CNN anchor Christiane Amanpour apologized Monday after claiming that Israeli hostages freed from Hamas captivity were “treated better” than Gazans — remarks that provoked furious backlash from Israel supporters.
The longtime international correspondent retracted her statement on air just hours after Hamas released the final 20 living hostages under a cease-fire agreement brokered by the United States and Egypt.
“That was insensitive, and it was wrong,” Amanpour said during a broadcast on Monday.
“From speaking to many former hostages and their families, like everyone, I’ve been horrified at what Hamas has subjected them to over two long years,” the veteran anchor and correspondent said on Monday.
“They’ve told me … their stories of barely being able to breathe in the tunnels, not being allowed to cry, being starved, and made to dig their own graves. And of course, today, some of the hostages are coming back in body bags.”
Amanpour’s mea culpa came after she earlier told CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins that the hostages “were probably being treated better than the average Gazan, because they are the pawns and the chips that Hamas had.”
The remark, which aired live during CNN’s coverage of the release of Israeli hostages, immediately drew condemnation from viewers and Israeli commentators who accused her of minimizing the victims’ suffering.
The timing of her comments — coinciding with the emotional return of the surviving hostages — further inflamed outrage. Images broadcast across Israel showed emaciated men and women reuniting with relatives after 738 days of captivity in Hamas’ tunnels.
Among them was Israeli soldier Matan Angrest, who relatives said was beaten until he lost consciousness. His mother told local Israeli media that her son spent months confined in pitch darkness.
“Many times they found themselves buried in dust under the rubble, trying to climb out and survive,” she said.
Others, including Evyatar David, 24, and Rom Braslavski, 21, were held in isolation, starved and forced to dig their own graves. Hospital officials said most of the freed captives arrived severely malnourished and suffering from infections and muscle atrophy after years underground.
Amanpour said she was attempting to highlight the humanitarian toll of the war in Gaza but admitted her phrasing was “insensitive.”
“It’ll take a long time for [the hostages] to recover mentally and physically,” she said.
“But I regret also saying that they might have been treated better than many Gazans.”
The pro-Israel media watchdog HonestReporting blasted Amanpour, writing on its X account: “Starved, electrocuted, held in chains & cages underground, forced to dig their own graves. Is that what she considers being treated better than the average Gazan?”
The hostages were taken captive two years ago when Hamas staged its Oct. 7, 2023, terror assault as gunmen stormed southern Israel, massacring about 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages into Gaza.
The violence ignited one of the longest and bloodiest conflicts in Israel’s history.
Under the US- and Egypt-brokered cease-fire, Hamas freed its remaining captives in exchange for roughly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and the return of more than 300 bodies.
The Red Cross oversaw the transfer Monday as Israel halted combat operations and began withdrawing troops from much of Gaza.
President Trump traveled to Israel and Egypt for the cease-fire ceremony and hailed the agreement as “the end of an age of terror and death” during an hourlong address to the Knesset.
Standing beside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump declared that Israel had “won all that they can by force of arms” and called the truce “the historic dawn of a new Middle East.”
After his speech, Trump flew to Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, where he joined regional leaders to sign the formal Gaza peace accord, calling it “maybe the greatest deal of them all.”
The agreement requires Hamas to disarm and authorizes an international body to oversee Gaza’s reconstruction.
Humanitarian convoys carrying food, medicine and supplies have begun entering the enclave, according to international monitors.
A CNN spokesperson declined to comment.