World leaders react to hostage deal between Israel, Hamas

On Wednesday, some leaders around the world reacted to news of a hostage exchange deal seeming to have been reached between Israel and Hamas. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan expressed his hope that the ceasefire would pave the way for lasting peace, saying, “We hope that this step leads to the permanent ceasefire — which is our priority and which we expect to be declared as soon as possible — and peace.” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged G20 leaders to take action to prevent the conflict from escalating and added, “We welcome the move to release the hostages. We hope that all hostages will be released soon.” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expressed his support for the “humanitarian pause,” which he said is what Canada and others have been calling for, for weeks now. "This is an important bit of progress, but we have to redouble our efforts now to get toward a lasting peace," he added. Russian President Vladimir Putin also weighed in, describing the events in Gaza as "shocking” and asked, “But what about the bloody state coup in Ukraine in 2014, which was followed by the war of the Kyiv regime against their own people in Donbas? Is it not shocking?”