Israel Financial News

By Estelle Shirbon

After 100 days, Israel’s war with Hamas is turning into a protracted conflict with no clear end, threatening to spread across the Middle East, disrupt global trade and bog down the U.S. One of the biggest geopolitical events this century, the war has swung from a Hamas attack on Oct. 7 that Israel says killed 1,200 people to the Israeli military’s ferocious retaliation against the militant group in Gaza.

The U.S. military has struck another Houthi-controlled site in Yemen that it had determined was putting commercial vessels in the Red Sea at risk

RBI Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) member Jayanth R Varma said on Sunday. Varma further said he expects a benign outcome in 2024 where inflation comes down and growth remains robust. «The Indian economy has withstood all these shocks (Russia-Ukraine war, Israel-Hamas war, rising oil prices, Houthi attacks) in the last couple of years, and I do not believe that the geopolitical situation will be significantly worse in coming months than what we experienced in the recent past,» he told PTI in an interview.

Gold, reeling under hotter than expected December US CPI inflation data released on Thursday, caught a bid Friday as the US and the UK launched airstrikes on Iran-backed Houthis' targets in Yemen to stop shipping attacks in the Red Sea. In a reaction, the Yemeni Group vowed to retaliate with an urgent response in the form of a move that intends to target all US and UK interests alongside those linked to Israel. The strike by the US and UK, which included more than 70 airstrikes on Yemen targets, risks spreading fallout from Israel-Hamas war, which, in the worst-case scenario, can drag in other regional powers more directly. It is to be noted that earlier in the week, Houthis launched their biggest shipping attacks and Iran seized an oil tanker off the Coast of Oman. The US government has not ruled out more strikes on the Houthis targets.

South Africa says more than 50 countries have expressed support for its case at the United Nations' top court accusing Israel of genocide against Palestinians in the war in Gaza. Others, including the United States, have strongly rejected South Africa's allegation that Israel is violating the U.N. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Many more have remained silent.

Hamas have been waging war for 100 days since gunmen from the Palestinian militant group went on the rampage in southern Israel, triggering an Israeli military campaign in which nearly 24,000 Palestinians have been killed. The war between Israel and Hamas that has raged since October is the latest in a conflict between Israelis and Palestinians that has rumbled on for seven decades and destabilised the Middle East.

Jaishankar will meet Foreign Minister of Iran, HE Dr Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and hold discussions on bilateral, regional and global issues. "Political cooperation, connectivity initiatives and strong people-to-people ties will constitute important aspects of the agenda," the statement by the ministry added. Jaishankar and Amir-Abdollahian are also likely to discuss boosting regional connectivity through the Chabahar Port.

₹6,045 per bbl, having swung between ₹6,007 and ₹6,236 per bbl during the session, against a previous close of ₹6,033 per barrel. -While the diversions by oil tankers were expected to push up the cost and time it take to transport oil, supplies have not yet been impacted, analysts and industry experts noted, easing some of the earlier gains in prices. Analysts said that if the conflict were to spread to the other side of the Arabian peninsula, oil markets may react much more significantly.

Hamas terrorists barged into Israel's territory from Gaza and killed around 1,400 civilians. The terrorists also took more than 200 people with them as hostages and is using them to negotiate with Israel. The judges of the UN's top legal body heard strong arguments from both sides and likely to deliver the verdict in the case soon.

Gaza Strip on Saturday as its deadly war on the enclave's Hamas rulers approached 100 days with no end in sight. In the southern city of Rafah, an Israeli airstrike on a house sheltering two displaced families killed 10 people, the Gaza health ministry said. Holding up a photo of a dead girl with a piece of bread in her hand, Bassem Arafeh, a relative, said the families in Rafah had been eating dinner when the house was struck on Friday night. «This child died while she was hungry, while she was eating a piece of bread with nothing on it, where is the International Criminal Court to see how the children die?» Arafeh said. «Where are the Muslims… and the world leaders?» Israel says it targets militants and does all it can to minimize harm to non-combatants as it wages urban warfare against Hamas in the densely populated Palestinian enclave. But the scale of the killing in Gaza and the dire humanitarian situation has shocked world opinion and fuelled growing calls for a ceasefire. The Israeli military on Saturday said its forces had killed numerous militants in the southern area of Khan Younis and in the central Gaza Strip.

Israel is rejecting allegations levied by South Africa that its campaign against Hamas amounts to genocide against the Palestinian people

Joe Biden faced vocal opposition during his visit to Pennsylvania on January 12, with protesters expressing discontent over his support for Israel in its conflict with Hamas in Gaza, NDTV reported. Demonstrators could be heard shouting, "No vote for genocide, Joe," while others referred to the president as a "loser" and urged him to "go home", it said. Sources told the publication that Biden left Pennsylvania without delivering his prepared speech.

divisions over proposed reforms to the country’s Supreme Court. Some reservists threatened not to serve if the divisive prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, and his far-right coalition passed laws weakening the powers of the court. It was one of the army’s most turbulent periods in recent times.

By Idrees Ali, Phil Stewart and Mohammed Ghobari

airstrikes in Yemen on Thursday, targeting Houthi rebels. The Yemen authorities have now vowed vendetta, saying “America and Britain will have to prepare to pay a heavy price". The attack by the US and UK on Yemen comes weeks after the Houthi rebels allegedly unleashed disruptive attacks on the Red Sea hurting commercial shipping on the trade route.

By Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali

Suez Canal. Supply chain struggles are now back on the agenda. Container ships are being forced to avoid the Red Sea and Suez Canal, the main route for shipments from Asia to Europe and an important one for deliveries to the US East Coast, after Iran-backed Houthi rebels started attacking ships as part of a campaign against Israel.

Mint takes a closer look at the situation. For close to two months, attacks on ships on the vital Red Sea routes have troubled the international community. The Houthis, a rebel group in northern Yemen, have launched these attacks in an effort to punish Israel, a key link along the trade route, for its military offensive in Gaza.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday raised concerns over China's human rights issues in a meeting with senior Chinese official Liu Jianchao in Washington, the State Department said, adding they also discussed «maintaining peace and stability» in the Taiwan Strait. WHY IT IS IMPORTANT

U.S. Navy on Friday warned American-flagged vessels to steer clear of areas around Yemen in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden for the next 72 hours after the U.S. and Britain launched multiple airstrikes targeting Houthi rebels. The warning in a notice to shippers came as Yemen's Houthis vowed fierce retaliation for the U.S.-led strikes, further raising the prospect of a wider conflict in a region already beset by Israel's war in Gaza. U.S.