TEL AVIV, Israel — The head of Israel’s internal security service says he will resign in June over the failure of his agency to warn of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks — defusing an escalating battle with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar announced his resignation Monday, saying he will formally step down June 15.

“After years on many fronts, one night, on the southern front, the skies came down,” Bar said during remarks at a memorial event for fallen Shin Bet soldiers. “All systems collapsed. The Shin Bet also failed to give a warning.”

Netanyahu moved to fire Bar last month over what he said was a crisis of confidence surrounding Hamas’ attack. But the step sparked an uproar in Israel because the agency is investigating ties between the Israeli leader’s office and Qatar — a key mediator between Hamas and Israel over the war in Gaza.

Critics said the firing was tainted by a conflict of interest meant to derail that probe, a charge Netanyahu denies.

Israel’s Supreme Court froze the firing after multiple legal challenges against it and called on the sides to reach a compromise.

In his address, Bar said the court case “is not about my personal case but about the independence of the next heads of the Shin Bet.”

He said the agency’s “proper functioning is of inestimable importance to the security of the state and to Israeli democracy. I have been fighting for this for the past month, and this week the necessary infrastructure was laid before the High Court of Justice. I hope that the ruling that will be given will ensure that the Shin Bet will be preserved as such, over time and without fear.”

Bar filed a document with the Supreme Court last week that accused Netanyahu of trying to exploit the power of the agency for political and personal gain. Among the accusations, he claimed Netanyahu wanted him to spy on anti-government protesters and pressured him to effectively scuttle Netanyahu’s corruption trial by claiming that the prime minister could not testify due to security concerns.

Netanyahu called the accusations lies and responded with his own accusations against Bar.

Netanyahu frequently complains of a “deep state” of civil servants and unelected judges that he says are out to topple him. Good-governance groups say the Shin Bet chief is meant to be an independent figure and fear that Bar’s ouster will clear the way for Netanyahu to place a loyalist into the sensitive post.

Nichols case: Three Memphis police officers, now off the force, were frustrated, angry and full of adrenaline when they fatally beat Tyre Nichols after he ran from a traffic stop in 2023, a prosecutor said Monday in opening arguments in their state trial on second-degree murder charges.

Prosecutor Paul Hagerman showed the jury video of the beating in the trial of Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith, who have pleaded not guilty to state charges. The three already face the prospect of years behind bars because they were convicted of federal charges last year.

A police pole camera captured the beating just steps from the house where Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, lived with his mother and stepfather. That footage led to national protests, raised the volume on calls for police reforms in the U.S. and directed intense scrutiny toward the police force in Memphis, a majority- Black city.

In his opening statement, Bean’s attorney said the officer responded to a call that police were looking for a man who had fled a traffic stop and had been pepper-sprayed and hit with a Taser. Bean, who was not at the initial stop, saw Nichols, turned on his body camera, and chased him down, attorney John Keith Perry said.

The officers also are charged with aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression.

Hackman death: The main cause of Gene Hackman’s death was heart disease, but he was also in the advanced stages of Alzheimer’s disease and likely had not eaten for a long time, according to a new autopsy report.

The report documents the 95-year-old actor’s poor heart health. He was given a pacemaker in April 2019.

His wife, Betsy Arakawa, likely died Feb. 11 at home from hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, authorities have said. Her autopsy hasn’t been released.

Hackman appeared to have outlived Arakawa at home by about a week, possibly unaware of his wife’s death. Hackman’s pacemaker showed an abnormal heart rhythm on Feb. 18 — the day he likely died, according to the state’s chief medical examiner.

Iran blast fallout: Iran finally extinguished a fire Monday at a southern port rocked Saturday by an explosion as the death toll rose to at least 70 people.

More than 1,000 were hurt, authorities said.

The port reportedly took in a chemical component needed for solid fuel for ballistic missiles — something denied by authorities although they’ve not explained what caused such destruction.

Trump law firms: Another federal judge in Washington has expressed skepticism on the legality of President Donald Trump’s executive order targeting a prominent law firm, saying he was concerned that the clear purpose of the edict was punishment.

U.S. District Judge John Bates had temporarily halted the executive order against the firm of Jenner & Block but heard arguments Monday on a request by the firm to block it permanently. Lawyers for two other firms — Perkins Coie and WilmerHale — made similar arguments last week to judges who appeared receptive to their positions.

Like the other judges, Bates did not immediately rule but repeatedly pushed back against Justice Department’s claims that the orders against Jenner and other law firms were not meant to punish them.

Each of the law firms subject to an executive order that has challenged it in court has succeeded in getting it temporarily blocked.

Other firms have opted to preemptively reach deals with the White House to avoid getting targeted.

Astronaut details return: Eight days after returning from space, NASA’s oldest full-time astronaut said Monday that weightlessness made him feel decades younger, with everyday aches and pains vanishing.

Don Pettit marked his 70th birthday on April 20 by plunging through the atmosphere in a Russian Soyuz capsule to wrap up a seven-month mission at the International Space Station.

In his first public remarks since, Pettit said he threw up after feeling gravity for the first time in 220 days.

In weightlessness, Pettit felt the decades melt away.

“It makes me feel like I’m 30 years old again,” said Pettit, an astronaut since 1996 who ventured to space four times. “All that kind of stuff heals up because you’re ... just floating.”