Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico remains in a stable but serious condition as the man accused of attempting to assassinate him appeared in court for the first time.

Health minister Zuzana Dolinkova said further two-hour surgery on Friday “contributed to a positive prognosis” for the 59-year-old, who was shot five times at point blank range while greeting supporters in the former mining town of Handlova on Wednesday.

However, although awake at the hospital in Banska Bystrica, where Mr Fico was taken by helicopter after being shot, his condition still made it impossible to transport him to the capital, Bratislava.

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Deputy prime minister Robert Kalinak has said there was no need to formally take over Mr Fico’s official duties.

The suspected gunman was tackled to the ground and arrested at the scene of the attack and the first assassination attempt of a European political leader for more than 20 years.

He has previously been named as 71-year-old Juraj Cintula, a former shopping centre security guard who also writes poetry.

The special criminal court in Pezinok, a small town outside the capital, Bratislava, was guarded by officers wearing balaclavas and carrying automatic weapons for his court appearance.

News media were not allowed in for the hearing and reporters were kept behind a gate outside.

Officers had taken the suspect, who has been charged with attempted murder, to his home in the town of Levice on Friday and seized a computer and some documents, according to local media.

The attack sent shockwaves throughout Europe and raised concerns over the already polarised and febrile political situation in Slovakia.

Mr Fico has long been a divisive figure.

His return to power last year on a pro-Russian, anti-American ticket fuelled worries among fellow EU and NATO members over the country’s direction.

Slovakia had previously been one of Ukraine’s staunchest supporters, but on taking office Mr Fico halted arms supplies to the nation battling invading Russian forces.

Thousands of demonstrators have repeatedly rallied in the capital and around the country to protest against his policies.

The bodies of three Israeli hostage taken by Hamas have been recovered in Gaza.

The remains were discovered in an overnight operation carried out by Israel’s military and intelligence agency Shin Bet, said chief military spokesman Daniel Hagari.

Itzhak Gelerenter, 56, Amit Buskila, 28, and Shani Louk, 22, were killed at the Nova music festival on 7 October, with their bodies then taken into Gaza by Hamas militants.

Ms Louk’s body was seen face-down in a pick-up truck travelling through Gaza in a video that was shared widely on social media after the hostages were taken.

Israel-Gaza war latest updates

“They were celebrating life in the Nova music festival and they were murdered by Hamas,” said Mr Hagari.

He said their families have been notified.

“Our hearts go out to them, to the families at this difficult time. We will leave no stone unturned, we will do everything in our power to find our hostages and bring them home.”

The military did not give immediate details on where their bodies were found.

Ms Louk’s father has said the return of his daughter’s body to her family has been a form of closure.

Nissim Louk told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz his daughter “radiated light, to her and those who surrounded her, and in her death she still does”.

He added: “She is a symbol of the people of Israel, between light and darkness. Her inner and outer beauty that shone for all the world to see is a special one.”

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In November, the brother of Ms Louk told Sky News of their last phone call as his sister tried to escape Hamas.

Speaking about the video that was circulated online after she was taken, Amit Louk said: “I never thought I was going to be in contact with this type of video, seeing my sister in that brutal position.

“And just in that moment, the whole family just crashed.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the deaths “heartbreaking”, saying: “We will return all of our hostages, both the living and the dead.”

Meanwhile, Professor Hagai Levine, a member of the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, has said the recovery of the bodies is a “painful reminder” of those who are still in captivity.

“We do not lose hope. We are preparing for the return of the hostages that are alive,” he added.

Israel has been operating in the Gaza Strip’s southern city of Rafah, where it says it has intelligence that hostages are being held.

Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people, mainly civilians, and abducted around 250 others in the 7 October attack.

Around half of those have since been freed, most in swaps for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel during a ceasefire in November.

Israel says around 100 hostages are still captive in Gaza, along with the bodies of around 30 more.

Israel’s campaign in Gaza since the attack has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials.

Mr Netanyahu has vowed to both eliminate Hamas and bring all the hostages back.

He faces pressure to resign, and the US has threatened to scale back its support over the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

Israelis are divided into two main camps: those who want the government to put the war on hold and free the hostages, and others who think the hostages are an unfortunate price to pay for eradicating Hamas.

Mile L’Udovit is leaning on the front door of his apartment block when we meet, just as he has done so often since moving in four decades ago.

He was one of the original tenants of the tatty building and so was his dear friend Juraj Cintula – the man charged with trying to kill Slovakia’s prime minister.

Mile is at once shocked, bemused, appalled and bewildered.

“He’s a good friend,” he tells me. Both men are 71 years old and talked often. “He was a decent, polite man. A good worker. His wife is a professor and his kids were okay. He had a good reputation. Everything was okay.

“Nobody expected something like this to happen. No one could imagine it. That’s the worst thing about it.

“I spoke to him on Monday and we were having a laugh, like neighbours do. It’s so unpleasant.”

He shakes his head and gestures up to Cintula’s apartment on the top of the building. “He will either die or get a life sentence. It’s going to be so hard for his family.”

Cintula has not yet been officially identified as the suspect, but it’s common knowledge in Slovakia.

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Armed police even brought him back to the apartment, dressed in a bulletproof jacket and helmet, to help gather evidence. So why, I ask Mile, did his old friend allegedly try to kill Robert Fico?

“You know, I can’t really say,” he replies thoughtfully. “We took politics as something to laugh at. But we kept our own opinions – he had his, I had mine.

“He was opposed to certain acts of the government and his opinions were quite different. But what was in his mind? Really, nobody knows.”