Hamas-led armed groups committed “numerous war crimes and crimes against humanity” against civilians during the October 7 attack in southern Israel, according to a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report released Wednesday.

In a 236-page report titled “‘I Can’t Erase All the Blood from My Mind’: Palestinian Armed Groups’ October 7 Assault on Israel,” the rights watchdog said that the October 7 attack was “directed against a civilian population,” and that “killing civilians and taking hostages were central aims of the planned attack, not an afterthought, a plan gone awry, or isolated acts.”

“The Hamas-led assault on October 7 was designed to kill civilians and take as many people as possible hostage,” said Ida Sawyer, crisis and conflict director at HRW.

The assault was led by Hamas’ military wing – the Qassam Brigades – but included at least four other Palestinian armed groups, the report said.

The report details several dozen cases of serious violations of international humanitarian law by Palestinian armed groups at most civilian attack sites on October 7, when militants killed 1,200 people in Israel and took more than 250 people hostage, according to Israeli authorities.

The rights group said it interviewed 144 people, including 94 Israeli and other nationals, who witnessed the October 7 assault, which targeted at least 19 kibbutzim (agricultural communes) and five moshavim (cooperative communities). The cities of Sderot and Ofakim, two music festivals, and a beach party were also targeted, HRW added.

“The armed groups committed numerous violations of the laws of war that amount to war crimes,” the report said. These include “attacks targeting civilians and civilian objects, willful killing of people in custody, cruel and other inhumane treatment.” Palestinian fighters committed summary killings and hostage-taking along with murder and wrongful imprisonment, HRW added.

Sexual and gender-based violence

The report also highlighted “crimes involving sexual and gender-based violence, hostage-taking, mutilation and despoiling bodies, use of human shields, and pillage and looting.”

Israel and the United Nations have also accused Hamas-led militants of committing sexual violence on October 7.

In March, the UN special envoy on sexual violence in conflict, Pramila Patten, said her team found “reasonable grounds to believe that conflict related sexual violence, including rape and gang rape occurred” that day. It was the UN’s most definitive finding on allegations of sexual assault in the aftermath of the attack.

HRW said that Hamas responded to its questions, stating that its forces were instructed not to target civilians and to abide by international human rights and humanitarian law. “In many cases, Human Rights Watch investigations found evidence to the contrary,” the watchdog said.

Hamas rejected the findings of the report and called for it to be retracted, according to a statement on Wednesday.

“We reject the lies and blatant bias towards the occupation and the lack of professionalism and credibility in the Human Rights Watch report. We demand its withdrawal and an apology,” the Palestinian group said.

‘Atrocities do not justify atrocities’

In response to the October 7 attack, Israel launched an air and ground offensive on Gaza that has killed more than 38,000 people in the enclave, according to Palestinian authorities. The war has displaced almost all of Gaza’s population of 2 million, turned swathes of the territory into rubble and triggered a massive humanitarian crisis.

Previous HRW reports have addressed several alleged serious violations by Israeli forces in Gaza since October 7. In its Wednesday report, HRW called on all parties involved in the conflict to abide by international humanitarian law.

“The Palestinian armed groups in Gaza should immediately and unconditionally release civilians held hostage,” the report said, adding that both parties “should surrender for prosecution anyone facing an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant.”

In May, the ICC said it was seeking arrest warrants for Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader in Gaza, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, among other Israeli and Hamas officials, on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity over the October 7 attacks and the subsequent war in Gaza.  A case is also being heard by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over an accusation by South Africa that Israel is committing genocide in its war in Gaza.

“Atrocities do not justify atrocities,” Sawyer said. “To stop the endless cycle of abuses in Israel and Palestine, it’s critical to address root causes and hold violators of grave crimes to account. That’s in the interests of both Palestinians and Israelis.”

Air raid sirens wailed across Cyprus’s divided capital Nicosia at dawn on Saturday as Greek Cypriots mourned, and Turkish Cypriots celebrated, 50 years since Turkey invaded part of the island in response to a brief Greek-inspired coup.

The ethnically split island is a persistent source of tension between Greece and Turkey, which are both partners in NATO but are at odds over numerous issues.

Their differences were laid bare on Saturday, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attending a celebratory military parade in north Nicosia to mark the day in 1974 when Turkish forces launched an offensive that they call a “peace operation.”

Later in the day, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis was due to attend an event in the south of the city to commemorate what Greeks commonly refer to as the “barbaric Turkish invasion.”

Mitsotakis posted an image of a blood-stained map of Cyprus on his LinkedIn page with the words “Half a century since the national tragedy of Cyprus.”

There was jubilation in the north.

“The Cyprus Peace Operation saved Turkish Cypriots from cruelty and brought them to freedom,” Erdogan said, criticizing the south for having a “spoiled mentality” and seeing itself as the sole ruler of Cyprus.

But Erdogan left open a window to dialogue in deadlocked negotiations. “We are ready for negotiations, to meet, and to establish long-term peace and resolution in Cyprus,” he said.

Peace talks are now stalled at two seemingly irreconcilable concepts – Greek Cypriots want reunification as a federation. Turkish Cypriots want a two-state settlement.

Cyprus gained independence from Britain in 1960, but a shared administration between Greek and Turkish Cypriots quickly fell apart in violence that saw Turkish Cypriots withdraw into enclaves and led to the dispatch of a UN peacekeeping force.

The crisis left Greek Cypriots running the internationally recognized Republic of Cyprus, a member of the European Union since 2004 with the potential to derail Turkey’s own decades-long aspirations of joining the bloc.

Remembering the dead

Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides, whose office represents the Greek Cypriot community in the reunification dialogue, said the anniversary was a somber occasion for reflection and for remembering the dead.

“Our mission is liberation, reunification and solving the Cyprus problem,” he said. “If we really want to send a message on this tragic anniversary … it is to do anything possible to reunite Cyprus.”

Turkey, he said, continued to be responsible for violating human rights and international law over Cyprus.

Across the south, church services were held to remember the more than 3,000 people who died in the Turkish invasion.

“It was a betrayal of Cyprus and so many kids were lost. It wasn’t just my son, it was many,” said Loukas Alexandrou, 90, as he tended the grave of his son at a military cemetery.

In Turkey, state television focused on violence against Turkish Cypriots prior to the invasion, particularly on bloodshed in 1963-64 and in 1967.

Turkey’s invasion took more than a third of the island and expelled more than 160,000 Greek Cypriots to the south.

Reunification talks collapsed in 2017 and have been at a stalemate since. Northern Cyprus is a breakaway state recognized only by Turkey, and its Turkish Cypriot leadership wants international recognition.

Police in South Africa arrested four people including two Mexican nationals after uncovering a multimillion-dollar drug manufacturing lab on a farm in the country’s north.

The South African Police Service (SAPS) and the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, commonly known as Hawks, raided the property in the town of Groblersdal after receiving information suspicious activity was taking place there, SAPS said in a statement.

After searching four structures on the property, police found large quantities of chemicals used to make illicit drugs including acetone and crystal meth, with an estimated street value of 2 billion South African rand ($109.4 million).

The four suspects detained on Friday include the farm owner and two Mexican nationals, the police service said, adding that the Hawks are not ruling out the possibility of further arrests.

“What makes this different from other [seizures] is the involvement of Mexican citizens,” Katlego Mogale, national spokesperson for the Hawks told Reuters, adding: “It means that our task has just become very difficult.”

It is not clear if the drugs seized were intended for South African market or overseas.

The suspects will appear at Groblersdal Magistrate’s court on Monday on charges of manufacturing, dealing and possessing illicit drugs, according to the police service.

In January, police said around 131 drug labs had been shut down across the country since 2019, adding that during the festive season last year more than 19,000 people were arrested for drug possession.

So far this year, the Hawks have discovered 10 secret drug labs and arrested 34 people as they continue their war on drugs in the country, the statement said.

South Africa is dubbed as potentially one of the “largest meth consumer markets in the world,” researchers at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime highlighted in a 2021 report.

It was also described by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) last year as “an attractive drug transit country.” The UNODC attributed the nation’s growing market for synthetic drugs to its “porous borders,” as well as its geography and international trade links.

Israeli airstrikes targeted Houthi rebels in Yemen a day after the Iran-backed group claimed a deadly attack on the Israeli city of Tel Aviv.

The Israel Defense Forces said its fighter jets struck “military targets of the Houthi terrorist regime” in the area of Yemen’s Hodeidah Port, with spokesperson Daniel Haggari saying the strikes were in response to both the death of a 50-year-old Israeli in the attack on Tel Aviv and the roughly 200 projectiles the rebel group has fired towards Israel since October.

The Houthi-run Al Masirah TV said the Israeli strikes targeted oil facilities in the port on Yemen’s west coast, adding that there had been deaths and injuries.

Houthi spokesperson Mohammed Abdulsalam said the strikes had also hit civilian targets and a power station. He slammed what he said was “brutal Israeli aggression” aimed at increasing the “suffering of the people of Yemen” and pressuring it to stop its support of Gaza.

The Houthi Supreme Political Council vowed to retaliate with “more impactful strikes on the enemy” and reiterated its solidarity with the Palestinian people, according to Al Masirah TV.

The Israeli strikes came a day after a Houthi drone attack in Tel Aviv killed one man and injured at least 10 others.

The Houthis said the drone attack on Tel Aviv was a response to Israel’s war in Gaza, claiming the operation was performed by a new drone capable of “bypassing the enemy’s interception systems.”

Israeli officials said Hodeidah had been targeted because it was the main supply route of Iranian weapons to Yemen. A spokesperson for the IDF said the targets were dual use infrastructure that were also being used for terrorist activity.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said “the blood of Israeli citizens has a price,” and that if Israelis are attacked, the “result will be identical” to that in Lebanon and Gaza.

“The fire that is currently burning in Hodeidah is seen across the Middle East and the significance is clear,” Gallant said. “The first time that they harmed an Israeli citizen, we struck them. And we will do this in any place where it may be required.”

Since the start of Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza, the Yemeni rebels have regularly targeted the country with drones and missiles, most of which have been intercepted by Israel’s defenses. They have also regularly attacked US targets and commercial shipping in the Red Sea.

Both the UK and the US have responded to the attacks on shipping by carrying out strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen. However, this is the first time Israel has struck Yemen.

According to the official, Gallant informed US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin before the strike was carried out.

The defense official added that Israel was able to strike so quickly because it had been preparing for this scenario for months.

Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Israel Katz said Israel had “delivered a severe blow to the Iranian-backed terror organization in Yemen today” and warned it would “strike anyone who strikes us.”

He also called on the international community to “maximize sanctions on Iran.”

“Iran supports, trains, and finances the Houthi terror organization as part of its regional network of terror organizations aimed at attacking Israel,” he said.

“Iran is the head of the snake – it must be stopped now,” Katz added.

A White House official said US President Joe Biden had been briefed on “developments” in the Middle East. A spokesperson for the White House National Security Council said the US had not coordinated with Israel on the airstrikes, but added that the US fully recognizes “Israel’s right to self-defense.”

In May, at least 16 people were killed and a further 35 wounded by US-UK airstrikes in Hodeidah targeting Houthi rebels.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

A German citizen has been sentenced to death in Belarus after being charged with terrorism and mercenary activities, according to a Belarusian human rights group.

The group Human Rights Center “Viasna” said the German national is a 29-year-old German Red Cross employee named Rico Krieger.

According to his LinkedIn profile, he worked as an emergency medical technician for the German Red Cross and as an armed security officer for the US Embassy in Berlin.

Krieger was sentenced in the Minsk Regional Court on June 24, Viasna said on its website on Friday.

Krieger was charged under six articles of the Criminal Code of Belarus, according to Viasna, including “mercenary activity,” “agent activity,” an “act of terrorism,” the “creation of an extremist formation,” “intentional disrepair of a vehicle or communication lines,” and “illegal actions in relation to firearms, ammunition and explosives.”

Viasna also reported that Krieger was found guilty of “arranging an explosion in order to influence decision-making by authorities, intimidate the population, [and] destabilize public order.” It is unclear exactly what led up to Krieger’s alleged crimes or when they occurred.

“The death penalty is a cruel and inhumane form of punishment that Germany rejects under all circumstances. We are actively working worldwide to abolish it and are strongly advocating against its execution in all affected cases,” the spokesperson added.

Belarus says it has ensured consular access to a German national, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Anatoly Glaz said in a statement on X. Minsk has “proposed a number of options” to Germany “for the development of the situation,” he said, according to Belarusian state media BelTA. 

“There have been contacts with the German side on this topic, of course. This criminal is a German citizen and we understand the German side’s concern for him,” said Glaz, according to BelTA.”Consultations on this topic are being held by the foreign ministries of the two countries,” he added.

“I am concerned by news that German citizen Rico Krieger was sentenced to death by Lukashenko’s regime in Belarus,” exiled Belarusian opposition figure Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya said on X on Friday.

“We are collecting more information on his case at the moment. From what we know, he was accused of several so-called ‘extremism’ related crimes,” she added.

Residents in the southern Russian city of Krasnodar staged a rare protest on Saturday over electricity cuts and water supply interruptions due to a power grid failure amid record-high temperatures.

Angry residents gathered on the streets near residential buildings shouting “Give me light,” after experiencing power cuts for several days, videos posted on social media show.

Work to repair the accident is underway and residents are being supplied with drinking water, the city’s mayor Evgeny Naumov said Saturday. “We all need to remain calm and understand what is happening, although this is not easy,” he said in a Telegram post.

The power cuts came as the city is experiencing unusually high temperatures and on Friday a daily record was set for the fourth day in a row, according to Russian state news agency TASS. The maximum temperature was 39 degrees Celsius on Friday, according to TASS.

Krasnodar Governor Veniamin Kondratyev said Saturday that the “abnormal heat,” the lack of proper capacities during peak load periods and the operation of the Rostov Nuclear Power Plant were some of the factors that contributed to the outages. One of the units of the Rostov plant, the largest in the region, was temporarily shut down earlier this week due to a technical malfunction.

“There has been abnormal heat in the Krasnodar region for a week now. The load on the energy system is colossal,” Governor Kondratyev said. “I know and understand all the indignation of residents due to the power outages.”

He said he is “in constant contact” with energy workers and that “Where possible, emergency crews repair breakdowns as quickly as possible.” Kondratyev said the city’s mayor is currently in the area that has been affected the most and “constantly reports on the situation.”

Public protests in Russia are very rare, especially after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The government has introduced war censorship laws that can result in severe punishment, including imprisonment, for discrediting the military.