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TRANSCRIPT:
- Israel's military says it has found the bodies of three hostages taken by Hamas into Gaza
- A stand-off between pro-Palestinian protesters and the University of Melbourne continues
- Bet-fixing charges levelled at three Macarthur Football Club A-League players
The Israeli military says its troops in Gaza have found the bodies of three Israeli hostages taken by Hamas during its 7th of October attack.
The military has identified the bodies as those of two women, 22-year-old German-Israeli Shani Louk and 28-year-old Amit Buskila, and a 56-year-old man, Itzhak Gelerenter.
All three were killed at the Nova music festival, an outdoor dance party near the Gaza border, and their bodies taken into the Palestinian territory, military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari says.
"It is with a heavy heart that I share the news that last night the Israel Defense Forces and ISA (Israeli Security Agency) forces rescued the bodies of our hostages Shani Louk, Amit Buskila, and Itzhak Gelerenter. ... According to the credible information that we have gathered, Shani Louk, Amit Buskila and Itzhak Gelerenter were murdered by Hamas while escaping the Nova music festival on October 7th, and their bodies were taken into Gaza."
**
United States military officials say the first trucks have begun supplying aid to the war-ravaged Gaza Strip via a temporary pier.
With Gazans facing hunger, the US military has said trucks carrying humanitarian assistance have began moving ashore via the long-awaited pier which the U-S Central Command, or CENTCOM, said was anchored to a Gaza beach.
CENTCOM issued pictures showing aid being lifted onto a barge in the Israeli port of Ashdod, adding on social media platform X that no American troops had gone ashore.
The US military has said in the coming days around 500 tonnes of aid is expected to enter Gaza, where the United Nations has warned of a looming famine.
The latest shipment was carrying E-U supplies, the 27-member bloc said, including 88,000 cans of food from Romania.
**
Students behind the occupation of a Melbourne University building have continued to defy demands to vacate the premises.
Pro-Palestinian protesters met university officials on Friday, but they say no resolution was reached, after they demanded the university disclose and cut ties with weapons manufacturers linked to Israel.
The university says more than 8,000 students have been impacted by the disruption.
UniMelb for Palestine's Dana Alshaer says it was the university's decision to cancel classes, not theirs.
"These students have been sitting here peacefully, protesting peacefully, demanding an end to complicity in genocide. We are here as an anti-genocide, ant-war movement. Cancelling classes is a university responsibility, it's not our responsibility. There's no more classes in Gaza."
Meanwhile, Professor of International Relations at the university, Michael Wesley, says they continue to ask the people who are occupying the building to leave.
"The people who are occupying that building are actually preventing our students from learning and engaging in educational activities; that's what they're hear for. And, therefore they have really stepped across a line."
The university says it wants a peaceful solution and has not asked Victoria police to intervene, but its also warned police could attend campus at any time, to restore order.
**
Hundreds of Australians are believed to be trapped in New Caledonia following days of deadly riots, with many saying they feel abandoned by federal authorities.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade doesn't know the exact number of Australians seeking to leave the French territory, having only opened registrations on Friday afternoon.
The outburst of violence was sparked by a bill approved by the French National Assembly that would expand voting rights to people who have lived in the archipelago for more than ten years.
Thousand of French police reinforcements are now arriving in New Caledonia in attempt to quell the violence, in which at least four people were killed and hundreds arrested.
New South Wales resident Peter Choqenot says the lack of information from DFAT is disappointing, but not unexpected.
“It's uncomfortable but not dangerous at the moment. And we're in as good a position as we can be. My disappointment is the lack of communication, and if the information is available, then it's a lack of a system to communicate with us, if the information wasn't available to the government, that's incredibly disappointing."
**
Police have charged three A-League players over an alleged betting corruption scandal orchestrated by an overseas criminal figure.
Macarthur Football Club captain Ulises Davila has been accused of paying two of his teammates thousands of dollars to deliberately receive yellow cards in matches last year.
Police allege an organised crime figure from South America instructed Davila to organise yellow cards to occur.
They allege Davila paid two players, Clayton Lewis and Kearyn Baccus, $10,000 each for earning yellow cards.
New South Wales Police State Crime Commander Michael Fitzgerald says this could potentially destroy their careers and reputations for life.
"These players betrayed the trust of their supporters and the code they supposedly love. I want to make it clear that the organised crime squad is currently undertaking a number of investigations into corruption involving sportsbetting. These arrests should be a clear warning to young people and young sports people who are either engaging or considering becoming engaged in corruption within their sport."
The three players have been granted police bail and will appear in court in the coming weeks.
