When the Gaza sunshine was at its hottest, Andrey Kozlov said the Hamas fighters would cover him with blankets, leaving him to stew in his sweat. When he asked about his family, they would say they had forgotten him. When they pulled the blindfold from his eyes, they said they would kill him and film his murder.

The 27-year-old said he suffered intense psychological – and some physical – abuse at the hands of Hamas. He cannot bring himself to describe all that happened to him and the two other hostages he was kept with during his eight months of captivity in Gaza.

After being snatched from the Nova music festival on October 7, Kozlov, a Russian-Israeli citizen, said he was tied up for “three days with rope, then until the middle of December with chains.” During these months he was subjected to “creative” forms of punishment: One guard “told us a lot that Israel wants to kill us” and that they were a problem from which Israel was trying to rid itself.

Kozlov strove not to believe the lies, he said, but the result was that, when Israeli soldiers last month burst into the building in which he was being held, he thought they had been sent to kill him.

Instead, it was a stunning rescue operation that brought him and the two others home – as well as Noa Argamani, who was held in a nearby building. But it left in its wake a trail of destruction: Gaza authorities say at least 274 Palestinians were killed in the raid and the ensuing firefight with Hamas militants.

Kozlov was nearing the end of his shift as a security guard at the Nova festival when Hamas fighters began to pour over the border. He had moved from Russia to Israel two years earlier, and taken the job because it was “easy money.” When he clocked off, Kozlov thought “I will come back home, I will sleep and everything will be good. But no, it didn’t happen.”

Minutes later, he was sprinting through a forest with “maybe 200, 300 people,” panicked by the sound of gunshots and a stream of gruesome nearby videos that had already emerged online. But as they stumbled out into a field, Kozlov saw – he recalled in broken English – “a car full of guys in green uniform. And they shoot in the air, they shoot already on us.”

Hiding in the bushes was no help. He was swiftly found and taken to Gaza, where he was held in several different places with Almog Meir Jan and Shlomi Ziv, before their eventual rescue in Nuseirat, in the center of the enclave.

On his first day, his captor “took the fabric from my eyes and showed me with signs” what he was planning to do. The man pointed to himself – “I” – then tapped his watch – “tomorrow” – then pointed to Kozlov – “you” – then made a camera sign, clicking its shutter – “film” – then made a gun with his fingers, pulling the trigger – “kill.”

Kozlov said he thought that day would be his last, but – as the hours passed – that fear slowly subsided. Days later, he said he understood “that probably they’re not gonna kill us.” Using signs again, they explained to Kozlov that they wanted to swap him: “You’re going to Israel, our people go to Gaza and the West Bank.”

For the first three months, the sound of Israeli bombing was constant, Kozlov said: “We were afraid of every bomb that we heard. Every time you started to hide in the corners of our room.” His captors laughed, he said, asking what they were afraid of.

They were moved between houses several times, Kozlov said, with some places giving them enough food. After being unchained in December, some places where he was held gave him the chance to exercise – “squats, pushups” and the like.

But he was exposed to prolonged psychological abuse, he said, by guards watching over them wearing masks, holding Kalashnikovs and a “big knife.” The main guard, he said, had a “split” personality and often “got crazy.”

“He has two personalities,” Kozlov said. “He told us: ‘I have two faces: A good one, but I don’t want you to see the second face – like, I can kill you.”

Some mornings, the guard would be friendly, offering to play cards with them. But in other mornings Kozlov would “wake up and you understand – ah, the second face. You don’t talk with him at all.”

Kozlov would be punished for arbitrary things, he said. Once, after washing his hands with drinking water before eating, the guard “noticed and he said, ‘I told you not to do this, yes?’” The guard had someone cover Kozlov with “really thick blankets, in the middle of May,” and leave him in the heat for an hour and a half.

Kozlov’s testimony chimes with that of other rescued hostages. The doctor in charge of medical treatment for Kozlov and the three others rescued in the Israeli operation said they were beaten and described their captivity as a “harsh, harsh experience, with a lot of abuse, almost every day.”

Still, Kozlov considers himself “lucky.” He said he saw other hostages during his eight months in Gaza, “but I don’t want to talk about it… It’s painful and it’s gonna be dangerous for them,” he said. Were they in worse shape than him? “Yes they were.”

For that reason, Kozlov implored Israeli officials to “try to understand how we [the hostages] felt all this time. We need to bring them home as soon as possible. I don’t know how. But we need to do this immediately.”

Talks resumed in the Qatari capital Doha last Friday. Over the weekend, Hamas agreed to compromise on a major sticking point for Israel – that Netanyahu’s government commits to a permanent ceasefire in Gaza before signing an agreement. But a statement from Netanyahu’s office on Sunday cast doubt on the deal, laying out several “principles” Israel is not prepared to abandon, including resumed fighting in Gaza “until all objectives of the war have been achieved.”

For Kozlov, the days he was captured – and rescued – have become landmarks in his life. October 7 became his second “birthday;” June 18, his third. He wants the 120 remaining hostages to be able to mark their own dates.

Australia has charged two Russian-born Australian citizens with preparing for an espionage offense after allegedly obtaining information from the Australian Defence Force (ADF) that they were intending to hand to Russian authorities.

The citizens, a married couple, had been in Australia for more than 10 years and were arrested Thursday at their home in Everton Park, a northern suburb of Brisbane, according to the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO).

The Russian-born woman, 40, became an Australian citizen in 2016, and was an army private working as an information systems technician with the ADF for several years, the agencies said in a joint news conference. Her Russian-born husband, 62, obtained Australian citizenship in 2020, they added.

“The AFP will allege the individuals worked together to access Australian Defense Force material that related to Australia’s national security interests,” said AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw.

The couple were not named by authorities in Friday’s announcement, but both are expected to appear in court later that day.

Australian Federal Police will allege the woman went to Russia without notifying Australian authorities while she was on long-term leave from the ADF.

“We allege that while she was in Russia, she instructed her husband, who remained in Australia, on how to log into her official work account from their Brisbane home,” Kershaw said.

“We allege her husband would access requested material and would send to his wife in Russia. We allege they sought that information with the intention of providing it to Russian authorities.”

Kershaw said a key focus of the investigation is whether that information was handed over to authorities. If it was, the charge could be upgraded to espionage.

It’s the first time the charge of preparing for an espionage offence has been used. It carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison. An upgraded charge carries a maximum term of 25 years in prison to life.

Panama has placed barbed wire across several routes in the Darién Gap, the country’s Ministry of Public Security said in a statement Thursday, in a bid to block migrants making their way north.

At least five passages near Panama’s border with Colombia have been shut using barbed wire installed by the country’s border agency (Senafront). Meanwhile, Panama’s navy is patrolling areas in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean.

The government said the navy is instructed to stop and detain people traveling by boat with “irregular migrants” and to hand them over to police or immigration authorities from Colombia. On land, border authorities have closed irregular access areas with the goal of rerouting people through established border points.

The United States and Panama signed an agreement this month on immigration issues that aimed to “close the passage of illegal migrants” through the Darién Gap. Panama’s President José Raúl Mulino has also vowed to stop the Central American country from being a transit route for migrants.

“I will not allow Panama to be a path open to thousands of people who enter our country illegally supported by an entire international organization related to drug and human trafficking,” Mulino said at his swearing-in ceremony on July 1.

Mulino visited the Darién Gap days before Thursday’s announcement, saying 300 border agents were going to be deployed to monitor the area and declaring that no one would enter Panamanian territory without a passport or a valid document.

Colombia’s Ombudsman’s Office has criticized Panama’s latest move saying that the barbed wires affect at least one Colombian town’s commercial and cultural exchange with areas in Panama.

“The barbed wires in the jungle will only bring drowned people into the sea. Migration is stopped by removing economic blockades and improving the economy of the south,” Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro wrote on X.

The Darién Gap, a mountainous rainforest region connecting South and Central America, has seen an increase in the number of migrants willing to risk their lives and safety to cross it.

The 66-mile (106-kilometer) hike through the Darién Gap brings migrants from Colombia to Panama and is a crucial passage for those – many of whom come from other Latin American countries – hoping to reach the US and Canada.

Panamanian figures show at least 174,513 migrants crossed the treacherous Darién Gap, from January to June 6 of this year.

The latest figures are higher than around the same period in 2023, when more than 166,000 crossings were reported, according to Panama’s National Migration Service. According to migration service figures, a record 520,000 people crossed the jungle last year.

Other countries along the migration route have also taken steps to restrict people’s movement. In June, Ecuador said it would temporarily suspend a visa waiver agreement with China over what it called an increase in irregular migration flows of Chinese citizens.

British police have launched a manhunt after two suitcases containing human remains were discovered on England’s Clifton Suspension Bridge, Avon and Somerset Police said Thursday.

The police force received a call at 11.57 p.m. local time on Wednesday about a man with a suitcase “acting suspiciously” on the bridge in the southwestern city of Bristol.

By the time officers appeared, police said the man had disappeared but two suitcases containing human remains were found.

Police have not yet identified either the man or the deceased, though initial inquiries have found that the man took a taxi to the bridge.

“Our immediate priority is to locate the man who took the suitcases to the bridge, identify the deceased, and inform their next of kin,” the police said.

An Israel Defense Forces (IDF) internal investigation into the failures to protect the kibbutz of Be’eri on October 7 found that the Israeli military “failed in its mission to protect the residents” and “was not prepared for the extensive infiltration scenario” by Hamas that day, which involved “multiple infiltration points by thousands of terrorists attacking dozens of locations simultaneously.”

Be’eri, located in southern Israel, was one of the hardest hit communities in the October 7 attacks when Hamas militants stormed the kibbutz, killing 101 of its residents, including children. Thirty people were abducted from the kibbutz that day.

The inquiry said the military had trained for isolated and specific infiltrations. “As a result, there were no additional reserve forces in the area that could have been sent to Kibbutz Be’eri,” the inquiry said.

Responding to the inquiry’s report, the Chief of the General Staff, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said it “clearly illustrates the magnitude of the failure and the scale of the disaster that befell the residents of the south who defended their families with their bodies for many hours while the IDF was not there to protect them.”

The inquiry found that “the IDF struggled to create a clear and accurate situational assessment of what was happening in the kibbutz until the afternoon of October 7,” even though the local emergency team had provided an updated assessment.

“Combat in the area during the initial hours was characterized by a lack of command and control, a lack of coordination, and a lack of order among the different forces and units. This led to several incidents where security forces grouped at the entrance to the kibbutz without immediately engaging in combat,” the report said.

“The inquiry found that the security officials did not provide sufficient warning to the residents of Kibbutz Be’eri about the infiltration of terrorists during the initial hours of the terrorist attack,” the report continued.

The inquiry concluded that the turning point came only when a senior officer was appointed to coordinate forces in the area, leading to the regaining of operational control of the kibbutz.

“Despite operational errors and mistakes in force deployment, the inquiry team noted that the combat in Be’eri included a series of acts of heroism and supreme courage by the fighting forces, commanders, and security personnel who fought in the kibbutz, saving many residents,” the report said.

It also said “the bravery of the Be’eri residents and the members of the kibbutz’s civilian rapid response team is commendable and was crucial in stabilizing the defensive line during the first hours of combat, preventing the attack from spreading to other parts of the kibbutz.”

The inquiry also found that the security forces who fought in the area “operated with great bravery and heroism.” 31 security personnel were killed in the area after some “340 terrorists infiltrated the kibbutz,” of whom about 100 were killed, it said.

Timeline of attack

The inquiry team found that that the attack on Be’eri began at around 7 a.m. local time on October 7 and that Hamas controlled the kibbutz for about four hours.

During this period, the “first IDF soldiers arrive, are hit, evacuate the wounded, exit the kibbutz, and, positioning themselves at the entrance of the kibbutz, engage in combat with the terrorists who reached the gate.”

By 4.15 p.m., the 99th Division had established itself at the kibbutz and began organizing command and control.

By 6 p.m., “about 700 IDF soldiers and security forces are operating in the area of the kibbutz,” the inquiry found.

The Chief of the General Staff, Lt. Gen. Halevi, accepted the conclusions of the inquiry, and acknowledged that “the IDF did not fulfil its mission to defend the residents in the most grave manner and failed in its mission.”

Halevi noted that “from the afternoon hours onwards, forces were waiting outside the kibbutz while the massacre continued inside. This situation is extremely grave and cannot occur.”

“The reasons for this were found to include that commanders who arrived with forces entered the kibbutz with a part of the force to better understand the situation; some forces did not initiate contact since they did not understand the severity of the situation and the lack of adequate forces; some of those waiting outside were support forces providing a perimeter for those engaged in combat inside the kibbutz,” he said.

As for prioritizing the evacuation of wounded soldiers, Halevi said that civilian protection was the highest-priority mission. “Soldiers must always give priority to assisting civilians in evacuation, defense and any other need that arises in a combat zone,” he said.

Separately, Halevi told a graduation ceremony Thursday for new officers that the IDF had worked with all partners “to understand in detail and depth what happened and what we must learn to prevent it from happening again in the future.”

Be’eri kibbutz survivors were presented with the findings of the report earlier Thursday.

“It can be said that the investigation was thorough and helped the members of the kibbutz understand a little the depth and complexity of the fighting in the various sectors of the kibbutz,” a statement released by Be’eri spokesperson Michal Paykin said.

But he said some important questions remained unanswered.

“For example: Why did the many military forces who gathered at the gate not enter the kibbutz for many hours, when the kibbutz was burning, and its residents were crying for help? What caused the intelligence failure that enabled the Hamas invasion plan, and how was the border fence breached without an immediate response from the IDF?” he said.

Members of “Kibbutz Be’eri did not need the results of the investigation to feel the failure of the IDF” that morning. “The failure of the army has been burned into our bodies and in our hearts for nine months,” the statement adds.

Former residents are now calling for a state commission of inquiry to “examine the conduct of all the parties and provide us with answers with which we can begin to recover,” the statement added.

“Finally, and most importantly, we demand to deal with the abandonment that is happening right now across the border – the abandonment of the hostages to their fate for nine months.  The ongoing failure to return them to this day must stop,” the statement ends.

Speaking about a state inquiry, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Thursday at the officers’ graduation ceremony: “It should check all of us: decision-makers and executive officers, the government, the army and the security agencies, in this government, and in the governments of the last decade that led to the events of October 7.”

“It should examine me, the Minister of Defense, it should examine the Prime Minister, the Chief of Staff and the head of the Shin Bet, the IDF, and the national bodies subordinate to the government,” Gallant said.

A commission “must examine the intelligence and operational failure of the events of the 7th October,” as well as examine “the errors made in assessing the enemy’s capabilities and in warning of its intentions  – that culminated on the 7th of October,” Gallant said.

Focus on 13 hostages

One focus of the inquiry into events at Be’eri on October 7 was the effort to save 13 people held hostage in a house at the kibbutz.

There had been speculation that the hostages had been killed by tank fire from the Israeli military as it tried to force entry to the house, but the inquiry found that Hamas operatives at the house probably killed the hostages.

“After gunfire was heard from within the house and the terrorists communicated their intent to commit suicide and kill the hostages, the security forces decided to breach the house to attempt to save the hostages, and conducted combat operations under difficult conditions,” the inquiry concluded.

It said that “commanders and forces made professional and responsible decisions, and fully exhausted negotiation efforts. The tank fire towards the area near the house was carried out professionally, with a joint decision made by commanders from all the security organizations after careful consideration… with the intent to apply pressure to the terrorists and save the civilians held hostage inside.”

“The team determined that, based on the information reviewed and to the best of their understanding, no civilians inside the building were harmed by tank shell fire, except for an isolated incident outside the building where two civilians were injured by shrapnel,” it continued. “The team determined that most of the hostages were likely murdered by the terrorists, and further inquiries and reviews of additional findings are necessary.”

Regarding the conclusions, Halevi said, “In such events, the commander on the ground must make difficult decisions with the goal of saving as many civilians as possible. The inquiry revealed that this value guided the decision-making of the commanders on the ground during this event.”

IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said later Thursday that the IDF had been trying to carry out negotiations with Hamas but those failed.

“The decision to bombard the house was taken only after all options were exhausted and only after there were noises of shooting where there was a suspicion that the hostages were executed. Civilians were not killed by the tank fire. They were killed by the terrorists. There is only one incident in which we can say that one civilian was killed from shrapnel,” he said.

The last of five Americans arrested in recent months in Turks and Caicos under gun control laws that make bringing firearms or ammunition into the territory without prior permission from police a crime has been sentenced.

Michael Lee Evans, of Texas; Sharitta Grier, of Florida; Bryan Hagerich, of Pennsylvania; Ryan Tyler Watson, of Oklahoma; and Tyler Wenrich, of Virginia, were all accused of bringing various amounts of ammunition to Turks and Caicos, a 40-island chain southeast of the Bahamas.

All have said the ammunition recovered from their luggage was not intentionally packed, according to American lawmakers who went to the British Overseas Territory in May as part of efforts to petition for their expedited release.

Though the infractions had carried a mandatory 12-year prison sentence and fine – with reductions only in “exceptional circumstances” – a mid-June revision clarified courts may impose a fine, a custodial sentence or both in exceptional circumstances, a member of the territory’s House of Assembly said June 14.

All five Americans arrested under the law have pleaded guilty, been sentenced and headed back to the US. Here’s what we know about the laws in Turks and Caicos and the affected Americans:

No constitutional right to carry firearms in Turks and Caicos

Though the territory doesn’t manufacture firearms or ammunition, the number of firearms finding their way to the islands has increased – and that’s a worry, Turks and Caicos Premier Washington Misick said.

While it is legal to fly in the US with unloaded firearms and ammunition in checked baggage, according to the Transportation Security Administration, taking firearms or ammunition into Turks and Caicos without prior permission from police is “strictly forbidden.”

The mandatory sentence was in place to protect those on the islands, Gov. Dileeni Daniel-Selvaratnam has said, adding judges could use their discretion to impose reduced sentences in “exceptional circumstances.”

But no special treatment should be given to any group, the Turks and Caicos premier said: “The law must be applied even-handedly.”

Even so, the “amendment was introduced to address concerns about the rigidity of the previous sentencing framework, which mandated both imprisonment and financial penalties for all firearms offenses, regardless of the specific context or severity,” House of Assembly member Edwin Astwood said in a statement.

“This often resulted in disproportionately harsh sentences that did not always fit the nature of the crime or the circumstances of the offender.”

US citizens are not being targeted, Turks and Caicos officials have said. Of the 195 people sentenced for firearm-related offenses over the past six years, only seven were US citizens, Misick has said, and none got a 12-year sentence.

While Turks and Caicos collaborates with the US in battling narcotics, terrorism and money laundering, “our laws and processes are not congruent,” Misick said.

“We are a separate sovereignty. We respect the United States’ laws and we will never think to interfere in its operation.”

Sharitta Shinese Grier

Grier planned to pay the fine that same day and board a same-day flight from Turks and Caicos to the United States, Mair said.

“I didn’t know what was going to happen because I couldn’t believe it was in there,” she said in May. “They went through my bag and said they found rounds at the bottom of my carry-on.”

Grier was released on bail but couldn’t leave the island until her case concluded and had to report to a local police station weekly, the station reported.

“I’m just broken,” Grier said in May.

Bryan Hagerich

Hagerich was the first of the five to return to the United States after he received a suspended 52-week sentence in late May, which meant he didn’t face immediate incarceration, his representatives said. He was also given a $6,700 fine.

The father of two pleaded guilty to possession of 20 rounds of ammunition, according to the Turks and Caicos government.

Hagerich paid the fine and was allowed to leave the British Overseas Territory. He got home May 24, according to Johnathan Franks, a spokesperson for the Bring Our Families Home Campaign, a group that helps wrongfully detained Americans secure release.

“We have a lot of catching up to do,” Hagerich said. “A lot of memories to make together. Just so elated to see them. They’ve been so strong through all this.”

Before Hagerich’s sentencing, his wife had packed two suitcases – one if he was sentenced to prison and another if he were allowed to return home – they said in an exclusive interview with “Good Morning America.”

“It was dark; you have no concept of time,” Hagerich said about his week-long stay in jail in Turks and Caicos. “I was with three folks that were accused of murder. It was scary.”

Tyler Wenrich

Wenrich pleaded guilty to possession of ammunition while traveling to Turks and Caicos.

He was sentenced May 28 to three weeks time-served in jail and fined $9,000, said Kimo Tynes​​​​, a Government of the Turks and Caicos Islands spokesperson said that day in a statement.

He returned home to Virginia on May 30.

The Hon. Justice Davidson Baptiste cited exceptional circumstances in Wenrich’s case, saying, “Enforcing the mandatory minimum would have been arbitrary and disproportionate, and would not serve the public interest.”

Wenrich was charged with possession of two 9 mm rounds, according to the Turks and Caicos government.

Michael Lee Evans

Evans pleaded guilty to possession of seven 9 mm rounds of ammunition and appeared before the court on April 24 via video conference.

He was allowed to return to the United States on bail due to a “severe” medical situation and to attend his June sentencing hearing virtually, said his attorney Oliver Smith, King’s Counsel.

Evans got a suspended 33-month sentence, and his attorney believes it is unlikely he will have to serve time in jail.

Ryan Tyler Watson

Watson was visiting Turks and Caicos with his wife in April to celebrate several friends’ 40th birthdays when he was charged with possession of four rounds of ammunition. He plead guilty in May.

Watson soon returned home and reunited with his family, US Sen. James Lankford, an Oklahoma Republican, said on X.

US lawmakers tried to free Americans

The Americans’ arrest has stoked tension between US officials and their counterparts just a few hundred miles away. A request by a US congressional delegation to the islands in May for charges against the five Americas to be dropped did not yield the desired result.

“Unfortunately, despite our willingness to work with Turks and Caicos officials to get our constituents home, we were not able to find a path forward today,” Republican US Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma said May 20 in a statement.

“It’s to the point now, (where) every third week an American is being detained wrongfully (in) Turks and Caicos,” Republican US Rep. Guy Reschenthaler told ABC News the same week.

In a House of Assembly address, the islands’ Misick said, “The (accusations) of congressman (Reschenthaler) against the government and people of the Turks and Caicos Islands are nothing more than diabolic falsehoods.”

“They were innocent mistakes,” he said. “Any other nation would handle this with a fine in sending that person back to the country of origin. Here, that’s not happening.”

On May 28, Mullin welcomed the news of Wenrich’s release, calling it “another step in the right direction,” according to a post on X.

“I again encourage TCI to address the unintended consequences of their law to prevent this from happening again.”

This story has been updated with additional information.

Twelve schoolchildren and their driver were killed in South Africa on Wednesday when their minibus overturned and caught fire on a road in Gauteng province, officials said.

The accident took place a day after schools reopened after the winter holidays. Seven other children were injured in accident, which took place in the town of Merafong, west of the country’s economic hub Johannesburg.

Reports said a that a small truck, known as a bakkie, had slammed into the back of the minibus transporting the children, causing it to overturn and erupt into flames.

Education and transport officials visited the scene of the crash and the injured children at a hospital in the nearby area of Carletonville. Head of the Gauteng provincial government, Panyaza Lesufi, also visited the injured children.

Gauteng education department spokesman Steve Mabona said 11 of the children who died attended Rocklands Primary School while the twelfth child went to Laerskool Blyvooruitsig in Carletonville.

“The pupils’ transport was hit from behind by a bakkie, causing it to overturn and subsequently catch fire,” Mabona said, describing the crash as a “horrific accident.”

Thousands of schoolchildren in Gauteng rely on private minibuses for transport to and from their schools across South Africa’s most populous province. Many others rely on public transport, including municipal buses and taxis.

Mali’s military junta has lifted a suspension on political party activities meant to safeguard public order, the council of ministers said late on Wednesday.

The suspension was announced in April, days before the start of a national dialogue for peace in the Sahelian nation that has been battling a jihadist insurgency for over a decade and has been under military rule since August 2020.

“By taking this deterrent measure, the government was able to contain all the threats of public disorder that hung over this major event,” the council said in a statement.

Given the focus was now on implementing the recommendations of the April 13-May 10 peace dialogue, the government will allow political parties to resume their activities, it said.

Mali’s junta, which seized power in a second coup in 2021, reneged on a promise to hold elections in February, postponing the vote indefinitely for technical reasons.

Political parties and civil society groups at the time reacted with anger to the junta’s decision not to hold the vote and called for a return to constitutional order.

There have been eight coups in West and Central Africa since one in August 2020 in Mali, including neighbors Burkina Faso and Niger, which are fighting the same jihadist groups linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State.

A fire broke out in the spire of the cathedral in the French city of Rouen on Thursday morning.

The blaze erupted at the top of the spire of the gothic Our Lady of the Assumption Cathedral in Rouen, in the northern region of Normandy.

Images posted on X by Normandy’s prefecture, or regional administration, show smoke billowing from the top of the building, which is currently undergoing restoration works and is considered a significant piece of French medieval architecture.

The prefecture confirmed on X that the cathedral was evacuated following the outbreak of the flames and that emergency services were working at the scene. In total, 70 firefighters and 40 vehicles were deployed to the site, while additional firefighting forces from the neighboring region of Oise were also mobilized.

The prefecture later announced that the fire had been put out.

Stéphane Gouezec, an official from the local fire department, said that “an inventory is being made of works that could be affected” by the water used to contain the blaze. “We may have to take some works to safety,” he added.

Patrick Waeselynck, the owner of a nearby cafe, described the moment he noticed the fire.

“First sunny day, there’s a big outside seating area, people are sitting down, we’re going over to take the order and we hear, ‘Fire!,’” he told Reuters.

“I turn around and I see the cathedral spire, the tarpaulin that was protecting the restoration work, which was burning, big flames, black smoke.”

The construction of Rouen cathedral dates from the 12th century and it was built and rebuilt over a period of 800 years. It is famed for its three towers, each built in a different style, and was immortalized in a series of paintings by French impressionist Claude Monet in the 19th century.

This blaze comes five years after a massive fire broke out in the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, devastating large parts of the 850-year-old church.