polin's family, the person said.

The FBI’s Hostage Recovery Fusion Cell is examining the video for any potential evidence and information that can be gleaned about Goldberg-Polin and his captivity, the official said. While the administration cannot currently authenticate the video, it has no reason to dispute that the person featured in the video is Goldberg-Polin, they added. 

The video that Hamas released Wednesday marks the first proof that he survived after being badly wounded during his capture on October 7.

This official would not elaborate on what channels the US government received video of the wounded dual-American citizen.

After the video was released, Goldberg-Polin's family demanded immediate action to release their son and the other hostages, according to a statement Wednesday.

This post has been updated with comments from the family.

Half of Hezbollah’s commanders in southern Lebanon have been killed since fighting with Israel began on October 7, according to Israel's defense minister �� a claim Hezbollah denies.

In remarks made on camera after a “deep operational discussion” at the Israel Defense Forces’ (IDF) northern command headquarters, Yoav Gallant said there's a “continuous offensive operation by IDF forces in all of southern Lebanon,” of which the results are “very impressive.”

“Half of Hezbollah commanders in southern Lebanon were eliminated... we made it so that either they die, or they hide and abandon South Lebanon to the IDF's operation, which is being done intensively,” Gallant said.

A Hezbollah official who spoke to CNN on the condition of anonymity denied those claims.

The official went on to say that Hezbollah has not yet announced its “full mobilization,” adding that “our fighters continue to follow a service and leave system.”

There have been months of daily, deadly cross-border strikes by both Israel and Hezbollah that have displaced tens of thousands of Lebanese and Israeli residents from their homes. Israel has fired artillery and launched jets and drones to strike targets while Hezbollah has used some of its vast arsenal of rockets and missiles.

Israeli-American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin criticized the Israeli government and urged his family to stay strong in the video released by Hamas on Wednesday.

Goldberg-Polin’s hair is cropped short in the video, which is edited with a number of cuts from wide shot to close up. It is the first proof that he survived his injuries sustained during the militant group's October 7 attacks.

He criticizes the Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as other Israeli hostages in Hamas propaganda videos have done. Held captive in Gaza for six months, he is almost certainly speaking under duress.

He mentions Israeli government ministers sitting down to holiday dinners with their families, an apparent reference to the Jewish holiday of Passover, which began Monday night and is traditionally celebrated with a family dinner. 

He urges his own family to stay strong for him and finishes by saying he hopes he was able to give them some comfort on the holiday.

Goldberg-Polin was born in the United States but his family moved to Israel in 2008.

His parents, Rachel Goldberg and Jon Polin, told CNN shortly after the attacks that they last heard from their son that day, when they received two WhatsApp messages in the same minute; one reading “I love you." and the next "I’m sorry.” Goldberg immediately tried to call him, but said: “It just rang and rang.” 

Hamas released a video of Israeli-American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin on Wednesday, the first proof that he survived being badly wounded during his capture on October 7.

Goldberg-Polin, then 23, was kidnapped from the Nova music festival on October 7 during Hamas’ attacks on Israel that left more than 1,200 people dead and saw more than 200 people taken hostage in Gaza.

He is shown in the undated video with part of his left arm missing several inches above the hand. 

Video filmed on October 7 showed Goldberg-Polin with his arm severely injured. A firsthand account from a young woman who was in a bunker with Goldberg-Polin when Hamas attacked said he helped to throw grenades out, before having his arm blown off from the elbow down.

The latest video shows Goldberg-Polin seated in a chair, addressing the camera directly. 

Gesturing occasionally with his injured arm, he identifies himself and gives his date of birth and parents’ names. 

He says that he has been “here for almost 200 days,” suggesting that the video was filmed shortly before Tuesday, the 200th day of the war.

This post has been updated with additional developments.

The protests on US college campuses are "not only antisemitic, but also inciting terrorism," Israel's Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said.

Some background: Pro-Palestinian protests are taking place at major American universities, most prominently at New York's Columbia University, which has entered its eighth day of tense demonstrations.

Students occupying West Lawn at Columbia said they are planning on staying there until the university meets their demands of divestment from anything related to Israel.

Meanwhile, more than 130 people were arrested at New York University during a pro-Palestinian protest Monday night, which prompted the school to ask for help from the NYPD.

House Speaker Mike Johnson will meet Jewish students at Columbia today to discuss "the troubling rise of virulent antisemitism on America's college campuses," his office said.

Read our live story on the US college protests here.

Israeli politicians thanked the United States on Wednesday after the Senate passed a $95 billion package that includes money for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan.

The long-stalled bill is now finally on the desk of US President Joe Biden, who said he would sign it into law on Wednesday.

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid and Foreign Affairs Minister Israel Katz joined President Isaac Herzog in expressing their gratitude. "With the threats we face from across the region, Israel’s strategic relationship with the US is a pillar of our national security," Lapid said.

But on the ground in Gaza, the humanitarian catastrophe wrought by Israel’s war against Hamas is worsening.

More than 340 bodies have now been uncovered at a hospital mass grave in Khan Younis, while the UN's agency for Palestinian refugees said more than 270,000 tons of solid waste across Gaza remain uncollected. A top State Department official said that the risk of famine in Gaza is currently “very high, especially in the north.”

Here’s what you need to know:

A Palestinian excavation operation has uncovered approximately 20 additional remains at a mass grave discovered at the Nasser Medical Complex, the director of Civil Defense in Khan Younis told CNN Wednesday.

The 20 recovered remains are in addition to the 324 already recovered by the Palestinian civil defense, as previously reported by CNN. The total number of recovered remains now stands approximately at 344. 

The mass grave was discovered at the hospital in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis by the Civil Defense workers after Israeli troops withdrew from the area.

In response to a CNN inquiry about the mass graves at Nasser Medical Complex, the Israeli military said the "claim that the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) buried Palestinian bodies is baseless and unfounded."

The United Nations in a statement on Tuesday called for an "independent, effective, and transparent investigation" into the discovery of mass graves in two Gaza hospitals after they were besieged and raided by Israeli troops earlier this year.  

Huge crowds gathered in Tel Aviv on Tuesday evening to mark 200 days of hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza. 

Videos shared with CNN showed demonstrators covering their mouths with masking tape inscribed with the number "200."

Demonstrators marched through central Tel Aviv along Dizengoff Street, and visited the United States embassy along the coastline. 

Family members of hostages addressed a large crowd gathered in Hostages Square, where successive protests have been held since the October 7 attacks. 

Yamit Ashkenazi, whose sister Doron Steinbrecher is still being held in Gaza, shared her sense of guilt, saying: "I fear that when my little sister returns, right before she hugs me and breaks down, she will ask me, 'Where were you?'"

Talks between Israel and Hamas to secure the release of further hostages have so far yielded no result. During a call on Tuesday with the Israeli President Isaac Herzog, US Vice President Kamala Harris reiterated the US' commitment to secure the "release of all hostages."

A Palestinian woman has been shot dead by Israeli troops at a checkpoint in Hebron in the occupied West Bank after she allegedly tried to stab an Israeli soldier. 

The 20-year-old woman, named Maimunah Abdel Al-Hamid Harahsha, was killed by "occupation gunfire north of Hebron," the Palestinian General Authority for Civil Affairs said Wednesday.

The Israel Defense Forces said "an attempted stabbing attack was thwarted against IDF soldiers at an IDF post in the area of the Okfim Junction."

"The terrorist was armed with a knife and ran toward the soldiers, who responded with fire and eliminated the terrorist. No injuries were reported," the IDF statement added.