ICYMI

Gazans return north while Israel steps up raids in the West Bank

After the 42-day ceasefire between Hamas and Israel went into effect on 19 January, displaced people from across the Gaza Strip are now allowed to return to what is left of their homes in northern Gaza. As people return, the scale of the destruction of 15 months of war has become visible. Over 90 percent of Northern Gaza has been damaged or destroyed by Israeli attacks.

Newly inaugurated US-president Donald Trump asked neighbouring countries Egypt and Jordan to take in Palestinians from the Gaza Strip as part of a “relocation” campaign, which many fear would amount to ethnic cleansing.

As part of the ceasefire agreement, Israeli and Palestinian hostages were freed. However, while retreating in the Gaza Strip, Israel simultaneously increased its military presence in the West Bank and aimed another crackdown on the Jenin refugee camp.

Colombia gives in to Trump’s crackdown on migration while violence between rebel groups escalates

During his first week in office, President Donald Trump’s crackdown on migration politics has left many families devastated due to rapid deportations.

The Colombian government, under President Petro, barred US military deportation flights from landing in Colombia accusing Trump of treating migrants like criminals. After Trump threatened to hit back with economic sanctions, Petrolifted the block to avert a trade war.

Many people being forced to return to Colombia now fear getting caught up in the escalating violence between rebel groups including the National Liberation Army (ELN) and dissident groups of the former Revolutionary Armed forces of Colombia (FARC). As peace talks failed, ELN attacks in the northeastern Catatumbo region killed at least 80 people and forced thousands to flee.

M23 rebels capture Goma in DRC

The M23 rebel group claims to have captured the eastern Congolese city of Goma. The decades-long regional conflict between armed rebel groups, aiming to gain control of a mineral-rich region of the country, and the Congolese Army, led to one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

Goma, the largest city in eastern Congo, is inhabited by at least 2 million people and has been caught in the crossfire. Disregarding a ceasefire agreement with the Congolese Government signed in June 2024, M23 took hold of nearby towns of Minova, Katale and Masisi earlier this month. Their advance displaced more than 100,000 people in the first weeks of January. On Monday, the group announced their capture of Goma, sparking a mass panic among the residents. The government of DRC calls this a “declaration of war”.

Lukashenko declared winner of elections in Belarus

Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko has this week been declared winner of national elections, a result rejected by Western governments on the grounds that the election was neither free nor fair.

The former Soviet republic has been under the rule of Lukashenko, an ally of Vladimir Putin, for the past 31 years. During his period of control, independent media outlets have been banned and opposition political figures jailed.

Exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya continues to advocate for increased sanctions against Belarusian companies, any individuals supporting the ar in Ukraine, and toward the government itself.

USA: Anishinaabe-Lakota political prisoner Leonard Peltier freed after 50 years in prison

After almost 50 years in a U.S. prison, activist Leonard Peltier has returned home on a commuted sentence. The Anishinaabe-Lakota member was part of the American Indian Movement (AIM), which advocates for justice, and against discrimination and violence against indigenous people in the United States.

During protests in 1975, two FBI agents were shot. Leonard Peltier was charged with committing the crime but insisted on his innocence. International organisations like Amnesty called his trial and sentence unfair. Since his arrest 50 years ago, activists and human rights organisations have regularly called for his release. Now 80 years old, Leonard Peltier has been released from prison to serve the rest of his life-sentence under house arrest.

International Holocaust Remembrance Day

Today, 27 January, is International Holocaust Remembrance Day, commemorating the victims of the Holocaust and the genocide of 6 million Jews, along with Sinti * zze and Rom * nja, racialised, disabled, queer, and poor people, by Nazi Germany. The day is observed every year on the day of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp (27 January 1945) by soldiers of the Red Army. 2025 marks the 80th anniversary of the liberation.