The Week in Review: January 27-February 2, 2024

Negotiations over a ceasefire in Gaza continue, the US strikes targets in Syria and Iraq, and more

This week, Israel and Hamas continued to weigh up a proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza. Following Israeli allegations that UNRWA staffers participated in the October 7 attacks, Western donors yanked funding from the agency. In response to an Iran-backed militia’s drone strike on a US military outpost in Jordan, the US launched a wave of airstrikes across Syria and Iraq against Iranian-linked groups. Reports emerged that Volodymyr Zelensky would be sacking his top military commander, Valery Zaluzhny. It was revealed that Sudanese military and Rapid Support Forces officials have been in unreported negotiations for the past month. And, the US revived penalties that it had lifted under the sanctions-relief-for-free-elections deal it struck with Nicolás Maduro last October.