April 24, 2024 - Israel-Hamas war

Our live coverage for the day has ended. Follow the latest Israel-Hamas war news or read through the updates below.

A coalition vessel on Wednesday stopped a Houthi anti-ship ballistic missile launched from Yemen “likely targeting” a US-flagged and owned ship with American crew members onboard, according to US Central Command.

“There were no injuries or damage reported by U.S., coalition, or commercial ships,” CENTCOM said in a statement.

Separately, US forces destroyed four drones in Yemen, CENTCOM said.

If you’re just joining us, these are the most notable developments in Israel’s war on Hamas and the tensions in the Middle East:

Disputed claims on death of Hezbollah fighters: Israel’s defense minister claimed that half of Hezbollah’s commanders in southern Lebanon have been killed since fighting with Israel began on October 7 – a claim Hezbollah denies. 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.

Hostage video: 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. He is shown seated in a chair and addressing the camera directly in the undated video with part of his left arm missing several inches above the hand. He identified himself, gave his date of birth and parents’ names. He said he has been “here for almost 200 days,” suggesting that the video was filmed shortly before Tuesday, the 200th day of the war. He urged his own family to stay strong for him and finished by saying he hopes he was able to give them some comfort on Passover. The Biden administration received the video on Monday, two days before Hamas made the footage public on Wednesday, according to a United States official.

Israeli leader addresses protests on US college campuses: Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said the protests are “not only antisemitic, but also inciting terrorism.” 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.

US on Israeli settlements in West Bank: A US State Department spokesperson addressed reports of Israeli officials pushing to legalize Israeli settlements in the West Bank, and calling support for illegal outposts “dangerous and reckless.” State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said such actions “will only move the goal of peace and stability in the region further away.” The US is also pressing Israel for more information about the mass grave discovered in Khan Younis, Patel said.

Second gentleman Doug Emhoff speaks at an event in Washington, DC, on Tuesday.

Second gentleman Doug Emhoff will attend Thursday’s “Celebration of Life” service for the seven aid workers from World Central Kitchen who were killed in an Israeli strike in Gaza on April 1 as they were delivering food to starving civilians.

A letter from President Joe Biden will also be read at the service, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said during Wednesday’s White House press briefing.

CNN has reached out to Emhoff’s office for additional details on his participation in the service. Emhoff is the first Jewish spouse of a president or vice president, and he has taken on an elevated role in fighting antisemitism since the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas.

 Here are other known details about the service:

An undated photo of Abigail Edan, a former hostage who was released by Hamas in November.

US President Joe Biden met at the White House on Wednesday with Abigail Edan, the 4-year-old American dual citizen who was held hostage by Hamas following the October 7 terrorist attacks.

Jake Sullivan, the US national security adviser, said the meeting acted as a reminder of the Americans still being held by Hamas.

Edan was released in November as part of a larger release of hostages. She was the first American hostage to be released by Hamas during the first truce. 

The meeting on Wednesday had not been previously announced.

US State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel speaks at a media briefing on Wednesday.

A US State Department spokesperson addressed reports of Israeli officials pushing to legalize Israeli settlements in the West Bank, and calling support for illegal outposts “dangerous and reckless.”

The US will continue urging Israel “to refrain from taking actions to fund outposts that have long been illegal under Israeli law,” he added. “Actions or announcements seeking to expand outposts will only move the goal of peace and stability in the region further away.”

Separately, the US is also pressing Israel for more information about the mass grave discovered in Khan Younis, Patel said. “The allegations are troubling. They are disturbing. We take them very seriously,” he said.

The post was updated with Patel’s comment about the mass grave in Khan Younis.

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.

Mourners raise their hands and shout slogans as they carry the coffin of Ismail Baz, a Hezbollah commander who was killed by an Israeli drone strike, during his funeral procession in the Lebanese village of Chehabiyeh on April 17.

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.” 

Hersh Goldberg Polin in a still from a video released on April 24.

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.

An Israeli flag is displayed in one of the buildings as demonstrators protest near a closed entrance of Columbia University where students continue to protest in support of Palestinians, in New York City, on April 23.

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:

Bodies are unearthed in the grounds of Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza, on April 23.

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.  

Israeli's gather to stage a protest against the government of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and the immediate return of hostages, in front of the Defense Ministry building in Tel Aviv, Israel on April 23.

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. 

People protest to mark 200 days since the start of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Tel Aviv, Israel, on April 23.

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.”

Israeli security forces block the road and investigate the scene after Israeli soldiers shot a Palestinian woman near Hebron, West Bank, on April 24.

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. 

People and health workers unearth bodies found at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza, on April 23.

The UN has called for an “independent, effective and transparent investigation” into the discovery of mass graves at two Gaza hospital complexes after they were besieged and raided by Israeli troops earlier this year.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said he was “horrified” by the scenes reported at the Nasser and Al-Shifa complexes.

“Given the prevailing climate of impunity, this should include international investigators,” Turk said Tuesday.

A mass grave with 324 bodies was uncovered this week at the Nasser Medical Complex in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis by Gaza Civil Defense workers following the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the area. 

Earlier in April, health workers exhumed corpses from mass graves at Al-Shifa after they said Israeli forces killed hundreds of Palestinians and left their bodies to decompose during their two-week siege of the complex in northern Gaza.

At least 381 bodies were recovered from Al-Shifa after Israeli forces withdrew on April 1, according to the Gaza Civil Defense.

Palestinian forensic and civil defense workers recover human remains at the grounds of Al-Shifa Hospital, Gaza, on April 8.

The US State Department on Tuesday expressed concern over the “troubling” discovery of mass graves.

The “reports are incredibly troubling. And we’re inquiring on this with the Government of Israel,” US State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said.

Read the full story here.

People walk past the damaged Gaza City headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) on February 15.

Germany will resume cooperation with the UN’s relief agency for Palestinians in Gaza (UNRWA) after the organization accepted the recommendations of an independent review of its neutrality.

The German foreign office said it was pleased that UNRWA said it would heed the recommendations of the review headed by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna and implement them “swiftly and in full.”

Some context: The review was launched after Israel alleged that a dozen of UNRWA’s 13,000 Gaza staffers were involved in Hamas’ October 7 attack.

It was not tasked with addressing the allegations but had a broader mandate to “assess whether UNRWA is doing everything within its power to ensure neutrality.” Israel’s allegations are still under investigation by the UN.

UNRWA fired several employees after the allegations and launched an investigation, promising that anyone involved in the October 7 attacks would be held accountable.

The allegations led the US and at least 13 of its allies to pull funding for the UN agency, which provides aid and services to Palestinian refugees. Several countries have since resumed funding.

Yair Lapid attends a meeting in in Washington on April 9.

Israeli politicians have thanked the US for passing a $95 billion funding package that includes $26 billion in aid for Israel.

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid and Foreign Affairs Minister Israel Katz joined President Isaac Herzog in expressing their gratitude on Wednesday.

Lapid thanked Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Republican Leader Mitch McConnell “for leading a huge bipartisan majority in support of security assistance for Israel.” 

Katz said “Israel and the United States stand together in the fight against terrorism, defending democracy and our shared values.”

The package will also send funding to Ukraine and Taiwan.

Read more about the package.

People work to move into a cemetery bodies of Palestinians killed during Israel's military offensive and buried at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza, on April 21.

Dozens more bodies have been recovered from a mass grave at a hospital in Khan Younis, according to the Gaza General Directorate of Civil Defense.

The Civil Defense said 324 bodies had now been recovered at the Nasser Medical Complex following the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the area earlier this month.

In the latest recovery efforts, the bodies of 51 people of “various categories and ages” had been recovered. Of them, 30 bodies were identified.

Col. Yamen Abu Suleiman, Director of Civil Defense in Khan Younis, previously told CNN that some of the bodies had been found with hands and feet tied, and there were signs of field executions.

The Civil Defense said Wednesday that crews would continue search and recovery operations in the coming days. 

Read the full story.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog addresses a speech in Amsterdam on March 10.

Israel’s President Isaac Herzog has thanked the US Senate for passing a funding package that includes $26 billion in aid to Israel.

The package will provide $26.4 billion to aid Israel, including $4 billion for the Iron Dome and David’s Sling missile defense systems and $1.2 billion for the Iron Beam defense system, which counters short-range rockets and mortar threats.

The long-delayed $95 billion package will also send funding to Ukraine and Taiwan.

Read more about the package.