An Israeli investigation into the killings of 15 Palestinian medics last month in Gaza by Israeli forces says it has found a chain of "professional failures" and a deputy commander will be fired — one of the most severe punishments of the 18-month war.

Israel at first claimed that the medics' vehicles did not have emergency signals on when troops opened fire but later backtracked. Cellphone video recovered from one medic contradicted Israel's initial account.

The military investigation publicised yesterday found that the deputy battalion commander, "due to poor night visibility", assessed that the ambulances belonged to Hamas militants.

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Video footage obtained shows the ambulances had lights flashing and logos visible as they pulled up to help another ambulance that came under fire earlier.

The teams do not appear to be acting unusually or in a threatening manner as three medics emerge and head toward it.

Their vehicles immediately come under a barrage of gunfire that goes on for more than five minutes with brief pauses.

Bodies were buried in a mass grave

Eight Red Crescent personnel, six Civil Defense workers and a UN staffer were killed in the shooting before dawn on March 23 by troops conducting operations in Tel al-Sultan, a district of the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

Troops bulldozed over the bodies along with their mangled vehicles, burying them in a mass grave. UN and rescue workers were only able to reach the site a week later.

The head of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society has said the men were "targeted at close range". The Israeli military investigation said the examination found "no evidence to support claims of execution or that any of the deceased were bound before or after the shooting".

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It said the Palestinians were killed due to an "operational misunderstanding" by Israeli forces, and that a separate incident 15 minutes later, when Israeli soldiers shot at a Palestinian UN vehicle, was a breach of orders.

The deputy commander who will be dismissed was the first to open fire and the rest of the soldiers also started shooting, the investigation said. It said the soldiers were 20 to 30 meters (65-100 feet) from the road when the ambulances pulled up.

The findings asserted that six of those killed were Hamas militants — it did not give their names — and said some of the others were originally misidentified as Hamas. Israel's military initially said nine were militants. The Civil Defense is part of the Hamas-run government.

No paramedic was armed and no weapons were found in any vehicle, Maj. Gen Yoav Har-Even, in charge of the military's investigative branch, told journalists.

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Israel accuses Hamas of hiding fighters in ambulances

The investigation found that the decision to crush the ambulances was wrong but said there was no attempt to conceal the event. Har-Even said the bodies and vehicles were removed from the road because the military wanted to use it for an evacuation route later that day.

He said the military notified international organisations about the shooting that day and helped them locate the bodies.

Har-Even said the deputy commander was fired for giving a not "completely accurate" report to investigators about the later incident in which troops fired on a UN vehicle. One person was killed.

The statement on the findings concluded by saying that Israel's military "regrets the harm caused to uninvolved civilians". The sole survivor was detained for investigation and remains in custody for further questioning.

There was no immediate public reaction to the findings from the Red Crescent, Civil Defence or UN.

The findings have been turned over the Military Advocate General, which can decide whether to file charges. It is meant to be an independent body, with oversight by Israel's attorney general and Supreme Court.

There are no outside investigations of the killings under way.

Israeli strikes have killed more than 150 emergency responders from the Red Crescent and Civil Defence, most of them while on duty, as well as more than 1000 health workers during the war, according to the UN. The Israeli military rarely investigates such incidents.

Israel has accused Hamas of moving and hiding its fighters inside ambulances and emergency vehicles, as well as in hospitals and other civilian infrastructure, arguing that justifies strikes on them. Medical personnel largely deny the accusations.

Israel disputes ICC accusations of war crimes

Palestinians and international human rights groups have repeatedly accused Israel's military of failing to properly investigate or whitewashing misconduct by its troops.

Har-Even said the Israeli military is currently investigating 421 incidents in Gaza during the war, with 51 concluded and sent to the Military Advocate General. There was no immediate information on the number of investigations involving potential wrongful deaths or how many times the MAG has pursued criminal charges.

The International Criminal Court, established by the international community as a court of last resort, has accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant of war crimes. Israel, which is not a member of the court, has long asserted that its legal system is capable of investigating the army, and Netanyahu has accused the ICC of antisemitism.

The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing about 1200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251. Most of the hostages have been released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Hamas currently holds 59 hostages, 24 of them believed to be alive.

Israel's offensive has since killed over 51,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

The war has destroyed vast parts of Gaza and most of its food production capabilities. About 90 per cent of the population is displaced, with hundreds of thousands of people living in tent camps and bombed-out buildings.

Frustration has been growing on both sides, with rare public protests against Hamas in Gaza and continued weekly rallies in Israel pressing the government to reach a deal to bring all hostages home.

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Pope Francis has emerged from his convalescence on to bless the thousands of people in St Peter's Square, treating them to a surprise popemobile romp through the piazza, drawing wild cheers and applause as he continues his recovery from a near-fatal bout of double pneumonia.

"Viva il Papa!" (Long live the pope), "Bravo!" the Easter Sunday crowd shouted as Francis looped through the square in his open-topped popemobile and then up and down the main avenue leading to it.

He stopped occasionally to bless babies brought up to him, a scene that was common in the past but unthinkable just a few weeks ago as the 88-year-old Francis fought for his life.

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"Brothers and sisters, Happy Easter!" Francis said, his voice sounding stronger than it has since his hospitalisation.

Francis didn't celebrate the Easter Mass in the piazza, delegating it to Cardinal Angelo Comastri, the retired archpriest of St Peter's Basilica.

But after the Mass ended, Francis appeared on the loggia balcony over the basilica entrance for more than 20 minutes and imparted the apostolic blessing in Latin. The thousands of people below erupted in cheers as a military band kicked off rounds of the Holy See and Italian anthems.

Francis waved from the balcony as a Vatican archbishop read aloud his speech, a global appeal for peace in the world's hotspots that is the hallmark of the Vatican's Easter celebrations.

In all, he was outside on a sunny spring day for about 50 minutes, with temperatures at 21 degrees in a piazza awash in daffodils, tulips and other flowers donated by the Netherlands for Easter.

On his way to the basilica, Francis met briefly in his hotel with US Vice President JD Vance, who was spending Easter in Rome with his family. The Vatican said the encounter lasted just a few minutes and was designed to allow for an exchange of Easter greetings.

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Francis has only appeared in public a handful of times since returning to the Vatican on March 23 after a 38-day hospital stay. He skipped the solemn services of Good Friday and Holy Saturday leading up to Easter, but he had been expected to make an appearance on Sunday.

Easter is the most joyful moment on the Christian liturgical calendar, when the faithful celebrate the resurrection of Christ after his crucifixion. This year, Easter is being celebrated on the same day by Catholics and Orthodox Christians, and has been marked by Russia's announced temporary Easter truce in its war in Ukraine.

Easter at the Vatican traditionally involves a Mass and the pope's Urbi et Orbi blessing (Latin for "to the city and the world"), a papal speech delivered from the loggia which is usually a roundup of global hotspots and human suffering.

In the speech, read by Archbishop Diego Ravelli, master of liturgical ceremonies, Francis appealed for peace in Gaza and Ukraine, as well as Congo and Myanmar and in other hotspots.

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"May the risen Christ grant Ukraine, devastated by war, his Easter gift of peace, and encourage all parties involved to pursue efforts aimed at achieving a just and lasting peace," the message said.

"In this Jubilee year, may Easter also be a fitting occasion for the liberation of prisoners of war and political prisoners!"

Francis has sharply cut back his workload as he follows doctors' orders of two months of convalescence and respiratory therapy to improve his lung function.

He still seems to require great effort to project his voice, and his breathing remains laboured. But it sounded stronger than it has to date in the few words he uttered from the loggia.

Before Sunday, his biggest outing had been a visit to Rome's downtown prison to spend Holy Thursday with inmates.

The visit made clear his priorities as he slowly recovers: to spend time with the people most on the margins.

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A father-of-six with suspected bikie links has died in hospital after being on Melbourne's popular Chapel Street.

His attackers remain on the run as police investigate what sparked the deadly confrontation.

Melbourne man Ruka Carlson, 30, was chased several blocks before being cornered outside Electric Bar in Prahran, where he was knifed and kicked multiple times about 1.30am today

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Revellers rushed to help and the young father was taken to hospital but died.

The Homicide Squad now on the hunt for up to six offenders..

Detectives seized a Mercedes and were seen looking through bins for evidence.

It's understood the heavily tattooed man is known to police and has links to outlaw motorcycle gangs.

He leaves behind six children.

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9News understands police are investigating whether the victim pulled out a gun on his attackers at the Love Machine nightclub before he was chased and stabbed.

Police have that gun and are testing to see if it's real or fake.

"I don't think it's a random attack … but we're still trying to work out what the circumstances were leading up to it," Detective acting Inspector Chris Ellway said.

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Hundreds of workers on Queensland's biggest underground road tunnel projects are expected to contract potentially deadly silicosis in their lifetime, a study has found.

The findings from the University of Sydney predict between 200 to 300 workers will develop silicosis in the coming years.

About 20 to 30 of them would also likely contract lung cancer, directly as a result of their work.

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That's out of the more than 2000 workers on the Clem7, Airport Link and Legacy Way tunnels in Brisbane.

Researchers came to the conclusion by looking at archived data about personal protective equipment and ventilation between 2007 and 2013.

They used the data to calculate the health impacts on the workers into the future.

They found issues around the improper fittings of masks or times where no masks would be used by a variety of workers and a lack of ventilation.

Silicosis is an incurable disease caused by inhaling small particles of silica dust and is typically associated with the synthetic stone benchtop industry.

It's hoped this study will encourage an overhaul of safety regulations in current and future projects here and across the country.

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The Australian Workers' Union has suggested new standards around ventilation systems to prevent workers being exposed in the first place.

Australia moved to ban engineered stone last year.

New cases of silicosis continue to emerge from other high-risk industries.

Bodysurfer Rick Shearman's smartwatch is the reason he's still alive.

The 49-year-old turned to his device when he found himself lost at sea off the coast of NSW

Things took a turn for the worse after Shearman went in for a bodysurf in Byron Bay in July last year.

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He was unexpectedly sucked out to sea and left stranded more than one kilometre from the shore.

Shearman used his smart watch as a last hail Mary to send out an SOS alert and treaded water until he was found.

"I tried that emergency feature out of desperation and I was pretty astounded when I actually made the call through to triple zero," Shearman told 9News.

Shearman treaded water for 20 minutes before his rescue.

"I stayed on the line until the chopper came over the horizon and scooped me up," he said.

He reunited with the rescue team to film a safety campaign for Apple.

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Westpac Rescue crew officer Alex Carroll recalled saving Shearman from the sea.

"He was obviously tired and exhausted and [we] just gave him a helping hand to the beach," Caroll said.

Shearman's story of survival is featured in Apple's new campaign launched last week.

"[It] absolutely did save my life, invaluable," said Shearman.

"I wouldn't be here today without it."

Several other smart watches on the market have other potentially life-saving features, including an ECG monitor on a Garmin device and stress-level monitoring on a Samsung Galaxy Watch.

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Former political staffer Brittany Higgins and her husband, David Sharaz, have revealed the name of their baby.

Sharaz revealed the name the new parents had chosen on Instagram, and shared photos of their baby for Easter.

"The best kind of Easter egg we've ever received," David Sharaz wrote.

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"Baby Frederick Leon Sharaz's first Easter."

Higgins replied, "Little sweet dumpling".

The photos include Higgins feeding the baby in Noosa, and the couple posing together with him.

The baby was born last month.

Sharaz and Higgins married on the Gold Coast in June last year.

They returned to live in Queensland from the South of France.

They now live the Noosa suburb of Sunshine Beach.

Last year, a Federal Court judge found, on the burden of proof required in a civil trial, that Bruce Lehrmann sexually assaulted Higgins in the Parliament House office of then-Senator Linda Reynolds, their boss at the time, in March 2019.

Lehrmann has denied that any sexual activity occurred between himself and Higgins, and has appealed the judge's findings against him.

Higgins, who has fought to change how women in politics are treated in the wake of her experience.

As Ilana Badiner took shelter in the student union during the Florida State University shooting on Thursday, she remembers thinking "I kind of knew the drill already."

Seven years ago, Badiner was an eighth grader at the middle school adjacent to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School during the shooting that killed 17 people in Parkland, Florida.

"I've been through this before. It was a similar situation," Badiner, 21, told CNN.

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Now a senior at FSU, Badiner was attending a bowling class on the ground floor of the student union on Thursday when a shooter opened fire near the building, killing two people and injuring six others before he was shot and taken into custody by police.

It marked the sixth mass shooting in Florida and the 81st mass shooting in the United States in 2025, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

The bowling area has big glass doors and windows that face an open area where students can grab food or study.

Through the windows, Badiner started to see students sprinting to the bathrooms and hallways and leaving behind their belongings.

Though Badiner couldn't hear any gunshots over the loud music playing in the bowling alley, she instantly thought students were running from someone with a gun.

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"I didn't know why everyone else would be running and they were leaving all their belongings behind and definitely knew there was an emergency," she said.

She and a friend immediately let her bowling instructor know something was wrong. The instructor was Stephanie Horowitz, according to Badiner, who also happened to be a Parkland shooting survivor.

Horowitz was a freshman at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School during the 2018 mass shooting on Valentine's Day.

"I had a feeling it was an active shooter situation before I even heard," Horowitz, a graduate student at FSU, said in an interview with CBS.

"We were lucky that some of my students looked out of the glass doors and saw everybody running."

Fred Guttenberg, the father of 14-year-old Jaime Guttenberg who was killed in the Parkland shooting, posted on X: "America is broken. My daughter Jaime was murdered in the Parkland school shooting. Many of her friends who were lucky enough to survive that shooting went on to attend FSU. Incredibly, some of them were just a part of their 2nd school shooting and some were in the student union today."

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Sophomore Brianna Jade Freedland, who was also in eighth grade at the middle school adjacent to Marjory Stoneman Douglas during the shooting, took shelter at FSU's gym on Thursday with her roommate.

They were working out on the second floor when they heard students screaming "active shooter" and quickly shuffled into the women's locker room with about 125 others, she told CNN.

While hiding, Freedland saw those around her crying, shaking and texting their parents goodbye messages.

She said all the anxiety and fear of Parkland suddenly came rushing back.

She was in a portable classroom attached to the Westglades middle school during the 2018 shooting, where there were big windows without many places to hide.

She and her classmates huddled under her civic teacher's desk for at least three hours.

"I just remember like literally being scared for my life," Freedland said. "I just remembered literally thinking, like, this is it."

She wouldn't be able to set foot in the portable classroom for at least a month and her family adopted a service dog after the tragedy to help Freedland cope.

She also raised $US10,000 for Marjory Stoneman Douglas for her mitzvah fundraising project.

While hiding in FSU's locker room on Thursday, her experience at Parkland helped her know what to expect and to reassure her roommate help was on the way, Freedland said.

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After about two hours, police safely escorted them out of the gym while they all held their hands raised in the air.

"No one should ever have to experience this kind of fear once, let alone twice," she said.

Josh Gallagher, who said he also survived the 2018 shooting, was in the FSU Law Library during Thursday's shooting.

"After living through the MSD shooting in 2018, I never thought it would hit close to home again," he posted on social media.

Memories of Parkland shooting

Horowitz led Badiner and about 30 to 40 others to hide in the back office of the bowling alley, according to Badiner.

Some students also took shelter in a backroom where people play billiards.

It was at that moment that Badiner started receiving texts from the FSU emergency line while an overhead alarm sounded. Her suspicions of a shooting were right.

She started texting her dad every few minutes. She remembers thinking: was the shooter in the building? Was he outside? What floor was he on?

She also thought of her time as an eighth grader in Parkland – when her class turned off the lights, locked the door, covered the windows and huddled against a classroom wall for about three hours waiting for answers as they could hear nearby police sirens.

"Eventually, they came on the loudspeaker, and we found out that it was at Stoneman Douglas," she said. "We're very close to that school. So we don't know who the shooter was or what his motive was, so we didn't know if he would come into our building next."

For a while after the deadly shooting, she would have to keep the lights on to fall asleep at night.

"I just felt nervous being in the dark," she said.

She remembered being escorted out of her eighth-grade classroom by a SWAT team while her peers tried to get in touch with their parents. She reunited with her dad and brother at a Publix down the street.

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Though the Parkland shooter targeted the high school – not the middle school where Badiner was – she had a moment on Thursday where she realized even though she survived the shooting seven years ago, she might not be able to survive this one too.

As they hid in the bowling alley office, she started to hear rumours about the shooting and victims.

She had met some friends on the first day of the bowling class who chatted with throughout the semester. Now, they sat huddled in the corner of the small office together scared for their lives.

There was one desk in the room with a computer, where she could see a warning message informing people to shelter in place.

It felt like a long time of hiding and refreshing social media before police arrived. After checking her texts with her dad, she realized it was actually only 15 minutes.

As police escorted her out of the student union, she saw an injured person on the ground surrounded by police and medics.

"I remember just walking out the doors and I immediately saw her and my heart started beating a little faster. I was like, wow, people are actually injured severely."

As other students flowed out of the student union and nearby buildings, Badiner began to panic because she didn't know if the shooter had been caught yet.

Eventually, Badiner was able to safely make it home to her off-campus house.

She hasn't cried yet and thinks it might be because she's still in shock. She thinks the tears will come when she learns more about the victims.

She attended a vigil for the victims on Friday evening, though she was a little nervous about being in an open space with so many people.

Badiner, who graduates from FSU in May, said she's frustrated she's going through some of these feelings a second time.

"I definitely think there are some things that could be changed. I'm not well-informed enough about the specific (gun) laws that are put into place, but I have a feeling that someone can be doing something to keep us safer," she said.

Similar to seven years ago, Badiner decided to sleep with a candle warmer on Thursday night, almost like a night light, so she wouldn't be sleeping in complete darkness.

Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton have paused their federal election campaigns for a rare united display with their Easter addresses, a day after independent MP Bob Katter delivered a very different kind of message.

Both the prime minister and opposition leader issued Easter messages during the holiday weekend after a busy three weeks of campaigning ahead of the federal election.

"Whether you're reflecting, taking a break, spending time with family and friends or getting the kids ready for an Easter egg hunt, this is a wonderful time of the year," the PM said today.

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"So however you're spending this weekend, may it be everything you want it to be."

Albanese also thanked those working hard across the long weekend, including the country's first responders.

"If you're working, whether you're keeping us safe or playing your part in keeping our great country running, thank you for all that you do," he added.

Dutton, meanwhile, labelled Easter a time for "reflection" on the ties that "bind our nation together".

The opposition leader said he'd be joining millions of other Aussies in taking "time to rest, recharge and spend time with those we love".

Dutton's message comes after spending yesterday meeting voters at the Sydney Easter Show with his wife Kirilly, where Albanese also visited.

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"The Easter story is one of faith, renewal and enduring hope," Dutton said in his message released today.

"Whether you're attending a church service, hosting a family lunch, or enjoying a quiet moment with a hot cross bun and a cup of tea, Easter also reminds us of the values that help bind our nation together – service, kindness, compassion and grace."

The 54-year-old spoke about indulging in fun times across the holiday weekend, before thanking those who are giving up time with their own families to help others.

"There's plenty to look forward to this weekend – from chocolate eggs and the Easter Bunny, to a few games of footy and the joy of watching the kids race around the backyard," he said.

"Thank you to all those working through the weekend – especially our paramedics, nurses, police, firefighters and defence personnel – who give up time with their own families to serve others."

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The message of hope and compassion comes a day after Dutton's Arana Hills electorate office, north-west of Brisbane, was vandalised.

Queensland Police are investigating after the words "maggot" and "scum" were written in black paint across the outside the Dickson MP's office.

Pre-polling in the May 3 election begins as soon as the Easter break ends, opening on Tuesday.

Katter takes aim at supermarkets in Easter address

Independent MP Bob Katter took aim at the supermarket giants in an Easter message of his own, shared to Instagram yesterday.

Katter began his video by reminding followers of the religious aspect of the Easter holiday – but then launched straight into a tirade about Coles and Woolworths.

"It's Easter time, guess who's making all the money? Woolworths and Coles," he said.

"We had a beautiful little pop-out, a nativity scene of Jesus, Mary and Joseph in the stable, and we gave it out to all the supermarkets in Cairns, and all the independents all put it up, and Woolworths and Coles refused to put it up."

"So I'll tell you what happened to the money changers in the temple," Katter added.

"They burnt in hell, and there's a message for the likes of Woolworths and Coles."

The politician expanded on his message in the caption, claiming the supermarkets refused to display his religious paraphernalia.

"Woolworths and Coles will very happily make squillions from Easter and Christmas but do you think they'd dare acknowledge the reason for the season?" he continued.

"Sounds a lot to me like the bankers and money changers in the temple."

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Longtime NASA astronaut Don Pettit, who has ventured to space four times, is due to return to Earth soon from the International Space Station.

An Australian expat running a cafe in Canada is celebrating after being given the green light to serve Vegemite after a brief ban on the pantry staple.

Australian-Canadian cafe owner Leighton Walters was ordered to stop selling the spread due to the added vitamin B in the product, which goes against Canada's food regulations.

Now, he's speaking out after the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) yesterday ruled Walters can serve Vegemite in his Toronto cafe – and he has Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to thank for it.

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"This is a massive win for us as a small business. We are so proudly Australian and we are so grateful to every single one of you that gave us words of encouragement and support," Walters told Today this morning.

"This little thing," he added, holding a jar of Vegemite.

"Who would have thought it would be such a massive point of contention?"

The fight to keep serving Vegemite was aided by Albanese, who Walters said "opened doors" for the CFIA to backflip on its ruling.

"Of course the PM did a fantastic job kind of opening doors, getting it in the conversation and honestly, as an Aussie expat on the other side of the world, just building their dream coffee shop it's very easy to feel far from home," he added.

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"And so this whole experience has basically made me feel right at home all over again. It's given me a taste of Aussie culture that you guys actually care about us."

Walters said he has received hundreds of messages from fellow expats who also wanted a taste of home in Canada.

The most popular Vegemite-infused cafe treat are his cheesy scrolls.

"We sell thousands of them every month, and so we're glad that we're not going to go to jail for serving them," Walters laughed.

Albanese earlier described the food authority's latest decision as "a win for Australian industry".

"It's also a win for those people in Canada who get to enjoy this wonderful product that is so much a part of Australian culture and indeed, Australian pride as well," Albanese said.

"I can report after the discussions that my government has had with the Government of Canada, and I want to thank (Canadian Prime Minister) Mark Carney and his office and his team for ensuring that the Australian cafe owner Leighton Walters can once again have Vegemite back in his cafe, back on the agenda.

"Happy Easter to all those happy little Vegemites out there."

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