Two men have been arrested following a robbery at the Louvre museum in Paris which saw thieves escape with priceless jewellery, including part of the French crown jewels.

Confirming arrests had been made on Saturday night, French public prosecutor Laure Beccuau appeared furious with the way the arrests were announced.

She said: “I deeply deplore the hasty disclosure of this information by informed individuals, without consideration for the investigation.

“This revelation can only harm the investigative efforts of the hundred or so investigators involved in the search for both the stolen jewellery and all the perpetrators.”

While Ms Beccuau did not confirm the number of arrests, she said one man had been arrested as he was preparing to leave the country from Charles de Gaulle Airport.

A second man was arrested on the same evening, also in the Paris region, according to French media.

Ms Beccuau did not say whether jewels had been recovered.

Both men are originally from Seine-Saint-Denis, a northern suburb of Paris, according to French daily paper Le Parisien.

The operation is understood to have been swiftly launched after investigators, who had been monitoring the two individuals for days, realised that one of them was about to flee abroad. French media reported he was set to board a flight to Algeria.

Ms Beccuau said it was too early to provide any further details, but would say more at the end of the period of police custody.

Commenting on the arrests on social media, France’s interior minister Laurent Nunez praised the investigators for “working tirelessly” and said “the investigations must continue while respecting the confidentiality of the inquiry”.

The suspects are now in pre-trial detention as part of investigations into the “organised theft” and “criminal conspiracy to commit a crime”. They can be held for up to 96 hours.

The men are suspected of being part of the group of criminals who used a cherry picker to reach a window in the Apollo Gallery of the Louvre, smashing display cases and making off with jewels worth £76m. They fled on motorbikes.

One of the world’s most famous museums, attracting up to 30,000 visitors a day, the Louvre was forced to close last Sunday morning after thieves accessed a gallery containing the French crown jewels at around 9.30am local time (8.30am UK time).

It took them less than eight minutes to steal eight “priceless” objects, including sapphire and emerald necklaces, and a diamond brooch containing 2,438 diamonds.

A ninth item – the emerald crown of Napoleon III’s wife, Empress Eugenie – was stolen but recovered, damaged at the scene.

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The Louvre reopened to visitors earlier this week.

Sky News has contacted French police for comment.

The world’s largest aircraft carrier is steaming towards the Caribbean supported by the rest of its “carrier group” to add even more muscle to the US forces already threateningly close to Venezuela.

The question is simple – is this really all about President Trump‘s war on drugs in South America?

I doubt it. A sledgehammer to crack a nut isn’t even in it.

There are a few reasons to doubt the American government’s stated aim of wiping out these so-called “narco terrorist” gangs threatening the US from Venezuela, even after one takes out of the equation the sort of equipment the military is deploying – which isn’t what they would need for effective drug smuggling interdiction.

While the president acknowledges that the synthetic opioid fentanyl is a huge killer in the US (which it is) and is supplied by drug gangs (which it is), to blame Venezuela for fentanyl production is simply incorrect.

Mexican cartels produce fentanyl with precursors largely supplied from China, and it is from Mexico – America’s neighbour – that the fentanyl is smuggled directly into the United States across its southern border.

Venezuela isn’t involved in this fentanyl business in any meaningful way, and I know this because I have reported from the Sinaloa cartel’s fentanyl production labs in Mexico.

The Mexican cartels are very proud of their business, and from my experience covering this story over the years, when the drugs cartels are proud of something, and it makes them a lot of money – which fentanyl does – they don’t share the market with anyone, and certainly not with Venezuela.

President Trump is right that Venezuela is now a large supplier of other illegal drugs, especially cocaine, but they come from countries like Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia, which are the largest producers of the coca leaf in the world (the coca leaf is what cocaine is made from).

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Venezuela, which borders Colombia, is largely a transit country to the Caribbean in the same way that Ecuador, which also borders Colombia, is a transit country to the Pacific.

Neither Venezuela nor Ecuador are significant drug producers.

The drugs enter Venezuela overland, primarily from Colombia, and then mainly leave the country from ports on the northern coast of the country – and these are the departure points of the boats the US government has recently targeted and destroyed, along with the crews on board.

President Trump claims these boats from Venezuela are heading to the United States, but in reality they are mainly heading to the nearby islands of Trinidad and Tobago, and from there they largely go to West Africa and Europe – mostly Spain and Portugal.

Drugs heading to America either pass through Mexico over the border into the US or are transported via the Pacific Ocean route through countries like Ecuador. In this instance, Venezuela isn’t involved.

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It’s widely accepted the two most exported drugs from South America are cocaine and marijuana – and the volume of production is staggering.

But the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the US says that synthetic opioids like fentanyl are responsible for most overdose deaths there – and fentanyl is not produced in South America, whatever the president says.

So one can only conclude he is either mistaken and misinformed, or he has another motive. I suspect it is the latter, and that regime change in Venezuela is top of the list.

Israel may have agreed to stop fighting in Gaza, but it is backing armed groups that plan to fight Hamas to the bitter end.

Sky News has confirmed for the first time that four anti-Hamas militias are all backed by Israel, and consider themselves part of a joint project to remove Hamas from power.

The groups are all operating from areas still under Israeli control, behind what’s been called the “yellow line” – the boundary for Israel Defence Forces (IDF) troop deployments established by the ceasefire agreement.

“We have an official project – me, [Yasser] Abu Shabab, [Rami] Halas, and [Ashraf] al Mansi,” says militia leader Hossam al Astal, speaking to Sky News from his base in southern Gaza.

“We are all for ‘The New Gaza’. Soon we will achieve full control of the Gaza Strip and will gather under one umbrella.”

The footage below, shared with Sky News, shows troops from Hossam al Astal’s militia parading near its base.

We used the video to identify the location of the militia’s headquarters for the first time.

It is situated on a military road that runs along the yellow line, less than 700 metres from the nearest IDF outpost.

“I’m hearing the sound of tanks now while I’m speaking, perhaps they’re out on patrol or something, but I’m not worried,” says al Astal.

“They don’t engage us, and we don’t engage them […] We’ve agreed, through the coordinator, that this is a green zone, not to be targeted by shelling or gunfire.”

The New Gaza

This area, now a patchwork of rubble and military berms, was once a leafy suburb of Gaza’s second city, Khan Younis.

Al Astal says he grew up here, but was forced to flee in 2010 after being pursued by Hamas over his involvement in militant groups aligned with their rival, the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority (PA).

He spent the next 11 years abroad, working for the PA’s security services in Egypt and Malaysia.

Two months after he returned to Gaza, he was accused of involvement in the 2018 assassination of a Hamas member in Malaysia and sentenced to death.

“When the war started, they left us locked up, hoping the Israelis would bomb the prison and rid them of us,” he says. “Two months later, we broke down the doors and escaped.”

He says that his weapons, mainly Kalashnikov rifles, are purchased from former Hamas fighters on the black market.

Ammunition and vehicles, on the other hand, are delivered through the Kerem Shalom border crossing after coordination with the Israeli military.

This is the same border crossing used by another militia leader, Yasser Abu Shabab.

Sky News previously revealed that Abu Shabab’s militia was smuggling vehicles into Gaza with the help of the Israeli military and an Arab-Israeli car dealer.

Al Astal says he uses the same car dealer. One of his vehicles appears to have Hebrew writing on the side, which has been partially scratched out.

He says his militia also receives weekly deliveries of everyday items needed to support the civilians living at the camp.

“We currently provide basic medical and education support to roughly 30 families,” he says.

“Children can get apples and bananas, food and drink, chips and so on. By contrast, in the other area, in the tents, you find five-, 10- or even 15-year-olds surviving on little more than lentils and pasta.”

He says these supplies come in via weekly deliveries. In the video below, a cargo truck can be seen at the militia’s base.

A similar cargo truck can be seen in satellite imagery of the camp, taken on 14 October.

Sky News has also confirmed that the other two militias, which are operating in the north of Gaza, are receiving supplies from Israel.

The video below, filmed by a member of Ashraf al Mansi’s militia, shows a car loaded with supplies driving towards their base.

Sky News previously confirmed that this road leads either from an IDF outpost or from the Erez border crossing with Israel.

A member of the other militia operating in northern Gaza, which is led by Rami Halas, told Sky News that coordination with the IDF is done indirectly through the District Coordination Office.

It’s part of the Israeli defence ministry, but also includes officials from the PA – Palestine’s internationally recognised government, based in the West Bank.

This fits with what we were told by al Astal, by an Israeli soldier stationed at Kerem Shalom, and by a senior commander in Abu Shabab’s militia – that coordination with the military is managed indirectly, and that the PA plays a key role.

“I have people within my group who are still, to this day, employees of the Palestinian Authority,” says al Astal.

The PA did not respond to Sky’s questions, but has previously denied having any relationship to these militias.

“The Palestinian Authority can’t admit to having a direct relationship with us,” the militia leader says.

“It already has enough issues and doesn’t want to add to that burden. You know, if word got out that they had ties with militias or with the occupation forces, you can imagine how that would look.”

Military coordination

Although he acknowledges working with Israel to secure supplies, al Astal denies he has ever coordinated military operations with the IDF.

Sky News previously reported that Israeli aircraft had intervened in two battles fought by Abu Shabab’s militia.

We asked Abu Shabab whether these were due to coordination, but did not receive a response.

Hamas accused al Astal’s militia group of direct military coordination after several of its fighters were killed when Israel intervened during a battle between the two groups on 3 October.

The footage below, published by the IDF, shows the strikes that day.

“I don’t control Israeli airstrikes,” al Astal says. “The Israelis simply saw armed Hamas military groups and struck them.”

In April, two months before he founded the militia, al Astal’s own tent was hit by an Israeli bomb. The strike killed his 22-year-old daughter, Nihad, who was seven months pregnant.

“People accuse me of collaboration,” he says. “How can anyone speak about me like that? Were the Israelis ‘joking around’ with me with a missile?”

He believes the strike was intended for a Hamas member living nearby.

“If I listed every crime against children and women, the blame wouldn’t rest on Israel but on Hamas, which hid among the people.”

Support from outside powers

Multiple sources also told Sky News that the militias are also receiving support from outside powers.

The deputy leader of Abu Shabab’s militia, Ghassan al Duhine, has twice been photographed next to a vehicle with a UAE-registered licence plate.

Sky News also found that the logo of the group’s armed wing, the Counter Terrorism Service, is almost identical to that used by a UAE-backed militia of the same name operating in Yemen.

The logo used by al Astal’s militia, the Counter Terrorism Strike Force, similarly uses the same illustration as that used by a different UAE-backed militia, also based in Yemen.

The UAE did not respond to Sky’s request for comment.

When we asked al Astal whether he enjoyed the backing of the UAE, he smiled.

“God willing, in time everything will become clear,” he said. “But yes, there are Arab countries that support our project.”

That project, al Astal says, has a name: The New Gaza.

‘No war… no Hamas, no terrorism’

“Very soon, God willing, you will see this for yourselves; we will become the new administration of Gaza. Our project is ‘The New Gaza’. No war, at peace with everyone – no Hamas, no terrorism.”

Two days after Sky News spoke to al Astal, Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior advisor, Jared Kushner, used the phrase himself while suggesting that Gaza could be split indefinitely along the yellow line.

“No reconstruction funds will be going into areas that Hamas still controls,” Kushner told reporters on Wednesday.

“There are considerations happening now in the area that the IDF controls, as long as that can be secured, to start the construction as a ‘New Gaza’ in order to give Palestinians living in Gaza a place to go, a place to get jobs.”

The IDF declined to comment on these findings. Hamas, the PA and the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, the Israeli agency which manages the Israel-Gaza border, did not respond to our requests for comment.

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.