December 20, 2023 Israel-Hamas war

There were fresh exchanges between the Israeli military and Hezbollah across the Lebanon-Israel border on Wednesday.

Hezbollah said it targeted Israeli military helicopters with surface-to-air missiles and also launched attacks on several other locations along the border, including Margaliot, near the town of Kiryat Shmona.

The Israeli military said artillery and tanks struck several locations in Lebanon in response to incoming fire. One man was killed when Israeli forces opened fire on the Lebanese border town of Kafr Kila, Lebanon’s National News Agency said.

The remark is an indication that Israel remains focused on its perceived need to rebuild deterrence in the north of the country as well as in the south.

President Joe Biden says the United States is still working through whether to support a United Nations Security Council resolution that calls for a halt in Gaza hostilities to allow humanitarian aid.

Biden, who was asked by a reporter when Israel should move to a less intensive phase of its conflict with Hamas, pointed to the negotiations at the UN as a reason not to give a firm answer.

Biden's comments suggest US support for the resolution is still an unresolved matter inside the White House.

Earlier, a vote on the matter was pushed to Thursday.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters there were still "active discussions" on the resolution but said the US needed to see specific condemnation of Hamas as part of the resolution.

The voices of the three hostages who were accidentally killed by Israeli troops were captured on a GoPro camera mounted on an Israeli military dog five days before they were shot, a military spokesperson said.

The video, located by Israeli forces on Tuesday, shows the recording took place during an exchange between Israeli forces and Hamas militants at a site where the three hostages were being held, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said at his daily press briefing. The dog was killed in the exchange. 

He did not provide details about what the hostages were saying.

The militants who held the three hostages were killed during the fighting which appears to have allowed the hostages to flee, Hagari said, citing an initial Israel Defense Forces analysis of the GoPro video. 

Israel is reeling from the IDF’s admission that it shot and killed three hostages in Gaza on Friday. They had been taken hostage by Hamas during the group’s October 7 terror attack.  

On Saturday, an IDF official said they emerged from a building tens of meters away from a group of Israeli troops. They were shirtless and were waving a white flag, according to the official, who spoke to journalists on the condition of anonymity to speak freely about an ongoing investigation.  

At least one soldier felt threatened and opened fire, killing two of the men immediately. The third was wounded and ran back inside the building. The Israeli unit overheard a cry for help in Hebrew, at which time the brigade commander ordered his troops to stop shooting. However, there was another burst of gunfire. The third hostage died later.  

CNN's Richard Allen Greene and Joshua Berlinger contributed reporting to this post.

The United Nations Security Council is again delaying a vote on the Gaza resolution, a staffer at the office of the United Nations secretary-general's office confirmed to CNN.

The vote is now slated for Thursday, a staffer said.

The vote on this resolution, which is drafted by the United Arab Emirates, had already been delayed multiple times amid disagreement on text that could gain a “yes” vote from the United States, or at least an abstention, which would allow the measure to pass.

A diplomatic source tells CNN that key issues with the draft that remain in negotiation are the "cessation of hostilities" language and the call for the UN to "establish a monitoring mechanism in the Gaza Strip with the necessary personnel and equipment, under the authority of the United Nations Secretary-General."

Israel will oppose bringing forward the annual budget for the United Nations agency that carries out humanitarian work in Gaza, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

The Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen has instructed the Israeli delegation to the UN “to oppose bringing forward the annual budget of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees,” according to the foreign ministry.

Cohen said bringing forward the budget from 2025 to 2024 would be precedent-setting and dangerous, “especially in light of the evidence of Hamas using the organization's facilities as terrorist infrastructure.”

Cohen said that "UNRWA is part of the problem, not part of the solution. The countries of the world must put an end to UNRWA's perpetuation of the conflict, and (its) turning a blind eye for years to incitement to terrorism and Hamas' cynical use of agency facilities and Gaza residents as human shields."

Cohen instructed the Israeli delegation to the UN to oppose any move that would advance the agency's annual budget, claiming that transferring a budget to UNRWA “without substantially changing its objectives and functioning would send the wrong message of a return to the routine of before the October 7th.”

CNN is reaching out to UNRWA for a response to Cohen’s remarks.

At least 165 humanitarian aid trucks crossed into Gaza on Tuesday, Israeli authorities say. The trucks were previously inspected at Israeli crossing points, the government said.

Israel's office for Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) said 75 trucks were inspected at the Kerem Shalom crossing and passed directly into Gaza.

Another 90 trucks were inspected at the Nitzana crossing and transferred into Gaza through the Rafah crossing from Egypt. 

COGAT said seven ambulances were also inspected and transferred to Gaza.

President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that the US is pushing for Israel and Hamas to reach a deal that would include a pause in fighting and the release of hostages.

Earlier, CNN reported that a general framework had emerged in talks that would entail hostages being released in phases in exchange for a cessation in fighting.

Sources stressed, however, that a deal was not imminent.

"These are very serious discussions and negotiations, and we hope they’ll lead somewhere," National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters aboard Air Force One.

Kirby said he didn't have anything specific to announce Wednesday.

Biden was also asked to respond to reports from the Hamas-controlled Palestinian Ministry of Health that the death toll in Gaza since October 7 will likely surpass 20,000 later Wednesday, the president told reporters traveling with him in Milwaukee, “It’s tragic,” before boarding his motorcade.

CNN’s Kevin Liptak contributed to this report.

The conflict between Israel and Hamas “needs to move to a lower intensity phase,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday.

Blinken’s comments echo what Biden administration officials have told Israel privately, CNN previously reported, which is that the US wants Israel to shift to a lower-intensity phase of the war in the next several weeks.

Earlier this week, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav said the military will gradually transition to the next phase of the war and expects displaced Palestinians from northern Gaza to return to their homes before those from the south. 

“Soon we will be able to distinguish between different areas in Gaza. … In every area where we achieve our mission, we will be able to transition gradually to the next phase and start working on bringing back the local population. This can be achieved maybe sooner in the north rather than in the south,” the minister said.

The mother of one of the Israeli hostages killed accidentally by the IDF last week in Gaza has sent a message to the unit involved in the shooting, saying “everything that happened is completely not your fault.”

Iris Haim, the mother of Yotam Haim, addressed the battalion involved in the incident in which her son was killed along with two other Israeli men whom Hamas had kidnapped.

Haim continued: “I ask you to stay safe and always keep in your thoughts that what you're doing is the best possible thing in the world to help us, as the Jewish people, and we all need you to be safe and sound. Don't hesitate for a single moment - if you see a terrorist, don't think that you have deliberately killed a hostage, you need to protect yourselves because that's the only way you would be able to protect us.” 

Haim reiterated her belief that the actions taken by the IDF unit were "likely the right thing to do at that moment," adding her family is not "judging you or angry with you."

More on Haim: 28-year-old Haim was a gifted musician and heavy metal fan. He had played the drums for 20 years and was supposed to perform at a Metal Music Festival in Tel Aviv on October 7th with his band, Persephore. He last spoke with his family that morning. He told them his house had burned down before losing contact with them at 10:44 a.m., soon after which he was kidnapped by Hamas, according to the family forum.

CNN's Richard Allen Greene and Joshua Berlinger contributed reporting to this post.