Israel completed its withdrawal from the Netzarim Corridor on Sunday, a key road that splits Gaza in half, as part of its commitments under a ceasefire agreement with Hamas.

Palestinians have been filing through the area by foot, car and in some cases, by donkeys video footage showed, although those traveling must navigate a checkpoint and the destruction wrought by months of fighting in Gaza.

“I was displaced a long time ago. I have seen people arriving on this road, sometimes even sleeping on it while waiting for the Israeli army to withdraw,” said Osama Saleem, who was waiting for his vehicle to be inspected.

“I hope the Israeli army withdraws from all of Gaza and that life returns to normal,” he added.

Hamas said in a statement that Israeli forces had fully withdrawn from the corridor, a six-kilometer strip of land that separates the north of the strip from its south and stretches from the Israel-Gaza border to the Mediterranean Sea.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had occupied the corridor since the early days of its war in Gaza.

“The withdrawal of the Zionist occupation army from the Netzarim axis is a victory for the will of our people,” a Hamas statement issued Sunday said.

Israel had used the corridor as a zone of occupation during its 15-month assault on the strip. Its troops began withdrawing from Netzarim Corridor two weeks ago as part of the ceasefire agreement with Hamas. Since then, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced in the south have been able to cross Netzarim to return to their homes in the heavily bombarded north of Gaza.

Israel retains its presence along Gaza’s borders with Egypt and Israel.

A checkpoint run by Egyptian and Qatari officials – countries which play a mediator role between the warring sides – remains at Netzarim.

Israel’s complete withdrawal from Netzarim is part of its commitment to the fragile ceasefire and hostage agreement, which on Saturday saw the release of another three hostages – bringing the number released so far to 16 out of a total of 33 people promised to be released at staggered intervals during this stage.

Ohad Ben Ami, Eli Sharabi and Or Levy – all taken captive during the Hamas-led October 7 attack – were freed in return for 183 Palestinian prisoners, although their frail and gaunt appearances drew condemnation from Israel.

Negotiations on the agreement’s second and third phases are still in doubt.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been deeply wary of phase two of the deal, which would see the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza and the return of the remaining hostages there. His finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, has pledged to quit the government if the ceasefire continues.

Khader Al-Za’anoun of Wafa, the official Palestinian news agency, contributed reporting.

Vilnius, Lithuania (REUTERS) – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania said on Sunday they had successfully synchronized their electricity systems to the European continental power grid, one day after severing decades-old energy ties to Russia and Belarus

Planned for many years, the complex switch away from the grid of their former Soviet imperial overlord is designed to integrate the three Baltic nations more closely with the European Union and to boost the region’s energy security.

“We did it!,” Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics said in a post on social media X.

After disconnecting on Saturday from the IPS/UPS network, established by the Soviet Union in the 1950s and now run by Russia, the Baltic nations cut cross-border high-voltage transmission lines in eastern Latvia, some 100 meters (328 feet) from the Russian border, handing out pieces of chopped wire to enthusiastic bystanders as keepsakes.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, herself an Estonian, earlier this week called the switch “a victory for freedom and European unity.”

The Baltic Sea region is on high alert after power cable, telecom links and gas pipeline outages between the Baltics and Sweden or Finland. All were believed to have been caused by ships dragging anchors along the seabed following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Russia has denied any involvement.

Poland and the Baltics deployed navy assets, elite police units and helicopters after an undersea power link from Finland to Estonia was damaged in December, while Lithuania’s military began drills to protect the overland connection to Poland.

Analysts say more damage to links could push power prices in the Baltics to levels not seen since the invasion of Ukraine, when energy prices soared.

The IPS/UPS grid was the final remaining link to Russia for the three countries, which re-emerged as independent nations in the early 1990s at the fall of the Soviet Union, and joined the European Union and NATO in 2004.

The three staunch supporters of Kyiv stopped purchases of power from Russia following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, but have relied on the Russian grid to control frequencies and stabilize networks to avoid outages.

The comings and goings at Greenland’s new international airport in its capital Nuuk look a bit different of late, as journalists like me come here to see what all the fuss is about.

The fuss, of course, is the result of US President Donald Trump’s interest in taking control of the massive island that is geographically part of North America but legally is part of the Kingdom of Denmark, a member of NATO, the European Union, and a US ally.

I wanted to drill down on what’s here, what makes it attractive and whether the local population is welcoming or hesitant about being in Trump’s sights.

“Greenland is the front door for North America,” said Tom Dans, leaning into the arguments of Greenland’s importance to US national security.

I’d wanted to speak to Dans, a private equity investor with prospective interests in the Arctic who campaigned for Trump, but I hadn’t expected to see him at the airport.

To be fair, Dans wasn’t hard to spot. He’s a tall Texan with one of those wide shiny smiles wealthy Americans tend to have. He was also wearing a baseball cap emblazoned with the American flag.

He didn’t have more time to chat then, so I stepped outside, into the 14 Fahrenheit (-10 Celsius) cold that was, I would learn, balmy compared to what was to come later in the week.

“You are here because Trump,” remarked a woman waiting in front of us. Not yet accustomed to the Nordic tone, I couldn’t quite tell if this was meant as a simple statement or an accusation. “We are,” I dutifully confirmed.

“They want more tourists to come here, they need to get more taxis,” she said. We needn’t worry too much though, she explained, we wouldn’t be waiting in the cold for too long. Despite the apparent shortage of taxis, they can’t go very far and return quickly. The trip to the center of Nuuk from the airport is about 4 miles — and then the roads just stop. There is nowhere else to go, at least by car. Greenland — three times the size of Texas — has only about 56 miles of paved roads.

She introduced herself as Lisbeth Højdal, a consultant from Denmark who was here to run a course training career counselors.

The Danish government provides Greenland a grant of about $500 million every year to support health, education and other services here. Højdal’s course was part of that package of support.

So, before I’d even had a chance to look around, I’d heard the views of outsiders — one American, one Dane.

But Greenlanders have many different views.

“We have always been told that Denmark is the big savior of Greenland,” Qupanuk Olsen recalls. The Danes, she says, look down on her and fellow native Greenlandic people who are Inuit: “You guys cannot stand on your own feet; you guys don’t have anything without us. You can’t study, you don’t have health care, you have nothing without us.”

Olsen is known as “Greenland’s biggest influencer” with more than a million subscribers combined across YouTube, TikTok and Instagram where she shows the world the best of Greenlandic, and specifically Inuit, culture.

For an introduction to that culture, she brings me to see the “Mother of the Sea” — a striking stone sculpture on Nuuk’s rocky coast, depicting Sedna, the goddess of the sea in the Inuit religion. At high tide the statue is partially submerged.

Inuits (sometimes incorrectly referred to as “Eskimos”) make up almost 90% of Greenland’s population of 57,000.

We walk a few steps away from the shoreline and the “Mother of the Sea,” and Olsen points to the top of a hill and another figure, “I really want this statue gone.”

The statue, which looks over all of Nuuk, is of Hans Egede, an 18th-century Dano-Norwegian missionary who brought Christianity to the island.

“Why should he be up there? Why isn’t it a Greenlander up there?” Olsen asks. “We Greenlanders should be more proud of who we are … not celebrate some foreigner who came here and changed our culture and colonized us.”

Danish control of Greenland dates to the time of Egede. Greenland was granted home-rule in 1979 and, after a referendum in 2008, the island was allowed more self-governing powers including the ability to hold a referendum on independence (though independence would also require approval from the Danish parliament.)

But despite the increased autonomy, for Olsen the statue of Egede is a daily reminder of Danish colonization — something she purposefully talks about in the present tense.

“I used to be a royalist. I used to look up to the Danish people and thought they were better than me. Now, I’ve really realized that’s not the case,” she says.

She points to abuses of Greenland’s native people.

In the 1960s and 70s, doctors placed IUD contraceptives in young Inuit girls without their or their parents’ consent as a means of population control. An investigation by Danish and Greenlandic officials into what has become known as “the spiral case” is expected to finish this year.

“I should have a lot more cousins,” Olsen says.

Another practice known as “legally fatherless” allowed Danish men who impregnated unmarried women in Greenland to skirt any responsibilities for their child. Olsen says her mother was one of the “legally fatherless” children born here.

In recent weeks, Denmark has announced a boost in Arctic defense spending and the Danish king revealed a new design for the royal coast of arms, making far more prominent the symbols for Greenland and the Faroe Islands (also part of the Kingdom of Denmark.)

But it’s too little, too late, says Olsen, who supports independence for Greenland and is standing in upcoming elections.

She acknowledges an independent Greenland would need to sign new agreements with other countries for defense of its 27,000 miles of coastline, and other arrangements when it comes to trade and financial support, but for her that’s no reason to jump from Danish control to American.

“Why should I? I’m so proud of who we are as Inuit,” she says. “Why should we just be taken by another colonizer?”

The US already has strong connections with and interest in Greenland.

Climate change and the loss of sea ice is opening up new shipping routes between the US and Europe; Greenland is rich in oil and gas as well as rare earth minerals needed for modern development — a market currently controlled by China. A US base inside the Arctic Circle in the far northwest of the island gives the US Space Force “Space Superiority,” the military says.

For Tom Dans, the tall Texan with the wide smile, the logical next step is for Greenland to come even closer to Washington.

As we walked along the pier at Nuuk’s frozen harbor — where fishing boats with reinforced hulls, some equipped with harpoons for whaling, broke through the ice — I asked him if we were in the 51st state of the US.

“I don’t think so. This is Greenland,” Dans said, before adding with a laugh, “If we were in Canada, perhaps.”

Dans has no current role in the Trump administration, but was appointed to the US Arctic Research Commission, an independent federal advisory committee, during the first Trump term. He says he’s set up “American Daybreak,” which he describes as “a nonprofit working to build US-Greenlandic relations.”

He also has a personal connection to Greenland. After the Nazis invaded Denmark during World War II, the US stepped up to help to protect Greenland, and Dans’ grandfather was part of that effort as a merchant mariner.

When we met, Dans had just traveled to Narsarsuaq, near the southern tip of Greenland, to commemorate the anniversary of the Nazi torpedoing of the US Army Transport Dorchester with the loss of almost 700 lives in 1943.

Dans gestured toward a Danish Royal Navy vessel moored in the harbor. The Danes provide some security for Greenland but in reality, their navy is too small and the United States is again the main force protecting the island, he said.

It’s an argument he’s also made on the show of a former Trump adviser, Steve Bannon. “Part of what is really important today, in the moment, is for Americans and the rest of the world to realize how closely intertwined our country has been with Greenland for so long and why it’s so important,” he said in a live appearance from Narsarsuaq last Tuesday.

Dans brought me to a café to meet Jørgen Boassen, a Greenlander nicknamed “Trump’s son.”

Boassen achieved semi-celebrity status in the MAGA universe as Greenland’s biggest Trump supporter and was among those who welcomed Donald Trump Jr. when he visited Nuuk last month.

He has made multiple trips to the US in recent months — attending the Trump victory party in Mar-a-Lago on election night and the inauguration. And just a few days into the new Trump administration — Boassen, Dans, and a Greenlandic politician visited the White House, where they posed with the Greenland flag.

But even Boassen does not want Greenland to be taken over by the US.

He doesn’t want to be subsumed as the 51st state, he says, but wants the US to be Greenland’s “best and closest ally with everything — with defense, mining, oil exploration, trade, everything.”

Not all Greenlanders want to break free from Denmark.

“We might be ready someday, but not today, not tomorrow,” says Aqqalu C. Jerimiassen, the leader of Atassut, a party in favor of staying within the Danish kingdom.

He acknowledged the wrongs committed against native Greenlanders and said the Danes must accept responsibility.

“Every colonizer has made mistakes,” he said. “But we cannot live in the past.”

Atassut, which describes itself as a “moderate conservative” party, supports universal health care, free education, and other forms of welfare that are basic concepts across much of Europe, and which Denmark provides for Greenland.

He says while some here “very much would like to be US citizens and would like to follow the American dream,” most would not be in favor of joining the United States and losing universal access to these services.

Greenland is holding elections next month that may reveal more about its population’s views about future relationships with the world. And the parliament just fast-tracked a law banning foreign political funding.

That’s fine by Højdal — the Danish guidance counselor I met at the airport — who said Greenland’s future is for Greenland, not anyone else, to decide.

As she watches the news coming from the United States of the hectic first weeks of the second Trump administration, she says a Turkish proverb comes to mind.

“When a clown enters a castle, he doesn’t become a king. The castle becomes a circus.”

Greenland, she hopes, doesn’t become a circus.

Pacific allies don’t usually air their dirty laundry in public.

But a rare on-the-record dispute between New Zealand and Kiribati has renewed focus on the poor and isolated island nation, highlighting the existential threat it faces from the climate crisis – against the backdrop of a tussle between the world’s biggest powers for regional dominance.

When New Zealand’s right-wing government unexpectedly announced an aid review for its Pacific neighbor last week – ostensibly over an alleged snub to a top official – it “caused serious anxiety” for the approximately 120,000 people who live in Kiribati, according to one i-Kiribati minister.

Foreign aid accounted for 18% of Kiribati’s national income in 2022, according to the Lowy Institute – with New Zealand among its largest donors.

The Micronesian nation of 33 coral islands is scattered over a remote area of the central Pacific that spans 3.5 million square kilometers (1.3 million square miles) – an area larger than India.

Though among the least populated countries, Kiribati has one of the world’s largest exclusive economic zones. Its relative proximity to Hawaii and United States military bases in Guam also gives it strategic importance as great powers compete for influence in the vast waterways between Asia and the Americas.

The diplomatic fallout has put fresh attention on the battle for influence in the Pacific between China and Western nations, mainly the United States.

It also comes as US President Donald Trump’s administration threatens to disrupt American relations in the region, with concerns from Pacific leaders over how US withdrawals from the Paris climate agreement and World Health Organization, as well as a 90-day aid freeze, will impact vulnerable communities.

Diplomatic spat

The dispute erupted last week with a sudden move from New Zealand’s deputy prime minister.

Peters had planned to lead a delegation to Kiribati last month, which included the handover of a New Zealand-funded $14 million hospital upgrade.

But a week before they were set to arrive, Kiribati told the delegation that Maamau, who is also the country’s foreign minister, “was no longer available” to receive them, Peters’ spokesperson said.

“The lack of political-level contact makes it very difficult for us to agree joint priorities for our development program, and to ensure that it is well targeted and delivers good value for money,” Peters’ office added.

Between 2021 and 2024, New Zealand’s aid commitments to Kiribati totaled $57 million, with investments in health, education, fisheries, economic development, and climate resilience.

An analyst said New Zealand’s surprising move to review the entire assistance package was born out of “deep frustration” from Peters “that a number of diplomatic efforts to engage with the Kiribati government have been rebuffed.”

“New Zealand has struggled to get access with the Kiribati government, including across those key areas in which New Zealand is supporting health, climate and education, for instance,” said Anna Powles, associate professor at the Centre for Defence and Security Studies at Massey University in New Zealand.

Kiribati framed the situation as a misunderstanding, however.

In a statement, the Kiribati President’s Office said it was “surprised to learn” there were media reports on Peters’ visit, “which was still under active negotiations based on the understanding that alternative dates were to be explored.”

What’s really going on?

The dispute may reflect concern shared among Western countries that their interests in the Pacific are being weakened by China’s diplomatic and economic outreach, experts say.

Maamau had embarked on a visit to two of Kiribati’s nearest neighbors when the dispute became public.

“Kiribati has clearly indicated who its preferred partners are in the region: Fiji, Nauru and then, of course, China,” Powles said.

“Both New Zealand, as we’ve just seen, and Australia have had challenges in terms of engaging with Kiribati and getting the type of access that they would hope to get. Whereas China has not had those same challenges at all.”

Many Pacific nations have forged closer ties with Beijing in recent years. In 2019, pro-China President Maamau oversaw Kiribati’s switch in diplomatic ties from Taiwan to China, one of several Pacific countries to do so.

Under Maamau, who was re-elected to a third term in October last year, Kiribati has taken an authoritarian and isolationist turn, critics say. A prominent opposition leader last year raised concerns over a lack of transparency about 10 agreements signed between Kiribati and China in 2022.

Tensions rose that year when Maamau also pulled out of the Pacific Islands Forum, threatening the unity of the 18-member grouping at a time when the region faced increased geopolitical pressure. It rejoined in 2023, though some suspected Beijing’s hand in the decision to leave, a claim China’s Foreign Ministry rejected as “completely groundless.”

Pacific security partners Australia, New Zealand and the US have also expressed concern about the presence of uniformed Chinese officers on Kiribati and the Solomon Islands.

New Zealand going public with the spat was “not smart diplomacy,” said Jon Fraenkel, professor in comparative politics at Victoria University of Wellington. But it was unlikely that Wellington would ultimately cut the aid package, he added.

And though Beijing is a significant partner, “the level of Chinese assistance to Kiribati has not been extraordinarily large,” Fraenkel said. “A lot of it is just grant assistance, which may or may not have some kind of developmental impact.”

Concerns over Beijing’s influence in the region were reinforced on Wednesday when the Cook Islands’ Prime Minister Mark Brown announced a state visit to China next week to discuss a strategic partnership agreement. The Cook Islands is in free association with New Zealand, which means its people hold New Zealand citizenship.

The ministry said it expects the Cook Islands government to fully consult Wellington on “any major international agreements” that have “major strategic and security implications.”

US concerns

Under former President Joe Biden, the US ramped up rhetoric, as well as defense and security assistance to the Pacific to counter China’s growing regional influence.

It signed security agreements with Papua New Guinea and Fiji, renewed the Compacts of Free Association with Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia and the Marshall Islands, and opened an embassy in the Solomon Islands.

But US aid to the Pacific only accounted for 7% of oversees funding to the region in 2022, according to the Lowy Insitute’s Pacific Aid Map.

“There is a sense of concern that the US was not able to make as many inroads into the region as many partners in the Pacific had hoped,” Powles said.

The Biden administration unsuccessfully attempted to reopen an embassy in Kiribati and the US has “very little leverage on the ground,” she added.

And with Trump back in power, there is more concern that cuts to USAID, and Washington’s impending withdrawals from the Paris climate agreement and WHO “will further undermine the US’ reputation in the region,” Powles said.

The climate crisis is one of the region’s biggest security concerns. The Pacific Islands are among the most climate vulnerable places and are disproportionately affected by a warming world despite contributing the least to global emissions.

Rising and warming seas, the loss of coral reefs, acidic oceans, dwindling supplies of fresh water and fish, as well as disaster recovery support from more powerful cyclones are among the most pressing concerns.

Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister James Marape said last month that the US withdrawing from the climate agreement was “totally irresponsible.”

As well as setting the US back on its own climate commitments, the withdrawal would impact funds for climate resiliency, disaster relief, and health.

“Trump’s strategy in the Pacific will be both deeply transactional but also prioritizing security over other forms of assistance and cooperation,” Powles said.

Among the tranche of executive actions Trump signed on his first day in office was an order to increase US Coast Guard presence around the world, including in the Pacific.

With Trump’s transactional nature, there are concerns Pacific Islands would be forced to choose between China and US assistance, Powles added.

But the island countries “are not fools,” said Fraenkel, of Victoria University of Wellington.

“Certainly, anything that isolates Kiribati from New Zealand or Australia makes it more likely that they’ll look elsewhere,” he added. But the impression that the island states are “just simply being seduced by the baubles of Beijing, is a slightly crude characterization.”

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist party won elections in the sprawling megacity of Delhi for the first time in 27 years on Saturday, defeating one of his most prominent critics in a much-needed boost after losing its national majority last year.

Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 48 seats in the capital territory’s 70-member assembly, according to figures posted online by the Indian Election Commission.

“Development wins, good governance triumphs,” said Modi in a post on X. “I bow to my dear sisters and brothers of Delhi for this resounding and historic mandate.”

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) of Arvind Kejriwal, one of Modi’s most prominent opponents and former chief minister of the capital, won just 22 seats.

“We accept the mandate of the people with great humility. I congratulate the BJP for this victory, and I hope they will fulfil all the promises for which people have voted them,” Kejriwal said in a video statement.

Delhi, a sprawling city of some 20 million people, faces huge issues like access to housing and high levels of air pollution that blanket the city in toxic smog for months each year.

The capital has long been a stumbling block for the BJP electoral juggernaut, which has rolled across much of India over the past decade, with the party last holding power there in 1998.

The AAP, which grew out of a popular anti-corruption movement, has governed the capital – home to India’s parliament and government buildings – since 2015.

Just before general elections in April last year, Kejriwal was arrested on graft charges that he and his party said were ordered by the BJP, something Modi’s government has long denied.

The US State Department later angered Modi’s government by calling on authorities to ensure a fair legal process for Kejriwal.

Modi won a third term at last year’s mammoth general elections, becoming the first leader since India’s founding prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, to secure such a feat. But voters delivered a shock result that reduced the BJP’s majority in the national parliament, and the party now governs the country of 1.4 billion people as part of a coalition.