Israel agrees to hostage deal with Hamas
Voice of America
People stand by Israel flag-covered coffins meant to symbolize the price Israel will pay for agreeing to a ceasefire with Hamas in a demonstration against the deal in Jerusalem on Jan. 16, 2025. Residents inspect the location of the Israeli airstrike that killed six Palestinians on Wednesday, in the West Bank refugee camp of Jenin, Jan. 16, 2025.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says a deal to return hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip has been reached, clearing a hurdle toward a ceasefire aimed at ending the 15-month war between the two sides.
FILE - Zimbabwean President Emerson Mnangagwa, seen here in March 2024, is currently in his second term and the country would need to amend its constitution for him to run for a third. (Columbus Mavhunga/VOA)
FILE - In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, Chinese Premier Li Qiang, right, meets with Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs Takeshi Iwaya at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Dec. 25, 2024.
FILE - A man suffering from mpox waits for treatment at the Kamituga General Hospital in South Kivu, Congo, on Sept. 4, 2024.
FILE - The Students Against Discrimination group holds a rally in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Dec. 31, 2024, demanding proclamation of the July Revolution and to mark the student-led uprising five months ago that resulted in the ouster of longtime Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. A motorcade carrying South Korea's impeached president, Yoon Suk Yeol, leaves for the Seoul Detention Center at the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials following his arrest, in Gwacheon, South Korea, on Jan. 15, 2025. (Yonhap via Reuters) FILE - Correctional officers escort publisher Jimmy Lai to a prison van before a court appearance in Hong Kong on Dec. 12, 2020.
A drone view shows makeshift tents for quake-affected residents following the earthquake that struck Tingri county, in Shigatse, Tibet Autonomous Region, China, Jan. 8, 2025.
Chinese citizens arrested in possession of gold bars and $400,000 in cash and found guilty of illegal mining, stand inside the courtroom in Bukavu, South Kivu Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Jan. 13, 2025.
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)
FILE - A worker performs a quality check at Chinese vaccine maker Sinovac Biotech in Beijing on Sept. 24, 2020. The United States on Jan. 15, 2025, announced new export controls on some biotechnology equipment, saying China could put it to military use.
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.