A Hong Kong court has dropped charges against an American politician who turned himself in to customs authorities after bringing a gun into the city’s airport in what he called “an honest mistake.”

Washington State Senator Jeff Wilson appeared at the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Court on Monday and was acquitted of “possession of arms without a license.”

Instead he was given a 24-month “bind-over” where the charge was withdrawn and the defendant agreed to a good behavior order. Wilson’s firearm was also confiscated.

Both prosecution and defense lawyers argued that this was a special case, citing Wilson’s self-declaration at the Hong Kong customs and his admission to possessing a firearm by mistake during questioning.

The Republican state senator, whose full name is Stephen Jeffrey Wilson, also has a clear record in the city and had an open manner throughout the investigation, the court heard.

“Based on the limited evidence available, I believe the defendant is innocent,” said magistrate Don So.

So added that that since Wilson was a trade delegate and traveled frequently in the region, he believed the state senator “should have known Chinese and Hong Kong laws are very strict.”

The conditions for the “bind-over” order include abstaining from possessing firearms and ammunition for 24 months. Repeated offenses would lead to a HK$2,000 (about $250) fine and further prosecution.

After the court’s decision, Wilson’s office issued a statement saying the state senator had “inadvertently” brought the unloaded revolver on an international flight and acknowledged responsibility.

“The mistake, after all, was fully mine. I am relieved we were able to resolve this matter efficiently, and I want to apologize for the concern I created,” Wilson said.

He also gave more details on how he came to discover he had an unloaded gun onboard a plane, which was apparently not spotted by airport security checks in the United States.

“I packed quickly and failed to check the contents of my briefcase. Over the Pacific, I reached into my briefcase for gum and felt my gun instead. My heart sank. I understood immediately what had happened, and that my only option was to report to the proper authorities, cooperate fully, and respect the laws of the land where my plane was about to touch down,” he said.

Wilson’s passport was returned to him and he will resume travels with his wife in Southeast Asia, the statement added.

Wilson also said the authorities in Hong Kong had “conducted themselves in a professional manner.”

The court heard that on October 21, Wilson arrived in the Chinese territory with his wife after catching a connecting flight in San Francisco from Portland.

He approached the customs channel at the Hong Kong International Airport less than 30 minutes after he landed, and “on his own initiative” informed officers that there was a gun in his bag. Wilson was arrested as he could not provide any valid license to carry arms in Hong Kong.

The senator said the ordeal was an “honest mistake” and he “hopes to resume his itinerary when the matter is resolved,” according to a statement posted by his office on October 23.

Wilson also noted in his statement that his gun was registered in Washington state and that he holds a concealed firearms license.

“I think we all can learn from what happened here,” Wilson said Monday. “First, of course, to always check your carry-on baggage before you go through airport security. But more important, when you make a mistake like this one, the right thing to do is to show respect and accept responsibility.”

China is hosting defense officials from across the world for its flagship military diplomacy conference this week – a key opportunity for Beijing to promote its alternative vision for global security that has also underscored its increasing alignment with Moscow against the United States.

More than 30 defense ministers and military chiefs, as well as lower-level representatives from dozens more countries and organizations, including the US, gathered for the three-day Xiangshan Forum in the Chinese capital.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu was given prominent billing as the first visiting official to address the forum Monday, where he and China’s keynote speaker both took aim at what they see as a failed US-led security system.

Noticeably missing from the line-up was China’s own defense minister.

Beijing last week announced it had removed defense minister Li Shangfu from his position, without naming a replacement or providing an explanation for the sudden demotion – the latest in a series of high-level shakeups under Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

The Xiangshan Forum – billed as an opportunity for countries to resolve differences regarding defense and security issues – also comes amid heightened concerns about the potential for the Israel-Hamas war to spiral in a wider regional conflict and as Russia continues its onslaught on Ukraine.

Beijing has tried to project itself as a potential peacemaker in both conflicts, as it aims to cast itself as a player in global security amid heightened tensions with Washington.

That bid has drawn skepticism from governments in its own region and the West, given its aggression in the South China Sea and intimidation of Taiwan, as well as its backing of Russia despite its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

Both conflicts, however, were only briefly mentioned in a keynote address from top Communist Party military official Gen. Zhang Youxia, who repeated China’s calls for a “political resolution” for the “Ukraine crisis” and the “Israel-Palestine conflict.”

Zhang, who is vice chairman of Central Military Commission – a powerful body headed by Chinese leader Xi Jinping who ultimately commands China’s armed forces – instead focused his address on hailing Xi’s “Global Security Initiative” as a solution to global conflict – while making veiled jabs against the United States, which he did not directly name.

“Our world is overshadowed by the dark cloud of cold war mentality and we must avoid falling into bloc confrontation,” Zhang told his audience, using language typically employed by Beijing to criticize Washington and its allies.

“If a country only cares about its own interest it will perceive everyone else as a rival, if it is obsessed with suppressing others with different opinions it will surely cause conflicts and wars in the world,” he said.

Zhang, who ranks higher than defense minister, also said countries should instead focus on “common security” and respecting each other’s paths of development – key tenants stressed in Xi’s security initiative, which the leader announced last year.

The general also said Beijing would “show no mercy” against any moves for Taiwan independence, referring to the self-governing island China’s ruling Communist Party claims as its own.

China would continue to “deepen strategic coordination” with Russia’s military, and it was willing, Zhang added, to develop China-US military relations.

Increasing alignment with Russia

His speech was followed by a pointed address by Russia’s Shoigu – a key architect of Moscow’s faltering invasion of Ukraine that still rages 20 months on in what is Europe’s fiercest fighting since World War Two.

During his speech Shoigu accused NATO of “covering its real intention” to increase its presence in the Asia-Pacific and of promoting an arms race in the region, echoing China’s typical talking points.

“To maintain its geopolitical and strategic dominance, the US is deliberately undermining the basis of international security and strategic stability, including arms control, and undermining the legitimate rights and interests of Russia for its own security,” Shoigu said.

Security coordination between China and Russia has tightened in recent years amid rising tensions between each with the US and its allies. Beijing has repeatedly said it will not provide lethal aid to Russia’s war effort, but has continued to participate in joint military drills and other security coordination, while providing a key lifeline for the Russian economy since its invasion of Ukraine last year.

The Russian defense minister’s appearance followed a visit from Russian President Vladimir Putin in Beijing earlier this month, where he took the place of prominence next to Xi at the leader’s Belt and Road Forum.

The security forum also comes as the US and China are attempting to navigate their contentious relationship that includes frictions over Taiwan and Beijing’s aggression in the South China Sea. A potential meeting between Xi and US President Joe Biden in the United States next month is seen by both sides as an important opportunity to stabilize ties.

Beijing severed high-level military dialogue with Washington last August in retaliation for a visit from then-US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan.

Its officials have declined American outreach for high level meetings, in what was widely seen as a protest against sanctions Washington placed on former defense minister Li in 2018, prior to his time as defense minister, for weapons purchases from Russia.

Chinese defense ministry spokesperson Wu Qian said at a regular press conference last week that Chinese officials would “have exchanges” with the US delegation.

“China attaches great importance to the development of military relations between China and the United States,” Wu said at the time, adding he hoped for a “favorable atmosphere for the healthy and stable development” of their military relations, according to state media.

The forum was attended by a delegation from the US defense department led by Xanthi Carras, China country director in the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense.

An angry crowd in Russia’s mostly Muslim region of Dagestan stormed an airport where a flight from Israel arrived on Sunday, forcing authorities to close the facility and divert flights.

Multiple videos posted on social media showed a crowd of people inside the Makhachkala Uytash Airport (MCX) and on the runway, some waving the Palestinian flag, others forcing their way through closed doors in the international terminal.

Clashes left at least 10 people injured, including two people in critical condition, according to a statement by the Dagestan Health Ministry late Sunday.

The airport was temporarily closed and flights were diverted, according to a statement from the Russian Federal Air Transport Agency, saying “unknown persons” broke into the facility.

The Red Wing Airlines flight from Tel Aviv arrived Sunday at 7:17 p.m. local time, according to Flight Aware, and was quickly surrounded by protesters upon landing.

In one video, a pilot takes to the speaker of his aircraft to say: “It is not safe to open the doors” because “protesters are below our plane.”

According to Russian state media TASS, “those gathered oppose the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.”

The incident is the latest to illustrate huge global tensions and divides over the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, which was sparked by a coordinated October 7 attack by the militant group that killed some 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and the kidnapping of more than 200 people.

Israel’s retaliation has been relentless, with Gaza under siege and heavily bombarded, inflaming tensions far beyond the Middle East.

Israeli strikes on Gaza have resulted in some 8,000 fatalities, the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah said on Sunday, drawing the data from sources in the Hamas-controlled enclave. Around 3,000 of those killed are children, according to the same authorities.

Protests have erupted across the world, in support of both Israel and Gaza, with tensions often spilling over.

“Israel expects the Russian legal authorities to safeguard the well-being of all Israeli citizens and Jews wherever they are and to take strong action against the rioters and against the wild incitement being directed against Jews and Israelis,” the Israeli Prime Minister’s office and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a joint statement.

“Israeli Ambassador to Russia Alex Ben Zvi is working with the Russian authorities to secure the well-being of Jews and Israelis at the site,” it added.

The US also called on Russia to protect Israelis and Jews.

“The United States vigorously condemns the antisemitic protests in Dagestan, Russia,” National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson wrote on social media.

“The US unequivocally stands with the entire Jewish community as we witness a worldwide surge in antisemitism. There is never any excuse or justification for antisemitism.”

In another post on social media, the US Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism, Amb. Deborah E. Lipstadt, condemned the incident.

“We condemn the violent protests that have been reported in Russia threatening Israelis and Jews. We call on Russian authorities to ensure their safety,” Lipstadt said.

Sergey Melikov, head of the Dagestan Republic, took to Telegram Sunday to denounce the incident, telling people to not spread false information or make hasty decisions.

“By your poorly thought-out actions you only aggravate the situation, pleasing the scoundrels who want to exploit the desire to see justice and the impassioned attitude to other people’s grief and unity, which have always distinguished Dagestanis,” Melikov said.

Touching the side of his neck gingerly, 30-year-old Withawat Kunwong reveals a jagged network of scars he received after being attacked at a poultry farm where he had been working in southern Israel.

The wound, Kunwong says, is a painful reminder of the fear and trauma he endured on October 7 when thousands of Hamas fighters broke through Israel’s border defenses in an unprecedented surprise attack.

The farm he had been working on was located in the Holit kibbutz, an agrarian community near the Gaza Strip. He was livestreaming from the farm when loud explosions were heard and thick black plumes of smoke rose into the air as rockets flew overheard.

He recalled hiding for hours that day but was discovered by a man he recalled as being a Palestinian dressed in civilian clothes who tried to cut his throat with a kitchen knife, after he “refused to surrender. A savage fight ensued.

After the violent struggle with his attacker, Kunwong was left for dead, heavily bleeding from the wound in his throat. He was eventually found and cared for by other migrant workers. He managed to survive, he believes, because the knife had been blunt and broken.

His story is a tragic illustration of the human toll of the ongoing war that has claimed thousands of lives in both Israel and Gaza and displaced more than a million people in the Hamas-controlled territory.

Hamas has described its brutal attack as an assault on Israel. But so many of those murdered and kidnapped by the militant group’s fighters were also foreign nationals.

According to an estimate released by the Israeli Government Press Office last week, 135 hostages holding foreign passports from 25 different countries are being held in the Gaza Strip.

Among many of the foreign nationals killed and kidnapped are migrant laborers like Kunwong from Asian countries such as Thailand, Nepal and the Philippines – many who were working in Israel’s southern district near the Gaza strip, and unprotected, when Hamas militants came.

Thailand for decades, has been one of Israel’s biggest sources of migrant labor.

At least 32 Thais have been killed in the conflict to date, one of the highest death tolls for foreign nationals, according to figures released by the Thai government.

“No worker – Israeli or Thai – should be used as cannon fodder,” said Yahel Kurlander, an academic from Tel-Hai College in northern Israel who has been focusing her research on labor issues in Israel’s agriculture industry.

Working with aid groups on the ground, Kurlander said that while the majority of Thai workers left in Israel are “totally safe”, supporting their families back home remained a key priority. And they feel pressured on two sides.

“The Thai government is asking them to evacuate and leave Israel but there is also pressure is from the Israeli side, telling them: ‘We need you, stay, we’ll give you extra money for that,” Kurlander said, adding that they deserved compensation.

For migrant laborers working in Israel’s agricultural, construction and healthcare sectors, there is little sign the war is going to ease any time soon.

Heavy fighting continues daily and the UN has warned that “civil order” in Gaza was deteriorating following weeks of siege and bombardment. Israel has expanded its ground operation inside Gaza in what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called the “next stage of war.”

Palestinians experienced what they have described as the heaviest and most intense round of airstrikes so far overnight, taking shelter from the bombardment in hospitals. A communications blackout has disrupted emergency services and cut off contact between family members. Some communications were restored Sunday morning

Many of the kibbutz farm fields on the Israeli side of the border that were targeted by Hamas now echo with the sound of artillery fire from tanks and howitzers bombardinng the crowded strip.

‘Business as usual’ for Thai workers, aid groups say

“We reiterate our strong call for the release of the remaining hostages, including our nationals, as soon as possible,” Deputy Prime Minister Parnpree Bahiddha-Nukara said, adding that those kidnapped and killed had mostly been farm workers who were there to earn a living and had “no involvement in the conflict.”

Like many Thai migrant laborers working in Israel, Kunwong is from Udon Thani, one of Thailand’s poorest provinces. Life there is a far cry from the air-conditioned malls and traffic clogged streets of Bangkok. Jobs are harder to come by and wages are much lower, leading many to seek employment thousands of miles from home.

Groups like Aid for Agricultural Workers (AAW), which support foreign migrants, have highlighted what they call “extreme challenges” experienced by many, saying it was still “business as usual” in Israel.

Zohar Shvarzberg of AAW said there were increasing reports of laborers who were pressured to return to their former workplaces in order to receive their wages for September, the month before the initial Hamas attack.

“We empathize with the distress caused to farmers and farming communities by the labor shortage but no person should be forced to be where they feel unsafe,” she said. Following announcements by Thailand’s embassy in Tel Aviv that rescue flights would operate daily, she added, there was now a “fear of increasing pressure on Thai workers to stay and work, including through unethical and illegal means.”

Kunwong was one of the more fortunate Thai workers who made it out of Israel and has reunited with his wife and young daughter in Udon Thani.

Manee had been working as a cleaner at a government office in southern Israel near Gaza for nearly five years when he was abducted and taken hostage by Hamas militants.

“I have no words,” he said. “I just want my son back.”

Israel over the weekend announced it had entered a “second stage” of its war against militant group Hamas and on Sunday said its ground operation in Gaza would intensify, following weeks of aerial strikes on the Hamas-controlled territory.

The country was prepared for a “long and difficult” war, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday, as it seeks to root out and “destroy” Hamas after its October 7 attack on Israel, which killed more than 1,400 people, mostly civilians.

The expanded operations sparked new warnings from leaders about the risk of broader regional conflict, as well as heightened calls from the United Nations for a humanitarian ceasefire to deliver desperately needed aid into Gaza.

Here’s the latest:

‘Impossible’ hospital evacuation

Israeli airstrikes have “caused extensive damage to hospital departments and exposed residents and patients to suffocation” at the Al-Quds Hospital, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said Sunday.

The medical organization accused Israel of “deliberately” launching airstrikes “directly next to” the facility in order to force an evacuation of the hospital, the second-largest in Gaza City.

The facility is treating hundreds of patients, while some 12,000 internally displaced civilians are also sheltering there, the agency said.

The organization said it received new warnings on Sunday from Israel to immediately evacuate the hospital ahead of possible bombardment, which the World Health Organization has said would be “impossible” to do without endangering patients’ lives.

The hospital is located north of Wadi Gaza, the line Israel has urged people in Gaza to flee south of as it continues to strike what it says are Hamas targets in the north.

‘More desperate by the hour’

Shortages of water, food and fuel continue to drive desperation in the territory, which suffered a communications blackout from Friday evening into Sunday morning.

Services began to gradually be restored Sunday, after what a senior US official said was American pressure on Israel.

The United Nations warned Sunday there are signs “civil order is starting to break down” in Gaza, reporting that thousands of desperate Palestinians are taking basic items like flour and hygiene supplies from warehouses.

At a news conference, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the situation in Gaza was “growing more desperate by the hour,” and reiterated his calls for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and the “delivery of sustained humanitarian relief.”

UN officials earlier said the levels of aid coming through were not nearly enough to meet needs in Gaza.

US President Joe Biden spoke with Netanyahu and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi Sunday about the need for the continued flow of aid into Gaza and stressed the importance of protecting civilian lives.

Since October 7, the death toll in Gaza has risen to 7,960, the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah announced on Sunday, drawing the data from sources in the Hamas-controlled enclave.

Relief group Save the Children said the 3,000 children reported killed in Gaza over the past three weeks has surpassed the annual number of children killed in armed conflict globally in each of the past four years.

The widespread destruction and spiraling death toll has sparked huge anger and protests in the Middle East and beyond.

In the latest incident, an angry crowd in Russia’s mostly Muslim region of Dagestan stormed an airport where a flight from Israel arrived on Sunday, forcing authorities to close the facility and divert flights.

Expanded ground operations

The video, taken Saturday and published by an Israeli media outlet, is one of the first glimpses into where Israeli ground forces have been since expanding ground operations in Gaza overnight Friday.

On Sunday, the IDF said it exchanged fire with Hamas and struck military structures, “some of which contained Hamas terrorists.”

IDF tanks and armored personnel vehicles were also seen approaching the border while helicopters, drones and fighter jets flew overhead.

The Israeli government has been under public pressure to ensure the safety of what Israel has said are 239 known hostages in Gaza, with senior officials portraying the intensifying campaign as part of a strategy to secure their release.

UN vote, regional tensions

Iran, which has long backed Hamas, issued new threats over the weekend that the current conflict risked widening.

Israel has “crossed the red lines” in Gaza, which “may force everyone to take action,” Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi said Sunday. US security adviser Jake Sullivan also said there was an “elevated risk” of a spillover conflict in the Middle East.

Egypt and Saudi Arabia over the weekend each issued warnings of the potential for destabilization of regional security following Israel’s expanded operations.

Meanwhile, calls have continued for an humanitarian pause.

That follows a resolution passed by an overwhelming majority of UN member states Friday calling for a “sustained humanitarian truce.”

Earlier this month, the United States vetoed a draft resolution at the UNSC which called for a humanitarian pause but did not condemn Hamas for its terror attack.

A 23-year-old German-Israeli woman who was kidnapped from the Nova music festival by Hamas militants on October 7 has been found dead, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said.

“We are devastated to share that the body of 23 year old German-Israeli Shani (Louk) was found and identified,” the ministry posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Monday.

Louk was attending the festival in southern Israel on October 7 when Hamas breached the border between Gaza and Israel.

Louk was kidnapped at the festival and “tortured and paraded around Gaza by Hamas terrorists,” the foreign ministry statement said, adding that she “experienced unfathomable horrors.”

“May her memory be a blessing,” the statement said.

Militants blocked off the road to the festival from the north and the south during their October 7 attack, before swarming the sprawling site on foot, videos from the site showed.

They then encircled the crowds on three sides, gunning them down and forcing them to flee over fields to the east.

“It looks very bad, but I still have hope. I hope that they don’t take bodies for negotiations. I hope that she’s still alive somewhere. We don’t have anything else to hope for, so I try to believe,” she said.

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators across the globe took to the streets on Saturday to call for a ceasefire after Israel expanded its ground operation in Gaza.

Major world cities, including London, Istanbul, New York, Baghdad and Rome, saw their centers filled with protestors, as Gaza experienced an intense bombardment and an electrical and communications blackout.

Israel has announced the next stage of its war against Hamas is underway, after the militant group killed 1,400 people and took hostages in a surprise attack on October 7.

In London, organizers said hundreds of thousands of demonstrators showed up on Saturday, although Reuters said police estimated the number was between 50,000 and 70,000 people. A march last week saw 100,000 take to the streets.

In videos online, marchers who had taken over central London were heard chanting: “What do we want? Ceasefire. When do we want it? Now.”

One woman told Reuters: “I want a ceasefire. I want peace for people of Gaza. Over the last few days, couple of weeks, I’ve just watched so many babies and children dying.”

“I feel so helpless right now,” she added. “All I felt I could do was come here to demonstrate, to be with people who are in a similar place. Just trying to raise my voice and just try and send a message out to people to bring peace.
You know, my heart is actually breaking right now. I just feel such a loss.”

Police temporarily shut down all lanes of the Brooklyn Bridge in Manhattan on Saturday after a large group of demonstrators rallying in support of Palestinians started heading in that direction.

The demonstration, titled in an Instagram post as “Flood Brooklyn for Gaza,” started at Brooklyn Museum at 3 p.m., continued up to the front of Barclays Center at 4 p.m. and ended at the Brooklyn Bridge, according to a post by Within Our Lifetime, which promoted the demonstrations.

“The more they try and silence us, repress us, push us off the streets, the larger our numbers will be, the louder we will be,” said the Palestinian-led community organization in the post, which spoke of the “Gaza blackout emergency.”

Both UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and US President Joe Biden have supported Israel’s right to defend itself. President Biden, on the day of the Hamas attack, called his support of Israel’s security “rock solid and unwavering.”

European Union leaders have stopped short of calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, instead appealing for humanitarian “pauses.”

On Saturday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told a crowd of Palestinian supporters in Istanbul that they should leave the rally “with the determination to never allow new Gazas to arise.”

Erdogan had said on Thursday that attacks on Gaza “have long passed the point of being self-defense,” adding, “It is now oppression, atrocity, massacre and barbaric.”

In the Middle East and Asia, thousands repeated displays seen last week in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen and the Israeli-occupied West Bank against Israel’s actions in its war on Hamas.

In the West Bank, Palestinian protesters in Hebron called for a global boycott of Israeli products. “Don’t contribute to the killing of the children of Palestine,” they chanted.

More than 2 million people live in the densely populated enclave, where people have faced intense Israeli airstrikes and a growing humanitarian situation, with shortages of water, food and fuel. Half of Gaza’s population are children.

At least 7,950 people have been killed and more than 20,000 others injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7, according to the latest figures released by the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah, which draws from sources in the Hamas-controlled enclave.

Editor’s Note: This story contains graphic descriptions.

It begins on that early Saturday morning, October 7, as Hamas militants pile into the back of white pickup trucks while the sun is still rising, AK-47s slung around their chests. In one scene, they are grinning and taking video of themselves as their truck speeds down the road, on their way to slaughter people who are still asleep.

They set up checkpoints and shoot at any car that approaches. Later, they pull out the dead bodies so they can steal the vehicles.

The scenes are excruciating to watch. The tape lasts over 40 minutes.

Israeli officials explained they are not releasing the video publicly out of respect for the victims.

Israel has distilled and shared the footage as part of a response to growing international criticism of its military campaign and blockade in Gaza, which have sparked a humanitarian crisis. The IDF’s apparent intention is to underscore the scope of the massacre and to remind the world of the atrocities committed by Hamas as Israel’s government tries to build support for its ground campaign in Gaza, which Israeli officials have warned will be long and difficult.

As journalists watched the searing images in a silent room, the United Nations General Assembly – just a block away – approved a nonbinding resolution calling for a “humanitarian truce.” Hours later, Israel sent more forces into Gaza and ramped up its aerial bombardment.

In another scene from the video, two Hamas militants enter a kibbutz. One shoots the tires out of an ambulance parked near the front, ensuring that any survivors can’t be transported to safety later. The militants go on to ambush the houses, shooting people who are still in their beds or are sitting on their back porches. They even shoot the dogs wandering around the kibbutz. If they struggle to get inside a home, they set it on fire instead.

The scenes include a Hamas fighter standing on a dead man and continuing to fire into the body at close range. They show Hamas members arguing over who gets to attempt to decapitate a Thai laborer with a garden hoe, shouting, “Allahu akbar” with each swing. They show militants setting cars on fire and then gathering around for a selfie, smiling as if they’re at a tailgate.

In Netiv HaAsara, a small town that sits on the Gaza border, a man and his three sons are awoken by the attack, all still in their underwear. On home surveillance footage, the panicked father carries one child while the other two run behind him through the living room. They make it outside as he sprints into the home’s bomb shelter, launching his sons in first. Seconds later, two Hamas members throw a grenade into the entryway, killing the father instantly. The two older boys, who are around 10 or 12, emerge bloodied but alive. They go back into their living room.

“Daddy’s dead,” one says to the other. “It’s not a prank.”

“I know, I saw,” the other, hunched over the table, says, adding that he can only see with one eye after the grenade blast.

“You’re not joking?” his brother asks. “You can’t see?”

They are inconsolable — not that there’s anyone there to console them. A Hamas militant absentmindedly raids their fridge as they sob uncontrollably.

“Why am I alive? Why am I alive?” one boy cries.

When the boys’ mother arrives later with the village’s security, she has to be dragged away from her husband’s body to be taken to safety.

At the Nova music festival, where at least 260 bodies were found, you see as the panic sets in when revelers realize they are being attacked. The music is still playing as one person records a video with paragliders approaching in the background. Festival attendees quickly begin to hide in dumpsters and behind trees, but nowhere is safe. As a Hamas militant, wearing a body camera, walks by the porta-potties, he fires into each of them in case anyone is inside.

Many people ran to nearby bomb shelters. In one video, a festival-goer’s eyes grow wide as he pans around to show a crowded bunker filled with the sobs and anguish of his peers. Later, you see the neat rows of white body bags from those who were murdered.

In the three weeks since the attack, Israel has bombed Gaza constantly from the skies. Israeli officials say the country is targeting Hamas militants and their strategic locations, which officials say are embedded among the civilian population. Israel pushed some of its forces into the narrow strip of land Friday night as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed the second phase of the nation’s campaign. The Israeli government has rejected calls for a ceasefire despite warnings from other nations about a regional conflict and widespread concerns about civilians who are unable to leave Gaza and who lack access to basic resources.

“There are innocent people in Gaza,” retired IDF Maj. Gen. Mickey Edelstein said after the screening — underlining the distinction between civilians and Hamas. But Israeli officials made clear the war’s next phase will go on, as Israel’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, added, “There is no other way to defeat Hamas than a ground operation.”

On Saturday, an IDF spokesman again urged residents to leave northern Gaza.

“To the residents of northern Gaza and Gaza City, your window to act is closing. … Move south. This is not a mere precaution, it is an urgent plea.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received sharp criticism after he accused security chiefs in a now-deleted social media post of failing to warn him about the impending Hamas attack prior to October 7.

Amid a chorus of disapproval from opponents and allies, Netanyahu deleted the post on Sunday morning, issuing a rare apology and stating Israel’s security heads had his “full backing.”

But the incident has done little to quell increasing frustration and anger directed at Israel’s leader for failing to anticipate the brutal Hamas attacks, which saw the group kill at least 1,400 people and take more than 200 hostages, according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

Netanyahu’s tweet comes at a time when he is also under increasing pressure from the families of hostages for a “comprehensive deal” to ensure their release. These calls are becoming more urgent amid concerns for what Israel’s expanding ground operations could mean for the safety of hostages trapped in Gaza.

In the now-deleted tweet, published in the early hours of Sunday morning local time, Netanyahu took a swipe at key security chiefs including Ronen Bar, the head of Israel’s internal security agency the Shin Bet, and Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva, the head of Israel’s military intelligence.

“At no point was a warning given to Prime Minister Netanyahu on Hamas’s intention to start a war. On the contrary, all the defense officials, including the heads of the Intelligence Directorate and the Shin Bet, assessed that Hamas was deterred,” Netanyahu posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.

An outpouring of criticism swiftly followed Netanyahu’s post, including from war cabinet member Benny Gantz, who expressed his support for intelligence chiefs and called on Netanyahu to retract his statements.

“This morning in particular, I would like to back up and strengthen all the security forces and the soldiers of the IDF – including the Chief of Staff, the head of the IDF and the head of the Shin Bet,” Gantz said in a post on X on Sunday.

Gantz called on Israel’s leadership to “show responsibility” while the country is at war. “Any other action or statement – harms the people’s resilience and strength,” he said.

Opposition leader and former Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid also rebuked Netanyahu. “Netanyahu crossed a red line,” he posted Sunday on X. “The attempts to evade responsibility and place the blame on the security establishment weakens the IDF while it is fighting Israel’s enemies,” he added.

Amid the flurry of criticism, Netanyahu deleted the post on Sunday morning and issued an apology. “I was wrong. Things I said following the press conference should not have been said and I apologize for that,” he wrote on X. Israel’s security chiefs had his “full backing,” he added.

But even in this apology, Netanyahu made no mention of his own responsibility for the failure to anticipate the deadliest attack in Israel’s history.

By contrast, Bar and Haliva, as well as chief of staff of the IDF Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, have all taken responsibility to some extent for failures that led to the attacks.

It has been a difficult weekend for the Israeli prime minister, who met with families of the hostages in Tel Aviv on Saturday, where they demanded answers on the security of their loved ones and pushed him to secure the hostages’ freedom, as Israel’s offensive escalated.

“We spoke bluntly and made it clear to the prime minister in no uncertain terms that a comprehensive deal based on the ‘everyone for everyone’ principle is a deal the families would consider, and has the support of all of Israel,” Meirav Leshem Gonen, mother of Romi Gonen, who was kidnapped from the Supernova dance festival, said on behalf of the families in a news conference following the meeting.

An “everyone for everyone” deal would involve the release of the more than 200 hostages in Gaza in exchange for Palestinians currently held in Israeli prisons, which the nongovernmental organization Palestinian Prisoners Club estimates to be 6,630 people.

Hamas released a statement Saturday claiming the group was willing to engage in such a trade, but any such deal would be hugely controversial in Israel.

As the efforts to free the hostages drag on, loved ones have also expressed alarm at the possibility Hamas’ captives will be harmed in Israel’s intensifying bombardment of Gaza.

“We came with an unequivocal demand that military action takes into account the fate of the hostages and the missing, and that any move considered will take into account the well-being of our loved ones,” Gonen said on behalf of the families.

Netanyahu was asked about such a deal at his Saturday news conference, and acknowledged he discussed the option with the families.

“I think that elaborating on this will not help achieve our goal. In the meeting with the families, I felt emotionally helpless,” he said.

At least 10 people are dead and 27 others have been injured after two trains collided in southeast India Sunday, Reuters reports.

A train traveling from Visakhapatnam, in the state of Andhra Pradesh, to Rayagada, in Odisha, had stopped due to a break in an overhead cable when it was hit by an oncoming train, in the Vizianagaram district of Andhra Pradesh, Reuters said, citing a senior railway official.

The collision derailed two coaches carrying more than 90 people on the stationary train, the official told Reuters.

A preliminary investigation suggests “human error” caused by “overshooting of signal” by the stationary train is what led to the collision, a statement from the country’s railway ministry read.

Sunday’s collision comes just four months after a separate train accident in Odisha, where three trains collided, leaving 275 people dead and more than 1,000 injured.

Rescue operations are underway at the accident site, and all of the injured have been moved to hospitals, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on X.

The Chief Minister’s Office of Andhra Pradesh said on X it had ordered officials to take quick relief measures to ensure the injured get prompt medical attention and advised nearby districts to send first responders to the scene.

The office of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Sunday he had spoken with Vaishnaw about the accident.

“Authorities are providing all possible assistance to those affected,” the post on X read. “The Prime Minister extends condolences to the bereaved families and prays that the injured recover soon.”