Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at the return of Palestinian refugees to northern Gaza, a major victory for Rwandan-backed rebels in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and new Chinese artificial intelligence worries for the United States.
Heading Home
Israel lifted its closure of northern Gaza on Monday, allowing tens of thousands of Palestinians to begin returning home. This was the first time that Gaza’s most heavily destroyed area has reopened since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023, during which Israel ordered the whole-scale evacuation of the north and sealed off the area with ground troops.
Over the past 15 months, roughly 1 million Palestinians have fled northern Gaza. Their return is “a victory for our people and a declaration of failure and defeat for the [Israeli] occupation and transfer plans,” Hamas said on Monday. Around 90 percent of Gaza’s 2.3 million people were displaced during the war, igniting a dire humanitarian crisis.
Palestinians returned home on Monday via two main routes: on foot via a coastal road or by car, both of which must pass through the Netzarim Corridor, an Israeli-established military zone that splits Gaza into halves. Under the three-phase cease-fire and hostage release deal established this month, all vehicles traveling to northern Gaza must be inspected for weapons before entering.
However, last-minute disputes almost stalled the region’s reopening. On Saturday, Israel said it would not allow Palestinians to return home until Hamas released civilian hostage Arbel Yehoud; Yehoud was supposed to be freed before four female Israeli soldiers were released on Saturday, but Hamas allegedly changed the release order. Israel also accused Hamas of failing to provide information on which of the 33 captives set to be released during the cease-fire deal’s first phase were alive.
Qatari mediators announced on Monday that the dispute was resolved overnight. Yehoud will now be released on Thursday alongside two other captives, and Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer confirmed on Monday that Israel has received confirmation that 25 of the 33 hostages marked for release over the next six weeks are alive. Seven of these captives have already been freed.
Even as some Palestinians celebrated their return home, U.S. President Donald Trump proposed displacing all residents in Gaza and resettling them in Egypt and Jordan, marking a significant potential shift in U.S. foreign policy. “We just clean out that whole thing,” Trump said on Saturday referring to Gaza, adding that resettlement could be temporary or long term. “It’s literally a demolition site right now. … So, I’d rather get involved with some of the Arab nations and build housing in a different location, where they can maybe live in peace for a change.”
Major regional powers were quick to reject Trump’s comments, including Egypt, Jordan, and the Palestinian Authority. Hamas also condemned the U.S. president’s remarks, saying, “We call on the U.S. administration to halt such proposals, which align with Israeli plans and clash with the rights and free will of our people.”
Israeli resettlement of Gaza is a popular talking point among far-right politicians in the country, including National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who supports the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank despite it violating international law.
Also this weekend, Israel and Lebanon agreed on Sunday to extend the deadline for the total withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon to Feb. 18. The initial 60-day deadline expired on Sunday, but Israeli forces had refused to leave, arguing that Lebanon’s military had failed to prevent Hezbollah from operating in the area. The Lebanese army has said that it cannot deploy to all areas of southern Lebanon until Israeli forces withdraw.
Today’s Most Read
The World This Week
Tuesday, Jan. 28: An Israeli ban on the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees goes into effect.
French President Emmanuel Macron hosts European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Wednesday, Jan. 29: U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio hosts Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford announces early provincial elections, to likely be held on Feb. 27.
Thursday, Jan. 30: The U.S. Senate holds confirmation hearings for Tulsi Gabbard, the nominee to become the director of national intelligence, and Elise Stefanik, the nominee to become the U.S. ambassador to the U.N.
Friday, Jan. 31: Myanmar’s state of emergency is set to expire.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni visits Serbia.
British Foreign Secretary David Lammy visits Tunisia.
Saturday, Feb. 1: Trump is expected to impose steep tariffs on Mexico, Canada, and China.
Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presents the 2025 budget to Parliament.
What We’re Following
Capturing Goma. Rebels with the Congo River Alliance claimed on Monday to have seized the Congolese provincial capital of Goma. The city’s capture came just minutes before a 48-hour deadline ordering the insurgents to surrender their weapons expired. The rebel alliance urged residents of Goma to remain calm as the United Nations warned of mass panic among the region’s 2 million people.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo called the rebel advance a “declaration of war” after violent clashes between government troops, U.N. peacekeepers, and armed insurgents left several civilians and U.N. staff members dead. Congo, the United Nations, and the United States have all accused Rwanda of funding the militant organization, which includes the M23 group, and on Saturday, Kinshasa severed diplomatic relations with Kigali. Rwanda maintains that it does not back M23, which has waged a war against authorities in eastern Congo for years.
Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi and Rwandan President Paul Kagame have agreed to attend an online meeting on Wednesday to discuss the conflict. Prior to Goma’s seizure, Congo River Alliance leader Corneille Nangaa had suggested that his organization aims to overthrow Tshisekedi and his government.
DeepSeek rocks markets. U.S. stocks took a major hit on Monday following a new report by Chinese artificial intelligence start-up DeepSeek. Last week, DeepSeek released a research paper detailing how it built a large language AI model that matched the capabilities of U.S.-designed chatbots while only using a fraction of the specialized chips needed to train them. Its development only cost $5.6 million compared to the range of $100 million to $1 billion that was cited last year by AI company Anthropic.
The news of DeepSeek’s advances alarmed investors in leading AI-linked companies in the United States, including chipmaker Nvidia, which saw its stock plunge roughly 16 percent. Tech stocks in Europe and Japan also suffered significant blows, but U.S. corporations took the biggest hits. As of Monday, DeepSeek’s chatbot overtook OpenAI’s ChatGPT to become the most-downloaded free app in Apple’s App Store in the United States.
Tariff scare. Colombia and the United States have narrowly avoided a trade war fueled by a fight over U.S. migrant deportations. The dispute erupted on Sunday, when Colombian President Gustavo Petro accused Trump of mistreating migrants facing deportation and refused to accept two Colombia-bound U.S. “military planes” carrying such individuals.
In response, Trump ordered a travel ban and visa restrictions; 25 percent tariffs on all goods coming from Colombia, to be raised to 50 percent in one week if Colombia continued to refuse to comply; and other sanctions. “These measures are just the beginning,” Trump warned on Truth Social, the social media platform that he founded.
Petro initially refused to bend to Trump’s demands, instead issuing a retaliatory 25 percent increase in Colombian tariffs on U.S. goods. However, Petro eventually acquiesced on Sunday by agreeing to accept all migrant deportation flights from the United States “without limitation or delay.” In the coming days, Colombian Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo and Colombian Ambassador to the United States Daniel García-Peña will travel to Washington to continue deportation talks.
Indicted for insurrection. South Korean authorities formally indicted impeached President Yoon Suk-yeol on Sunday on charges of leading an insurrection via his short-lived martial law order in early December. The indictment makes Yoon the first sitting South Korean president to face criminal charges and paves the way for prosecutors to begin Yoon’s trial soon. If convicted, Yoon could face years behind bars or even the death penalty, though executions for such crimes haven’t been carried out in South Korea in decades.
The president’s lawyers called the indictment the “worst choice,” and Yoon has vowed to remain in power despite growing calls for Seoul’s Constitutional Court to remove him from office. Yoon was impeached on Dec. 14 but could return to power if the country’s top court rules it so.
Odds and Ends
Earlier this month, British Royal Navy sensors picked up two suspicious pings while scanning for enemy activity between Raasay Island and the Applecross Peninsula. First instinct had officials worried that Russian drone submarines had dropped a listening device in nearby waters to track the United Kingdom’s vessels. However, a naval official told the Sun last Friday that the looming sound appeared to actually have come from farting whales. Still, another source said, “We are taking it very seriously. We have to assume the worst.”
