A jury in El Salvador sentenced three retired high-ranking military officers to 15 years in prison for the murder of four Dutch journalists in 1982, one of the highest profile cases of the Central American nation’s civil war.

The three were charged on Tuesday for the killings of journalists Koos Joster, Jan Kuiper Joop, Johannes Jan Wilemsen and Hans ter Laag, who were reporting for IKON Television during a 1982 military ambush on a group of former Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) guerrillas – some of whom were armed.

A UN truth commission 11 years later found the ambush was “deliberately planned to surprise and kill the journalists.”

The trial was closed and details about the defendants’ pleas and arguments were not made public.

El Salvador’s civil war stretched from 1980 to 1992, pitting leftist guerrillas against the US-backed Salvadoran army and leaving 75,000 people dead and 8,000 more missing.

Former Defense Minister General Jose Guillermo Garcia was sentenced by a jury in the northern town of Chalatenango, alongside two colonels: former Treasury Police chief Francisco Moran and former infantry brigade commander Mario Reyes.

All three – respectively aged 91, 93 and 85 – were sentenced in absentia. Garcia and Moran are in hospital under custody and Reyes currently lives in the United States though El Salvador is in the process of seeking his return.

“Truth and justice have prevailed, we have won,” Oscar Perez, a representative of the Comunicandonos Foundation that represents some of the relatives, told reporters. “The victims are the focus now; not the perpetrators.”

Prosecutors had requested the 15-year sentence, taking into account the military officers’ age and health conditions.

The jury also issued a civil condemnation to the Salvadoran state over the delay in delivering justice, a symbolic measure that obliges the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces, President Nayib Bukele, to publicly ask for forgiveness from the victims’ families.

Editor’s Note: This story contains graphic images and descriptions of violence.

More than a dozen eyewitnesses, including those wounded in the attack, said Israeli troops shot at crowds in volleys of gunfire that occurred sporadically through the early hours of Sunday morning. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), the US and Israeli-backed aid initiative that runs the site, said that Israeli forces were operating in the area during the same period.

Weapons experts said the rate of gunfire heard in the footage, as well as images of bullets retrieved from victims, were consistent with machine guns used by the Israeli military that can be mounted on tanks. Multiple eyewitnesses said that they saw gunfire emanating from Israeli tanks nearby.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) initially said on Sunday that its forces did not fire at civilians “while they were near or within the aid site.” An Israeli military source later acknowledged that troops had fired “warning shots” at suspects about 1 kilometer (1,093 yards) away.

During a press conference on Tuesday, IDF spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said the military investigated and found its troops played no role in any mass casualty event. Defrin said: “This week, it was claimed that the IDF fired at civilians in an aid distribution area. This report is entirely false and echoes the propaganda of the terrorist organization Hamas… Regarding the incident on Sunday – it simply didn’t happen!”

Defrin also suggested casualty figures provided by the Palestinian health ministry were inflated, but did not elaborate as to how many people the military believed had been killed or injured.

Sunday’s mass shooting, which the Palestinian health ministry said killed at least 31 Palestinians and injured dozens, was the deadliest incident involving aid distribution in recent months. It comes amid warnings from the United Nations that the new aid distribution mechanism has become a “death trap” for desperate people seeking food in the strip.

Thousands of starving Palestinians had gathered in the sandy bulldozed area near the GHF-run site before the gates opened on Sunday, braving chaotic scenes when gunfire struck the crowd.

“No one move, stay in your place… no one move!” one Palestinian man is heard yelling in a series of videos posted to TikTok on Sunday, filmed along the coast where crowds had gathered near the aid site.

After the US-backed private foundation finally opened the site at 5:00 a.m., witnesses said the Israeli military’s gunfire continued nearby. Surveillance footage shared by GHF shows crowds of onrushing Palestinians scrambling to reach the limited boxes of food as tracer fire explodes into the night sky in the distance.

By sunrise, the extent of the catastrophe was undeniable. Videos captured bloodied bodies of Palestinians scattered across the sands, roughly a half mile from the food distribution center.

Similar deadly incidents on Monday and Tuesday near the same site have raised further questions about whether the militarized aid initiative backed by the US and approved by Israel can deliver food supplies safely. In the subsequent episodes, the IDF acknowledged that Israeli troops had fired warning shots in the area. GHF said none of the shootings occurred within or adjacent to their distribution sites, adding that the location of the shootings was “an area well beyond our secure distribution site.”

For Saqer, who said he managed to finally reach the aid site and escaped with whatever he could carry, the harrowing night still weighs heavily on him.

“We survived a night that was worse than we could imagine,” he said. “The reality for people was one of death and hunger searching for food.”

Videos capture deadly chaos

When GHF announced its distribution plans for Sunday, the instructions were direct: only one aid site would be open starting at 5:00 a.m., and the IDF would be present in the area to secure passage on a designated route.

It also warned – albeit after gunfire reportedly already erupted – that the Israeli military would be “active” in the area ahead of the site’s opening.

“Using the passage before 5:00 a.m. is prohibited, as we were informed by the military that it will be active in the area before and after the specified safe hours,” the GHF said in a release on Facebook at 4 a.m. “We remind all residents to stay on the road — straying from it poses a significant danger.”

Having endured an 11-week Israeli blockade of humanitarian aid, thousands of desperate Palestinians began making their way down Al-Rasheed Street in hopes of being among the first to reach the aid site – the only one operating in all of Gaza that day – before the limited supplies ran out.

“I could hear the screams of young people and others from their injuries,” Saqer said. “In front of me were four young men with direct injuries to the head… there was a person next to me who was injured by a bullet in his eye.”

He and others said a quadcopter drone appeared above the crowd, with the voice on its speaker telling people to turn around. But amid the warning, gunfire crackled all around them.

“Even retreating was almost impossible, and everyone was lying on the ground unable to lift their heads because if you lifted your head, you would get shot.”

As the chaos unfolded near the Al-Alam area, the GHF aid site officially opened at 5:00 a.m. Security video of the location released by the organization, which was labeled as beginning at 5:02 a.m., shows crowds of Palestinians running into the fenced distribution center.

Based on the erratic nature of the sound, Maher said that the shots seemed to be spread out, fired repeatedly in one direction. “Since the cracks are irregular, it seems more like the gunfire was being sprayed over the area.”

Trevor Ball, a former US Army senior explosive ordnance disposal team member, said the rate of fire was consistent with the FN MAG, a heavily-used machine gun in the Israeli military’s arsenal. The FN MAG is commonly equipped on the IDF’s Merkava tanks, which several eyewitnesses said they saw open fire on the crowds.

Ball also said the tracer fire – ammunition containing a pyrotechnic charge illuminating its trajectory – seen in the GHF’s footage is consistent with the use of machine guns. “Typically belt fed machine guns have tracer rounds inserted every few rounds. So while only 3 tracers are visible in the video, more rounds were fired.”

The International Committee of the Red Cross said that its nearby field hospital was overwhelmed by patients, describing the carnage as the “highest number of weapon-wounded in a single incident” since it opened over a year ago. Other dead and wounded were taken to Nasser Hospital.

“It’s difficult to describe what we saw with the young and the old, there was severe injuries to the head, severe injuries to the lung,” recalled Dr. Ahmed Abu Sweid, an Australian working at the Nasser medical complex.

“There was a heavy proportion of head-targeted injuries from bullet wounds.”

GHF, which runs the site, insisted: “There was no gunfire in the (distribution) center and also not in the surrounding area.”

“All aid was distributed today without incident. We have heard that these fake reports have been actively fomented by Hamas. They are untrue and fabricated.”

The IDF said allegations that Israeli soldiers fired on Gazans near or within the aid distribution site were “false reports.” It added: “Findings from an initial inquiry indicate that the IDF did not fire at civilians while they were near or within the humanitarian aid distribution site and that reports to this effect are false.”

Yazeed, 13, was shot in the stomach by gunfire from an Israeli tank and survived his injuries, according to his dad.

Mohammad Abu Rezeq was shot in the stomach upon arriving at Al-Alam where he said Israeli forces were deliberately targeting the crowd.

“I have seen a lot of soldiers in this war. When they want to clear an area or warn you, they shoot around you. But yesterday, they were shooting to kill us,” Abu Rezeq said.

Not an isolated incident

The chaos in the early hours of Sunday morning was not an isolated incident. In consecutive days since, Palestinians attempting to reach the GHF’s aid distribution sites have come under fire by the Israeli military.

After the intense gunfire near the Al-Alam roundabout on Sunday, GHF’s Facebook posts included updated maps of the safe route for the following days. The new maps included a large, red stop sign at Al-Alam.

On Tuesday, nearly 30 people were killed and dozens wounded while making their way to the aid sites in Tel al-Sultan in Rafah, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health and Nasser Hospital.

The Israeli military said that its forces opened fire multiple times after identifying “several suspects moving toward them, deviating from the designated access routes.”

“The troops carried out warning fire, and after the suspects failed to retreat, additional shots were directed near a few individual suspects who advanced toward the troops,” the IDF said in a statement, adding they were looking into reports of casualties.

While the Israeli military has acknowledged firing warning shots in the area three days in a row, posts from GHF’s Facebook page show the organization works in close coordination with the IDF to establish safe, defined routes.

GHF was set up amid Israeli accusations that Hamas is stealing aid in Gaza and profiting from sales, though Israel hasn’t presented any evidence publicly to back up the claim.

UN aid groups, such as UNRWA, typically check identification and rely on a database of registered families when distributing aid.

But GHF is not screening Palestinians at aid distribution sites, despite Israeli officials saying that additional security measures were a core reason for the creation of the new program.

UN aid agencies have criticized GHF’s aid mechanism, saying it violates humanitarian principles and raises the risks for Palestinians.

Criticism has been mounting against both Israel and GHF after chaos broke out last week when tens of thousands of starving Palestinians arrived at two new food distribution sites.

The UN’s humanitarian chief, Tom Fletcher, was scathing in his assessment to the UN Security Council late last month.

“It restricts aid to only one part of Gaza, while leaving other dire needs unmet,” he said.

“It makes aid conditional on political and military aims. It makes starvation a bargaining chip. It is cynical sideshow. A deliberate distraction. A fig leaf for further violence and displacement.”

Video edited by Oscar Featherstone in London. Tareq Al Hilou in Gaza contributed to this report.

The United States on Wednesday vetoed a UN Security Council resolution calling for an “immediate, unconditional and permanent” ceasefire between Israel and the militant group Hamas in Gaza.

The US was the only nation to oppose the resolution. Fourteen others, including the United Kingdom, voted in favor. There were no abstentions.

Dorothy Camille Shea, the United States ambassador to the UN, said the US opposed the resolution because it did not call for Hamas to disarm and leave Gaza.

“(The resolution) is unacceptable for what it does say, it is unacceptable for what it does not say, and it is unacceptable for the manner in which it has been advanced,” she said in comments before the vote took place.

The US “has taken the very clear position since this conflict began that Israel has a right to defend itself, which includes defeating Hamas and ensuring they are never again in a position to threaten Israel. In this regard, any product that undermines our close ally Israel’s security is a nonstarter,” she added.

This is not the first time the US has vetoed a UN Security Council draft resolution on Gaza. In November 2024, it vetoed one calling for an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire, on the grounds it would not have secured the release of hostages.

The United Kingdom said it “regrets” that the latest resolution “was unable to reach a consensus.”

“The United Kingdom voted in favor of this resolution today because of the intolerable situation in Gaza,” the UK’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York Barbara Woodward said following the vote.

“We are determined to see an end to this war, secure the release of the hostages held by Hamas and alleviate the catastrophic humanitarian situation for Palestinians in Gaza,” she added.

Woodward described Israel’s expansion of its military operations in Gaza and its severe restrictions on aid as “unjustifiable, disproportionate, and counterproductive.”

Israel in mid May launched a major new offensive in Gaza it says is aimed at destroying Hamas and freeing hostages, sparking condemnation from the United Nations and aid organizations who warn civilians are bearing the brunt of the expanded assault.

The ambassador also said the UK condemned Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack on Israel and demanded the militant group release all the hostages “immediately and unconditionally,” saying “Hamas can have no role in the future governance of Gaza.”

The ambassador also restated the UK’s position that “a two-state solution is the only way to bring the long-lasting peace, stability and security that both Israelis and Palestinians deserve.”

Meanwhile, Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar thanked US President Donald Trump and the US administration “for standing shoulder to shoulder with Israel and vetoing this one-sided resolution in the UN Security Council.”

“The proposed resolution only strengthens Hamas and undermines American efforts to achieve a hostage deal,” he added in a post on X shortly after the voting.

The draft text had demanded “an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in Gaza respected by all parties” and the “immediate and unconditional lifting of all restrictions on the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza and its safe and unhindered distribution at scale.” It also demanded “the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages held by Hamas and other groups.”

Israel launched the war in Gaza after Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups carried out a surprise attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages. It was the deadliest terror attack in Israel’s history.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza said the number of people killed by Israel’s offensive in Gaza in the wake of the October 7 attacks now exceeds 54,000, most of whom are women and children.

The office of Argentinian President Javier Milei denied a bombshell series of reports that alleged the country’s intelligence agency had approved a new plan that could enable the surveillance of journalists, politicians and economists.

The reporting, by journalist Hugo Alconada Mon in the newspaper La Nación, looked into a leaked national intelligence plan by Argentina’s State Intelligence Secretariat (SIDE) that he says outlines general intelligence objectives such as preventing terrorism and combating organized crime, but is also filled with “generalizations, gray areas and ambiguities,” the report reads.

“For example, the SIDE has the power to gather information on all those who seek to ‘erode’ public confidence in the officials in charge of ensuring the nation’s security,” but it doesn’t specify if it’s referring to foreign agents or experts, journalists and citizens who question actions by the national security minister, Alconada Mon’s article continues.

Milei’s office on May 25 confirmed the existence of a new intelligence plan but denied that it would be used for such purposes.

Alconada Mon, one of Argentina’s most renowned investigative reporters and deputy editor of La Nación, said he verified the authenticity of the 170-page document with two independent sources.

Alconada Mon said one interpretation is that the plan is meant to counter potential actions from foreign powers, such as Russia’s alleged attempts to influence elections in other countries.

The president’s office rejected the notion, saying in a statement: “This is the first government in decades that has made the political decision not to use the SIDE to persecute opponents, journalists, and political adversaries.”

First, these parrots learned to open trash cans to forage for food. Now, they’ve taken it a step further – and have figured out how to turn on water fountains for a sip along with their meal.

These are Australia’s iconic sulphur-crested cockatoos – white birds with a yellow tuft on their heads, known for their loud, grating screech. But they’re also incredibly intelligent, with large brains and nimble feet that have allowed them to pick up new habits in urban environments.

The cockatoos in western Sydney, in particular, caught scientists’ attention with their latest trick of drinking from public fountains. After researchers first noticed this phenomenon in 2018, they tagged 24 birds and set up cameras near fountains in the area – then sat back and watched.

Throughout two months in the fall of 2019, they recorded most of the tagged birds attempting to drink from the fountains. Also known as bubblers, these fountains are operated by a twist handle – easy enough for a person to operate, but complex for an animal to figure out.

Yet, the cockatoos did. They used different techniques: some would stand with both feet on the handle, while others would put one foot on the handle and one foot on the rubber spout. Then, they’d lower their body weight to turn the handle clockwise – holding the handle in place while twisting their head to take a drink.

They weren’t always successful – it worked about half the time, and five of the 10 drinking fountains in the area had “chew marks” indicating cockatoos had been there before. But the success rate also meant that the cockatoos had likely been doing this for some time, said the researchers in their study, published Wednesday in the journal Biology Letters.

The team had studied Sydney’s sulphur-crested cockatoos before; in 2021, they published another paper examining the birds’ newly observed ability to lift closed trash bin lids with their beaks and feet to access the food inside.

These innovative behaviors aren’t just animals being amusing or clever – they show the birds’ ability to adapt to urban environments, and the power of social learning among animals, the researchers said.

There are some questions still unanswered. The researchers don’t know why exactly the cockatoos are flocking to drinking fountains, instead of other easily accessible natural water sources in the area. At first they thought the fountains might be a backup option on especially hot days when local creeks run dry – but that wasn’t the case.

Other theories are that the birds feel safer drinking from fountains in public areas where there are fewer predators, or that they simply prefer the taste of fountain water – but that would need further study to determine.

Now, the researchers want to know what else cockatoos can do – and any habits they may have already developed that just haven’t been studied yet.

“We’ve had some really interesting innovations reported to us, and some examples include unzipping school backpacks and stealing school lunches,” Aplin told ABC Radio. “It has become such a problem in some areas that they have to bring the school bags into the classroom rather than leaving them outside!”

Friedrich Merz, the newly inaugurated German chancellor, will take a seat in the Oval Office on Thursday for his first in-person meeting with US President Donald Trump.

The meeting comes as a series of high-stakes international issues once again come to the fore. Trump has issued another round of warnings to the European Union on tariffs; the war in Ukraine appears no closer to ending; and pressure is mounting on Israel over the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza.

Since taking office, Merz has been on a tour of European capitals, meeting with France’s Emmanuel Macron, Britain’s Keir Starmer and Poland’s Donald Tusk – before they all appeared in Kyiv alongside Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky in a show of European unity.

The one major omission has been a meeting with Trump. While there have been phone calls between the two, the handshake accompanied by the frantic clicks of camera shutters will mark the start of the new German-US relationship.

Germany’s status as the economic powerhouse of Europe and Merz’s repositioning of the country as a leader in European security – which includes a commitment to beef up its military and fall in line with Trump’s demands for NATO members to increase defense spending – underscore the importance of a successful encounter.

There is also the chance of an explosive diplomatic broadside, as seen with President Zelensky and, more recently, South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Both Vice President, JD Vance, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have recently criticized Germany’s decision to classify the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) political party, as “certainly right-wing extremists”, and therefore expanding surveillance on the party.

Both took to X, to express their anger at what they called the German “establishment” for the designation. Secretary Rubio said, “that’s not democracy – it’s tyranny in disguise”.

Vance followed up by saying Germany is trying to redivide the country, “the West tore down the Berlin Wall together. And it has been rebuilt — not by the Soviets or the Russians, but by the German establishment.”

The German Foreign Ministry, for its part, said on X, the decision was democratic, “the result of a thorough & independent investigation to protect our Constitution & the rule of law.”

Merz, a few days later, also rejected the statements, saying “Germany was liberated from tyranny by the US; Germany is stable, liberal, and democratic today. We don’t need a remedial lesson in democracy.”

The expectation though, is that this will be a cordial meeting.

“He doesn’t mince his words… That’s not Friedrich Merz’s style. He says what he thinks. He’s transparent. He’s direct. And I would imagine that that is something which Donald Trump will hopefully learn to appreciate.”

That directness, particularly as regards Europe’s relationship with the US, has already raised eyebrows in some quarters.

In the minutes after Merz’s center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its sister party won the largest share of the vote on February 23, making him the likely next chancellor, he said, “the utmost priority is strengthening Europe as quickly as possible, so that we achieve independence from the US step-by-step.” He added that the Trump administration “doesn’t care much about the fate of Europe.”

Merz also had a few other choice words for the US in the days following the election.

And only last week, he delivered a riposte to comments made earlier this year by Vice President JD Vance at the Munich Security Conference in which he accused European allies of backsliding on freedom of expression – a speech which at the time Merz described as having disturbed him.

Vance posed a question to which we “have the strongest and best answer imaginable,” Merz said in Berlin on Thursday, “namely, the conviction that freedom and democracy are worth standing up for resolutely and, if necessary, fighting to preserve them.”

These comments notwithstanding, Claudia Mayor, senior vice president at the German Marshall Fund, a think tank focused on US-German relations, assessed that since the election “the tone has been turned down” by Merz.

She noted that on May 8, Merz held a phone call with Trump in which he said, “the United States remains an indispensable friend and partner of Germany.”

At a business summit a few days later, Merz revealed that he had invited Trump to Germany. As part of that trip, he would accompany the US president to the rural town of Bad Dürkheim, the childhood home of Trump’s paternal grandfather.

And recently there has been Germany’s alignment with the US on NATO defense spending.

Merz and his government have indicated that they are ready to comply with, and push others to agree to, the long-stated Trump demand that members of the alliance increase spending on defense to 5% of GDP.

Building up a positive working relationship, though, is likely to be Germany’s major ambition for the White House meeting. And Merz’s previous roles and experience could play a big part in bringing that about.

Formerly the head of “Atlantik Brucke,” or Atlantic Bridge, a think tank that promotes German-US ties, Merz is known in Germany as being an ardent proponent of the transatlantic relationship.

He was a huge advocate for a US-EU trade agreement while at Atlantic Bridge and has spoken openly about his admiration for former US President Ronald Reagan. He also understands the corporate world, having served on numerous boards, including that of US global investment firm BlackRock.

Ischinger, now the chairman of the board of trustees of the Munich Security Conference, said: “If Donald Trump feels that he can trust Friedrich Merz, that’s very important, and vice versa… because, these are dangerous times, and there must not be any misunderstanding.”

The conundrum, she said, is that Germany “can’t afford the Americans leaving,” because despite European commitments to increase spending on security, building up those capabilities takes years. “At the same time, we don’t want them to leave, because we think we are better off together,” she added.

She points to the German coalition agreement, (essentially a contract between the two coalition parties, the CDU and the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD), on how they will govern Germany) and a major change in the constitution that could unlock half a trillion dollars of spending on the military, as indicators of the conflicting sentiment.

The revision of Germany’s constitutional debt brake, pushed through by Merz in March before he even formally became chancellor, was a “revolutionary change by German standards,” Mayor said. But it was forced through because “international relations have changed so much” that it appeared essential, she said.

At the same time, she said, the coalition pact reads as if everything about the transatlantic relationship is in fine working order. “If you’re such great partners, why did we need a constitutional change?” Major asked.

The source said Merz sees Germany as “(needing) to grow up and take care of (itself),” adding that the chancellor does not see that as possible “in the next three years,” and thus it is still in Germany’s interest to have a good relationship with the US and find a way to work together.

Ischinger, too, sees pragmatism at play, suggesting that Merz could seek to replicate the personal relationship built by Macron with Trump.

The German chancellor will want to ensure that “Donald Trump understands that if Friedrich Merz is a committed European, that does not mean that Friedrich Merz is going to make the Atlantic wider,” he said.

The bodies of two Israeli-American hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 were recovered from southern Gaza during a military operation, according to a statement from Israeli military and the Shin Bet security agency.

Judy Weinstein-Haggai, age 70, and Gadi Haggai, age 72, were killed near their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz during the Hamas attack on southern Israel in 2023.

“Together with all the citizens of Israel, my wife and I extend our deepest condolences to the dear families,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement.

The prime minister thanked the soldiers and commanders involved in the operation and vowed to return all remaining hostages held in Gaza.

“We will not rest and we will not be silent until all our hostages — both the living and the fallen — are brought home,” he said.

A spokesperson for Kibbutz Nir Oz said the bodies of the two hostages had been returned to Israel overnight and would be laid to rest.

The couple had four children and seven grandchildren.

In a statement the Kibbutz remembered Gadi as “a sharp-minded man, a gifted wind instrument player since the age of three, deeply connected to the land, a chef and advocate of healthy vegan nutrition and sports.” and Judy as “a poet, entrepreneur, creative spirit, and devoted advocate for peace and coexistence.”

A statement from the family, provided by the Nir Oz spokesperson expressed gratitude for the return of their missing loved ones.

“We are grateful for the closure we have been granted and for the return of our loved ones for burial — they went out for a walk on that Black Saturday morning and never came back. In this emotional moment, we want to thank the IDF and security forces who carried out this complex rescue operation and have been fighting for us for over a year and a half, and to everyone who supported, struggled, prayed, and fought for us and for all the people of Israel,” it said.

The family also thanked the US administration, the Israeli government, and the FBI for their “tireless work and ongoing support.”

This is a developing story and will be updated.

More than one in three men in Australia reported using violence with an intimate partner in a first of its kind study which shows gender-based abuse is rising, despite years of national attention on the issue.

The research was part of a longitudinal study called Ten to Men by Australia’s Institute of Family Studies, which began in 2013 and now involves around 24,000 boys and men. Intimate partner violence is defined as emotional, physical and sexual abuse.

The study found that the number of men using violence with their partners has risen over the past decade. Last time the survey was conducted in 2013-2014, roughly 1 in 4 (24%) men had committed intimate partner violence. That figure rose to 1 in 3 (35%).

That equates to about 120,000 men using intimate partner violence for the first time each year, pointing to a worrying trend in a country which has long grappled with how to combat gender-based violence.

In 2022, the Australian government launched its 10-year National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children with a majority priority of advancing gender equality.

But since January last year, 100 women have been killed in Australia, according to Counting Dead Women. Recent protests have called for the government to do much more to end gender-based violence.

“The fact that one in three men in the study reported using intimate partner violence should shake every Australian,” said Tarang Chawla, a violence against women advocate and co-founder of Not One More Niki.

Chawla’s siter, Nikita, was killed by her ex-partner in 2015.

“She was one of the women these numbers speak to,” Chawla said. “We’ve known this is a crisis, but now we have the data to back what victim-survivors, families and advocates have been saying for years: this is widespread, and it’s preventable.”

Study shows father figures matter

Emotional abuse was the most common form of intimate partner violence reported in the Ten to Men study, with 32% of men reporting they had made an intimate partner “feel frightened or anxious,” up from 21% in 2013-2014.

And around 9% of the men reported they had “hit, slapped, kicked or otherwise physically hurt” an intimate partner.

Men with moderate or severe depressive symptoms were 62% times more likely to use intimate partner violence by 2022 compared to those who had not had these symptoms, while men with suicidal thoughts, plans or attempts were 47% times as likely, the study found.

The findings of the Ten to Men study not only underscore the extent of the problem – they also offer key lessons for policymakers looking to tackle the issue, said Sean Martin, a clinical epidemiologist and program lead for the study.

While much of the existing research in Australia on intimate partner violence has rightly focused on survivors and their stories, Martin said, this study takes a new approach by studying perpetrators to better understand how to prevent violence.

It’s the first Australian study to examine how affection in father-son relationships during childhood relate to later use of intimate partner violence.

The study found men with higher levels of social support in 2013-2014 were 26% less likely to start using intimate partner violence by 2022, compared to men who had less support.

Men with strong father-son relationships were also less likely to become violent. Men who strongly agreed that they had received affection from a father or father figure during childhood were 48% less likely to use intimate partner violence compared to men who strongly disagreed.

These findings lend strong support for initiatives to support men’s mental health in Australia, as well as community supports and programs for young dads, Martin said.

Susan Heward-Belle, a professor at the University of Sydney, said the study shows the importance of fathers modeling respect for women, emotional intelligence, empathy and compassion to their children.

“For a very long time, a lot of that emotional, social, nurturance-type work has been seen as women’s responsibilities within families.”

Heward-Belle, who was not involved in the Ten to Men study, said it is crucial to explore further how feelings of entitlement and anger can develop.

“We also know that there are some men who perpetrate domestic and family violence who arguably have had good relationships with both parents.”