In theory and according to international law, Hungary should arrest Vladimir Putin the moment he steps foot in Budapest for his meeting with Donald Trump.

That won’t happen though.

Putin is wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges issued in 2023 for the abduction of children in Ukraine during Russia’s invasion.

Although Hungary is a member of the ICC – a founding member no less – it is in the process of withdrawing from the global body, having accused it of being a “political court”.

Ukraine war latest – Trump to host Zelenskyy at White House

The ICC has no enforcement mechanism and relies on member states to take action so Hungary, which could and probably will just decide to ignore the court’s arrest warrant, has no doubt given the Russian president assurances he will be safe in Budapest just as they did when another leader wanted for war crimes, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, visited the country last April.

Neither Russia nor the United States are signatories to the court either, so it is a convenient location for the Trump-Putin meeting to discuss the situation in Ukraine that was announced on Thursday night.

It would be the first known trip to an EU country by Putin since the war began in February 2022.

However, actually getting to Budapest might not be so straightforward for Putin.

Unless he flies a circuitous route over Turkey and through the Balkans, Putin will need to pass through the airspace of European countries who might consider forcing his plane down – Poland, Romania or the Baltic states for example.

It’s that kind of risk, however unlikely, that led Mr Netanyahu to fly around Spain and France on a recent trip to the UN General Assembly in New York.

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Putin did travel to an ICC member, Mongolia, last year and he has been to North Korea and China, neither of whom are part of the global court – otherwise, he has largely remained inside Russia, paranoid, surrounded by an ever-decreasing circle of advisers.

You can hide from an arrest warrant at home, but step outside and the world suddenly becomes a hostile place.

One week into the ceasefire, a new kind of violence is plaguing the Gaza Strip.

Public executions, arson attacks and gun battles have raised the spectre of a slide into civil chaos as Hamas battles armed groups it accuses of collaborating with Israel.

Experts say Hamas is attempting to reassert its authority following Israel’s withdrawal from parts of the Gaza Strip.

But members of three anti-Hamas militias, operating from areas still controlled by Israel, have told Sky News they have no intention of laying down their arms and plan to fight Hamas to the end.

The fighting has drawn the ire of US President Donald Trump, who posted on his Truth Social platform on Thursday: “If Hamas continues to kill people in Gaza, which was not the deal, we will have no choice but to go in and kill them.”

Who are the Doghmosh clan?

On the night the ceasefire was agreed, Majed Doghmosh – not his real name – was sheltering in Gaza City’s abandoned Jordanian Hospital alongside his parents and six-year-old sister.

Like many residents of the surrounding Al Sabra neighbourhood, Majed belongs to the Doghmosh clan – an influential extended family which has long had a tense relationship with Hamas.

Many members of the clan had fled to the hospital two weeks earlier, after the Israeli forces entered Al Sabra.

When the ceasefire was announced, Majed says, “people began to rejoice that the war was over and life would return to normal.”

But as people were returning to their homes, a contingent from Gaza’s Hamas-led security forces arrived at the hospital. They said they were searching for collaborators.

‘They came with hundreds of people’

“We, as a family in general, have completely refused any cooperation with the occupation,” says Nizar Doghmosh, the family’s leader in Gaza.

“But the occupation managed to infiltrate one… weak, shallow-minded, foolish person.”

While in the Jordanian Hospital, Nizar says, this person recruited seven or eight others into an anti-Hamas militia.

Instead of handing themselves in, these men opened fire on the security forces, killing Mohammed Aqel – the son of senior Hamas commander Imad Aqel.

“Suddenly, we started hearing that Hamas wants to kill everyone who calls himself a Doghmosh,” Majed says.

“They came with hundreds of people, killing women, children and young people and burning down our homes.”

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Majed fled, but left behind his parents and sister – who he says are still trapped and hiding in Al Sabra neighbourhood.

Palestinian journalist and social media influencer Saleh Al Ja’afari was killed on Sunday while reportedly covering the fighting in Al Sabra. It remains unclear who shot him.

Footage posted on Sunday shows a gun battle at a junction near the neighbourhood.

On Monday evening, footage emerged of a mass public execution at the same intersection.

“All they wanted were 6 or 7 people, and these people were killed,” says Basel Doghmosh – not his real name – who also managed to escape the fighting. “Now they are killing everyone.”

Speaking to Sky News in Gaza, Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem described these incidents as “efforts to maintain order in Gaza, not acts of revenge”.

“Hamas has not targeted any family,” he said.

“The occupation has formed armed militias loyal to it, and these militias are accused of high treason – the most severe charge in Palestinian revolutionary law.

“All clans, social and family bodies have expressed support for this effort by the security forces of the government in Gaza.

“These chaotic incidents must be decisively contained. This is a national position.”

At least four anti-Hamas militias

Hamas has made a show of force in recent days, with its fighters appearing on street patrols and at hostage handover ceremonies across the Gaza Strip.

Amjad Iraqi, a senior analyst at the International Crisis Group, says that Hamas’s “vicious” response to the Doghmosh clan is partly intended to deter other armed groups from challenging its authority.

Sky News has confirmed that at least four anti-Hamas militias are currently active within the Gaza Strip, all of them based in areas still under Israeli control – where Hamas is unable to operate freely.

Who is Yasser Abu Shabab?

The most influential is a former looting gang led by Yasser Abu Shabab, which controls territory along Gaza’s main route for transporting aid. The group claims that 1,500 people are living in their territory, including 500-700 fighters.

Abu Shabab’s militia maintains loose ties to the other groups, whose control of territory is much less clear.

Fighting shows need for multinational security force

Dominic Waghorn

International affairs editor

@DominicWaghorn

It is quite clear from the evidence Sky has gathered that Israel has pursued a policy of divide and rule in Gaza and is continuing to do so. It has armed and financed militia who are rivals to Hamas and is now allowing them to operate in areas under its control.

The security situation in Gaza would be bad enough without that kind of meddling. From the start of the ceasefire Hamas has clearly set out to reassert control as would be expected.

Its spokesman has told Sky News it is only reestablishing law and order and averting chaos. But it has never tolerated any groups threatening its grip on power in Gaza and is unlikely to start doing so now. From the video footage emerging from Gaza and eyewitnesses we have spoken to it is working hard on dominating the strip as it did before.

As the UN agency UNRWA told Sky, the last thing Gazans need right now is fighting between Palestinians. It threatens their lives and hampers the vital effort to get aid into Gaza.

Hamas is likely to prevail in a struggle with smaller more disparate groups. That will then raise questions for both Israel and the Trump peace plan.

The Netanyahu government promised Israelis total victory over Hamas. Hamas is far from dismantled even if it is unlikely to renew hostilities anytime soon.

Donald Trump has repeated his demand Hamas disarm. That will not happen, not least because it would leave them at the mercy of their enemies.

The best hope for the peace plan and for Gaza is the insertion of the multinational security force envisaged in the Trump plan. But that would appear to be months away and by then Hamas may be confident enough not to cooperate.

Members from three of the militias told Sky News they have no intention of laying down their arms, and intend to fight Hamas to the end.

Ashraf Al Mansi’s militia

The leader of the fourth group, Ashraf Al Mansi, posted a statement to social media on Tuesday warning Hamas against approaching areas under their control.

Al Mansi’s militia has established itself north of Gaza City.

Its headquarters are at an abandoned school more than 500 metres inside the Israeli zone of control.

Although the militia claims to control significant territory in northern Gaza, Sky News has not seen any evidence of their presence more than 200 metres from the school.

Where do the Halas militia operate?

Further south, to the east of Gaza City, gunfire could be heard on Tuesday as Hamas battled another militia, led by Rami Halas.

On Sunday, 12 October, Gaza’s Hamas-run interior ministry offered amnesty to any militia members not involved in killings, so long as they turned themselves in by 19 October. “Consider this a final warning,” the statement said.

Speaking to Sky News from his base in the Israeli-controlled zone, a member of the Halas militia says that his group has no plans to surrender.

“Hamas destroyed the Gaza Strip – it has become nothing but a pile of ashes and stones,” says Basel.

“We are not afraid of death as long as it is for the sake of liberating the Gaza Strip from their ignorance, backwardness, and destruction.”

Fighting could imperil planned aid surge

The growing violence comes as Palestinians continue to wait for a surge in aid promised under the ceasefire agreement.

Gaza City is currently experiencing famine, with the rest of the territory suffering from severe food shortages after months of Israeli restrictions on aid deliveries.

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Sam Rose, Gaza director of the UN refugee agency UNRWA, says that mounting an effective aid operation will require Israel to allow aid in at scale and to give aid groups the freedom to move across the Gaza Strip.

“But we also need to know that our trucks and staff are not at risk from fighting or looting by armed elements,” he adds.

Among those leading the looting of aid trucks in the past was Yasser Abu Shabab, whose group has transformed itself into the most influential of the four anti-Hamas militias identified by Sky News.

Last week, Sky News revealed that Israel is providing extensive support to the group, allowing them to smuggle cash, guns and cars into Gaza.

We also found that Abu Shabab’s militia has been receiving food aid from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a US- and Israeli-backed aid group.

Footage from the camp, verified by Sky News, shows large stocks of fresh produce.

In other videos, militia members can be seen showing off stacks of cash and smuggled valuables.

Israel accused of ‘divide and conquer’ strategy

The GHF told Sky News that “every Gazan deserves to be fed with dignity – including those in areas controlled by [Abu Shabab]”. The IDF declined to comment on Sky’s findings.

Crisis Group’s Amjad Iraqi says that, by supporting groups such as Abu Shabab’s, Israel has been engaging in a strategy of “divide and conquer”.

“What’s happening right now is really a direct consequence of an Israeli policy throughout much of the war, but especially since it broke the ceasefire in March, to essentially render Gaza ungovernable.”

“A power vacuum… is to Israel’s advantage because it weakens Hamas and it weakens Gazan society writ large,” he says.

Additional reporting by Celine Alkhaldi, Sophia Massam and Freya Gibson.

The Data and Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open source information. Through multimedia storytelling we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.

American forces have struck a vessel in the Caribbean suspected of carrying drugs, leaving some survivors, according to reports.

The case, disclosed by a US official to the Reuters news agency, is believed to be the first such attack resulting in survivors since the operation began in September.

At least 27 people have been killed by American forces across several strikes off Venezuela in recent weeks.

They have been criticised, with some questioning whether they are a breach of international law. The country’s president, Nicolas Maduro, has accused the US of trying to oust him.

It’s not known whether forces helped the survivors in Thursday’s reported strike and if they are in custody.

The Pentagon, which has labelled those it targeted in the strikes as narcoterrorists, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Why is the US attacking boats?

Donald Trump’s administration has said it considers alleged drug traffickers as unlawful combatants who must be met with military force.

US officials argue lethal strikes are necessary because traditional efforts to detain crew members and seize cargoes have historically failed to stem the flow of narcotics into America.

Videos of previous US attacks showed vessels being completely destroyed, and there have been no prior accounts of survivors afterwards.

The strikes come against the backdrop of a US military buildup in the Caribbean which includes guided missile destroyers, F-35 fighter jets, a nuclear submarine and around 6,500 troops as Mr Trump escalates a stand-off with the Venezuelan government.

On Wednesday, he confirmed he had authorised the CIA to conduct covert operations inside Venezuela, adding to speculation in Caracas that the US is attempting to topple Mr Maduro.

Mr Maduro has been accused by the US of having links to drug trafficking and criminal groups, something he strongly denies.

On Thursday, Venezuela’s ambassador to the UN, Samuel Moncada, condemned a recent US strike on a small boat in Caribbean waters that killed six people, calling it “a new set of extrajudicial executions”.

He called on the UN Security Council to investigate the five lethal attacks and 27 reported deaths since September.

Mr Moncada also referenced two fishermen from Trinidad and Tobago, believed to have been killed in a strike on Tuesday.

Speaking at the UN, he held up a copy of The Trinidad and Tobago Guardian, which reported on the story.

Only a couple of miles separate Venezuela and neighbouring Trinidad and Tobago at their closest point.

Meanwhile, Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has praised the first strike on a boat suspected of carrying drugs in the southern Caribbean and said all traffickers should be killed “violently”.

Read more from Sky News:
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The Trump administration has provided little information about the strikes, the identities of those killed, or details about the cargoes.

Some former military lawyers say the legal explanations for killing suspected drug traffickers at sea, instead of apprehending them, fail to satisfy requirements under the law of war.

The Pentagon has framed the strikes as “a non-international armed conflict” with drug cartels and insists they are legitimate.