The Week in Review: Oct 14-20, 2023

The death toll in Gaza surpasses 4000, a sanctions-for-elections deal between the US and Venezuela, and more

This week, Israel’s air campaign continued in Gaza amid an escalating humanitarian catastrophe and with an eventual ground invasion still looming on the horizon. Shelling continued between Hezbollah and the Israeli military across Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, threatening to spread into a regional conflagration. The United States agreed to relax sanctions on Nicolás Maduro’s government in exchange for Venezuelan concessions on electoral procedures and deportations. Ukraine used US-supplied Army Tactical Missile Systems for the first time to strike Russian targets. And, China held its annual Belt and Road Forum this week, with Russian President Vladimir Putin as a special guest.