Gaza ceasefire deal to pave way for Israeli hostage release, return of displaced Palestinians
Voice of America
Women check their phones at a bus stop displaying portraits of Israeli hostages taken by Hamas militants during their Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack on Israel, in Jerusalem, Jan. 15, 2025.
The prime minister of Qatar, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, announced that Israel and Hamas had agreed to a ceasefire deal that promised the release of dozens of hostages held by Hamas and the return of hundreds of thousands of people displaced in Gaza to their homes.
FILE - A Cypriot military police officer stands guards next of the docked U.S ship carrying Gaza aid, at the port of Larnaca, Cyprus, June 26, 2024.
Relatives and friends of people killed and abducted by Hamas and taken into Gaza react to the ceasefire announcement as they take part in a demonstration in Tel Aviv, Israel, Jan. 15, 2025. Family and relatives mourn over the body of Palestinian journalist Ahmed Al-Shayah, covered with a press vest, after he was killed during an Israeli strike the previous night in Khan Yunis, at Nasser Hospital, in the southern Gaza Strip, on January 16, 2025.
FILE - A volunteer serves food to people in need along a street in Karachi, Pakistan, on Jan. 10, 2022. Pakistan announced on Jan. 15, 2025, that the World Bank has agreed to lend $20 billion to the cash-strapped nation over 10 years.
Women check their phones at a bus stop displaying portraits of Israeli hostages taken by Hamas militants during their Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack on Israel, in Jerusalem, Jan. 15, 2025.
Ukrainian Lt. Col. Ihor Benzeruk, who survived explosions at the Russian-controlled Olenivka prison two years ago, is pictured in Lyman, Ukraine, July 11, 2024. Though he survived, "this day remains as the day my comrades were executed," he said.
FILE - A loitering munition drone is displayed at National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology in Taichung City, Taiwan, March 14, 2023.
FILE - The National Security Council's Michael Carpenter is seen on White House grounds in Washington, Dec. 18, 2024. (VOA Ukrainian)
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U.S. dollar currency, recovered from three Chinese citizens arrested in possession of gold bars and $400,000, is displayed inside the courtroom in Bukavu, Congo, Jan. 4, 2025. The men were sentenced to seven years in prison on Jan. 14, 2025.
FILE - French President Emmanuel Macron visits the Kavani district in Mamoudzou on the French Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte on Dec. 19, 2024, following Cyclone Chido's passage over the archipelago.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, right, welcomes Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after the two countries reached an agreement on exhuming Polish victims of WWII-era massacres by Ukrainian nationalists, in Warsaw, Poland, Jan. 15, 2025.
FILE - India's Defense Minister Rajnath Singh arrives for an ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting - Plus in Jakarta, Nov. 16, 2023. India has sought to counter China as Beijing grows its influence in India's neighborhood through investments and development projects.
People take shelter inside a metro station during a Russian military strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine Jan. 15, 2025.
A boy looks at the bodies of Palestinians killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip as they are brought for burial at Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Jan. 15, 2025. Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a house, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, Jan. 15, 2025.
Indonesian Minister of Information and Digital Affairs Meutya Hafid, right, at an elementary school in Depok, West Java, Indonesia, Jan. 6, 2025. She said on Jan. 15, 2024, that the government planned to issue a regulation to set a minimum age for social media users.
A miner is transported on a stretcher by rescue workers after he was rescued from below ground in an abandoned gold mine in Stilfontein, South Africa, Jan. 14, 2025. President of the General Industries Workers Union of South Africa Mametlwe Sebei, center, chants slogans while joining community members and workers in a protest during the rescue operation to retrieve illegal miners from an abandoned gold mine in South Africa on Jan. 14, 2024. Members of the South African police, patrol as they guard the mine shaft where rescue operations are ongoing as attempts are made to rescue illegal miners who have been underground for months in Stilfontein, South Africa, Jan. 14, 2025. Illegal miners rescued from an abandoned gold mine line up as rescuers and South African Police Service officers record their details and provide assistance in Stilfontein on Jan. 14, 2025.
FILE - President Joe Biden walks across the stage to sign an executive order about artificial intelligence at the White House, Oct. 30, 2023. On Jan. 14, 2025, Biden signed another executive order to boos development of AI infrastructure.
FILE - This picture taken by Taiwan’s Coast Guard on Jan. 3, 2025 shows the Cameroon-flagged "Shunxing 39" cargo ship sailing at sea.