Palestinians Return to Northern Gaza After Truce Overcomes Strain |
Tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians began returning to northern Gaza today as part of the cease-fire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas. After extra mediation raised doubts of resolution yesterday, Hamas said it would release Arbel Yehud and other Israeli hostages this week too.
Much of northern Gaza is now rubble, and aid groups urged the continued flow of humanitarian assistance to support returnees. U.S. President Donald Trump over the weekend downplayed the cease-fire’s commitment to Palestinian return, suggesting that “we just clean out” Gaza, and that Egypt and Jordan could accept its residents either temporarily or “long term.” That’s a sharp departure from most U.S. presidents, who have viewed Gaza as part of an eventual Palestinian state; Egypt and Jordan rejected Trump’s suggestion.
Weekend doubts about whether the Gaza truce would hold swirled alongside concern about a second cease-fire between Israel and Lebanon, but White House and Lebanese officials said it, too, would move forward. Strains in the southern Lebanon cease-fire were related to a deadline—originally scheduled for yesterday—for both Israel and Hezbollah to withdraw forces from the area. Israel said Friday it would stay past the deadline due to concerns over Hezbollah’s presence, while cease-fire observers the United States and France did not immediately make public their assessment of whether Hezbollah had withdrawn. Israel warned that people displaced from southern Lebanon should not return home, and fired yesterday at some who did; Lebanese officials said twenty-four people were killed, its deadliest bout of violence since the war broke out. (AP, NYT, WSJ)
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“Unless other steps [beyond the Gaza cease-fire] follow, the embers of the conflict will flare up again soon. The challenge now is therefore to sustain the cease-fire and add an arrangement stabilizing postwar Gaza with the contribution of countries from North Africa, the Levant, and the Gulf,” CFR Adjunct Senior Fellow Gideon Rose writes for Foreign Affairs.
“Even as each side accused the other of reneging on their deals, analysts said, both Israel and its opponents had reasons to remain flexible and temporarily overlook the other’s transgressions,” the New York Times’ Patrick Kingsley writes. |
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Global Tech Stocks Fall After Advances by Chinese AI Firm |
Technology stocks fell today after the release of a Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) model that analysts called comparable to U.S. rivals; DeepSeek says the model runs on less advanced chips. It released the new model last week and it rose to the top of Apple’s app store rankings. (FT, Bloomberg)
CFR expert Michael C. Horowitz covers what to know about the new U.S. AI executive order.
North Korea: Pyongyang tested several cruise missiles Saturday, North and South Korea said separately. North Korea’s foreign ministry criticized recent joint military drills between the United States and South Korea. Trump said Thursday he expects to engage with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. (Kyodo)
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Bangladesh Launches Review of Alleged Bank Theft Under Former Administration |
Bangladesh’s central bank hired four accounting firms to investigate allegations that businesspeople close to former leader Sheikh Hasina swindled some $17 billion from financial institutions. (FT)
Afghanistan: Trump’s suspension of foreign aid has paused travel plans for forty thousand Afghans approved for special immigrant visas, the head of a U.S. veteran and advocacy group said. Most are in Afghanistan, while some are in Albania, Pakistan, and Qatar. (Reuters)
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Middle East and North Africa |
UN Refugee Leader: Nearly 30 Percent of Syrians in Mideast Want to Return Home
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The United Nations conducted an assessment of Syrian refugees displaced in Middle Eastern countries weeks after the fall of Bashar al-Assad, Filippo Grandi told reporters. Nearly 30 percent hope to return home, up from almost zero last year. (Reuters) |
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UN Security Council Calls for Rebels to Stop DRC Military Push |
M23 rebels claimed they took over the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) city of Goma, a humanitarian hub, which the Congolese government denied. Increased fighting around the city over the weekend prompted the UN Security Council to hold an emergency meeting Sunday and African neighbors to plan a regional meeting about the summit in the coming days. The DRC foreign minister said Rwanda had declared war by sending troops over the border to support the M23. (BBC, Reuters)
Sudan: An attack on the only working hospital in the city of El Fasher killed around seventy people, the World Health Organization chief said. Local officials said the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces carried out the attack. (Bloomberg) Former U.S. envoy to Sudan Tom Perriello spoke at CFR earlier this month about the critical U.S. role in Sudan. |
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Latvia Suspects Foreign Sabotage in Undersea Cable Damage |
Latvia’s prime minister said significant damage to an underwater fiber optic cable yesterday morning was probably caused by a foreign force. It marks the fourth underwater cable damaged in recent months, which have prompted investigations that pointed to Chinese and Russian ships. Swedish authorities seized a ship as part of a probe. (Reuters, FT)
This YouTube Short with former U.S. science envoy Dawn Wright explains why those undersea cables are so important.
Belarus: Aleksandr Lukashenko won nearly 90 percent of votes in yesterday’s presidential election, official results said. It is his seventh consecutive victory. Opposition accusations of fraud in the last election in 2020 prompted a government crackdown. Streets were quieter this time around, though opposition leaders denounced the result as a “farce,” and the European Union’s top diplomat called it a “sham.” (NYT, Politico)
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Trump Rescinds Threats After Colombia Agrees to Accept Deportations |
Trump had threatened 25 percent tariffs on Colombian goods as well as certain travel and visa bans yesterday when the country turned back a military plane with deportees. Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro explained his move by saying migrants should be treated with “dignity and respect.” But after Trump’s threats, Colombia said it would accept military flights. The country’s foreign minister said it had guaranteed “dignified” conditions for deportees. (NYT, WaPo)
On The President’s Inbox podcast, CFR experts Edward Alden and James M. Lindsay discuss Trump’s immigration policy.
Peru: The Vatican disciplined former Lima archbishop Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne following sexual abuse allegations, it said. Pope Francis also dissolved a Peru-based Catholic community last week. Though the Vatican did not immediately give details on that dissolution, the community had been subject to accusations of abusing minors. (Reuters)
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CIA Announces Support of COVID-19 Lab Leak Hypothesis |
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The CIA assesses with “low confidence” that the most likely origin of the COVID-19 virus was from a Chinese research facility, it said. That’s a shift from its former position, which found insufficient evidence to reach a conclusion. The new stance was reached under the Joe Biden administration but announced days after Trump’s nominee was confirmed as director. (FT)
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