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CNN International: Israeli Army Orders Criminal Investigation Into Killing Of Palestinian Girl Hind Rajab; Ecuador Intel Chief And 5 Americans Killed In Kenya Tourist Helicopter Crash; Moderna, Merck Vaccine Cuts Recurrence And Spread Of Melanoma, Raising New Treatment Hope; Scientists Create OnlyFans Account For Marmots To Fund Research; The Real Cost To Cook The Meals On RFK Jr. New Show. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired August 20, 2026 - 04:30   ET

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

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[04:32:41]

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Welcome back. The Israeli military has acknowledged for the first time that it opened fire on a vehicle in Gaza that was carrying a five-year-old Palestinian girl and it says that it has already opened a criminal investigation into her killing. The IDF has previously denied involvement in the death of Hind Rajab two and a half years ago. CNN's Jeremy Diamond with this report.

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JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: For the first time, the Israeli military has admitted that its troops did open fire on the vehicle that was carrying five year old Hind Rajab in Gaza. And the military has now opened a criminal investigation into the matter.

This is a major change for the Israeli military which for the last two and a half years has denied involvement in that January 2024 killing. In the first months after that killing took place, the ISRA military said that a preliminary investigation found that its forces were, quote, not present near the vehicle or within firing range of the vehicle.

Now all of this goes back to a January 2024 incident in which Hind Rajab and six other members of her family were traveling in a vehicle in the Gaza Strip when they came under Israeli military fire. Hind Rajab was then recorded on a phone call with paramedics pleading with paramedics to come and rescue her.

Ultimately, an ambulance was dispatched to try and rescue her, but that ambulance also came under fire and 12 days later is when Hind Rajab's body was found alongside six other members of her family and those two paramedics who had been dispatched to rescue her.

Now the Israeli military is saying that the findings of its initial examination of the incident indicate, quote, that IDF troops fired at a vehicle that was approaching them. This is one of two criminal investigations that the Israeli military

announced it is launching. It is all part of a comprehensive Israeli military report into alleged Israeli war crimes in Gaza, the first comprehensive report of its kind. It reflected the conclusions of 150 investigations, only five of which the Israeli military detailed.

Now the other investigation, where the Israeli military says it is looking into it from a criminal perspective is related to the Israeli military opening fire on a convoy of ambulances and emergency response vehicles back in March of 2025.

[04:35:12]

That incident resulted in the killing of 15 paramedics and first responders. In that incident, the Israeli military initially claimed that these vehicles were driving suspiciously, that they didn't have headlights or emergency signals on. But video of the incident later show that this was, in fact a convoy of emergency vehicles with flashing lights.

But at the time, even then, after that initial change of stories, the Israeli military said that there had been professional failures but, quote, no ethical gaps. But now the Israeli military is saying that this shooting raises, quote, reasonable suspicion of criminal misconduct and is looking into it from a criminal investigatory standpoint.

The Israeli military also declined to ultimately pursue criminal investigations in three other incidents, one of which was the killing of seven World Central Kitchen workers back in 2024. The others involved two previous strikes on Doctors Without Borders locations in the Gaza Strip. Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Jerusalem.

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SANDOVAL: Investigators are trying to figure out what went wrong during a fatal helicopter crash that killed seven people in Kenya. Officials are saying that Ecuador's top intelligence chief along with his wife, were among the victims. The others were Americans, including an executive with Spanish language broadcaster Telemundo who lived in Florida.

For more now, we go to Larry Madowo, who joins us from Nairobi. So, Larry, what are investigators saying about a possible cause of this crash?

LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Investigators are saying it's too early to determine exactly what happened here. But in these sorts of situations, they look at three environmental, human or mechanical. So could it be some kind of problem with the aircraft? Could it be pilot error? Could it be weather that played a part in?

Pilot of this EC130B4 Eurocopter helicopter was extremely well experienced. He had more than 15 years flying in these remote parts of northern Kenya. He took many tourists on these beautiful tours of remote parts of the country that are accessible only by the air. They offer dramatic escarpments, valleys and rivers and some of the most beautiful places to have, say, breakfast, as is likely what these tourists were going to do in this crash when they crashed in this part of Ololokwe. Mount Ololokwe, which is a beautiful part of the country.

Now, we know that four of the bodies were retrieved yesterday. Investigators search and rescue teams are back on the scene right now. I just spoke with the director of the Air Accident Investigations Team here in Kenya. He says he's on the scene. The owner of this luxury air company that chartered this chopper is there at the scene as well. They're trying to retrieve the last three bodies there.

They had to call off the search and rescue because it got dark. This place is very difficult to get to, difficult terrain. And there was an active fire still burning into the evening. They have now resumed that, hoping to retrieve the last three bodies and begin autopsies on Friday before families can begin to collect the remains of their loved ones.

There were five Americans on this aircraft. The chopper was -- the helicopter pilot was Kenyan. The other major person on this aircraft was the Ecuadorian intelligence chief Michele Sensi-Contugi and his wife who were on this aircraft as well. They seem to have been accompanied by friends from the South Florida area.

In Ecuador, they have declared three days of national mourning. Flags are flying at half-staff of the national assembly approved that as they mourn Michele Sensi-Contugi who was a close ally of the president of Ecuador. The other person on this aircraft was a Spanish language television executive from Telemundo, Jose Suarez. His family said they're devastated by this accident. Some of the other friends on the aircraft appear to be from the hospitality and real estate business again in the South Florida area. Polo.

SANDOVAL: Larry Madowo, thank you so much. Do keep us posted on the investigation and we'll be right back with more in a moment.

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SANDOVAL: Now to a major milestone in the fight against cancer that's bringing some new hope to patients fighting the disease. Moderna and Merck say that a personalized mRNA vaccine combined with the immunotherapy Keytruda succeeded in a late stage trial for melanoma. But the vaccine is based on the same technology behind some of those COVID-19 vaccines. And the study is ongoing.

But so far results have shown that the treatment did prevent cancer from returning or in some cases even spreading among high risk melanoma patients.

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DR. JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: They take the mRNA that codes for those mutations in the patient's actual tumor and they give that back to the patient and the patient makes antibodies to their own tumors. This is a customized personalized vaccine to treat your own tumor.

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SANDOVAL: Moderna CEO telling CNN that this certainly opens new ways of treating cancer. It is a significant breakthrough. Melanoma is the deadliest form of skin cancer, affecting more than one and a half million people in the United States. And that's a number coming from the National Cancer Institute.

Moderna and Merck say that they plan to file for approval from regulators within months. And the announcement did send Moderna shares soaring as much as 160 percent. So renewed hopes for some people fighting that disease.

A group of researchers have taken a unique approach funding their study of marmots. They opened up in OnlyFans. I want to show you what they are. These are -- these type this video you see here, that's what a marmot is. So these are the types of video that you'll get access to if you subscribe to OnlyMarms.

Researchers are posting this new content every day of marmots baring it all in order to build interest in their behaviors. But the idea, it came after funding was cut for their long term study which has been ongoing for more than 60 years. And unlike other OnlyFans subscriptions, this one won't cost you a penny. Subscribing is free, but tips are certainly greatly appreciated if you want to enjoy the show.

Joining me now is Julien Martin. He's a professor and evolutionary ecologist at Ottawa University and he's also one of the lead researchers of the project. Julian, it's great to have you with us.

JULIEN MARTIN, PROFESSOR AND EVOLUTIONARY ECOLOGIST, OTTAWA UNIVERSITY: Yes, great to be here with you.

SANDOVAL: So before we get to getting into more of this fascinated approach, a fascinating approach to fundraising, wonder if we can get to the heart of the question of why study marmots, these rodents like squirrel like and pretty cute creatures here. Why was it so critical to keep that decades' old research alive?

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MARTIN: So I think just to start with, then there's nothing special about the moment, that species is not endangered and there's nothing really critical about them. But the key thing is really the long term study. So what we're trying to do essentially is to understand how animals and nature in general is adapting and evolving with the changes in the climate change.

And so the only way to do that essentially is to monitor through the long term, the same population and follow individuals from birth to death and see how through the generation they change and adapt to the environment. SANDOVAL: So you put the marmots on OnlyFans, which is a website that's traditionally more for adult content, but instead of explicit material, you offer what to subscribers?

MARTIN: So what we offer to subscribers is essentially just marmot in their bare skin or just in the fur and it just simply videos of marmot doing what marmot do. So simply daily activities of foraging, interacting, just being a marmot, so sunbathing and things like that. Essentially it's kind of a cute view and close view of moments in what they do in their daily life.

SANDOVAL: How popular was that effort alone?

MARTIN: It was quite popular. I can't remember the exact numbers. We got way more donation that what we expected at the beginning because we didn't expect to get any, to be honest. We've done it more to, you know, outrage to the general public and get some attention, but did not expect to get any out. Anything out of it. So we've got maybe $6,000 now and quite a few followers, but I can't remember the numbers.

SANDOVAL: We're seeing some of those clips, some of that marmot material. I can tell you we can all use a little bit more of that in our lives. But you've seen interest grow, I mean, supporters now even funding this project with marmot crypto?

MARTIN: Yes. So the thing that we haven't expected at all and something that we are not even aware of is the existence of Meme Coin in crypto. And so now the crypto community has created a token called OnlyMoms, so keeping the same name as the OnlyFans account. And from that they've decided to donate all the transaction fees generated through that cryptocurrency to the research project. And through that, so far, we've collected something like $100,000.

SANDOVAL: And of course, just to remind our viewers is one of the reasons why you've had to turn to these fundraising efforts is because we have seen these sort of across the board cuts to scientific research under the Trump administration, the Office of Management and Budget has previously insisted that no major research would be affected, that their goal is to essentially guarantee accountability for taxpayers.

But in terms of what you believe here, what's the key and very serious takeaway when it comes to science funding that's been greatly reduced in many cases.

MARTIN: So in terms of science funding then, yes, science funding essentially has not been only reduced. It has been, I would say, trashed and in shamble now because it's not only the money that researchers are getting at, but it's also the support money that is being completely cut and that's completely tragic, to be honest, because it's destroying higher education throughout the US.

And in terms of the funding, what we're trying to do so, first, we started what we started with OnlyFan was trying to get attention. But now I think what we're trying to do with the crypto at the beginning then we see it was a scam, but now we start to realize that it has a strong potential.

And so through the use of Solana Blockchain, what we're trying to do right now -- we're trying to demonstrate that Meme Coin and what the Meme Coin community can achieve beyond speculation. OK. So we're trying to develop a model that can turn community activity into something meaningful for funding for the science.

And so it's trying some to use the tool, the trading tool that people think most of the time is not great or kind of dodgy from the normal perspective of most people, but just trying to demonstrate how that crypto community could in fact do something for good and how all that transaction and mining could in fact help science and society.

SANDOVAL: Yes. It is incredible just how popular this is and certainly an indication of how much interest there is out there really around to supporting this ongoing research that is decades old. And I have to tell you, I never thought I'd be having a conversation about Marmots crypto and OnlyFans. So thank you so much for joining us, Julien Martin, to tell us a little bit about the project.

[04:50:03]

MARTIN: You're welcome. Thanks a lot for the interest and the support.

SANDOVAL: And we'll be right back.

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SANDOVAL: U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has launched a new cooking show promising healthy meals at an affordable price. But as CNN's Tom Foreman reports, that promise doesn't add up.

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ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR., U.S. HEALTH SECRETARY: I'm traveling across America connecting with renowned chefs to show families how to cook delicious, nutritious meals.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. S new reality show pushes healthy, affordable eating with sides of dubious claims about the food industry, science and public wellness.

KENNEDY: The dietary guidelines put fruit loops at the top of the food pyramid.

FOREMAN (voice-over): But it's also the math that doesn't add up in this cooking class, especially when the secretary and his guest chef whip up crispy salmon cakes with apple, white beans and green salad.

KENNEDY: So the servings of each of these we asked to keep it under $5.

FOREMAN (voice-over): That's the pitch. And prices fly by backing the idea of a family sized meal for a bite sized budget.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fresh herbs are key for me.

FOREMAN: I am on my way to the store.

[04:55:00]

FOREMAN (voice-over): But when we started buying ingredients used in the show, even going for the lowest prices at a big competitive chain, the cost heated up fast.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 20 bucks.

FOREMAN: This was the cheapest frozen wild caught sockeye salmon we could find. The closest to what they are using. They price theirs at 8.99. The cheapest we could find even with the deal from the store was more than $24. Now the greens mix, that was about the same cost. So were the eggs on a per egg basis. But that's the trick here because they're only pricing that one egg out of the carton. And that gets worse with other things.

For example, this red onion, they say they only spent 8 cents on this because that's how much they used. Getting the whole onion cost us more than a dollar. And look at this. This is the avocado mayonnaise. They priced this at 40 cents because they were only using a couple of tablespoons to cost us more than $11. They're only pricing parts of it and grocery stores don't sell things that way.

FOREMAN (voice-over): HHS insists this is standard recipe costing methodology and they want to help Americans stock up on high quality ingredients they can use across many meals. In any event, the recipe was not too complicated.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here we go into the heat.

FOREMAN (voice-over): And it came out at home pretty much like it looks. But while the show repeatedly says this dish will cost less than $20 to feed a family of four, just getting all those ingredients into our kitchen cost a whopping $70.54.

FOREMAN: Yes, it's certainly tasty and it appears healthy. But having made the recipe, I do not see how you could walk into a grocery store with $20 and come out with what you need to make four plates of this for a family. Not even close.

I think that's going to make for many consumers this claim very hard to swallow.

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SANDOVAL: Maybe we'll see a Tom Foreman cooking show soon. Thank you so much for watching. I'm Polo Sandoval. Our coverage continues with CNN Headline Express.

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