Israel Financial News

Yahya Sinwar, the current Hamas chief, to potentially end the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza. Sinwar, who took over the leadership after the death of former Hamas Chief Ismail Haniyeh on July 31, was believed to be hiding in southern Gaza. Special Forces from Israel entered a tunnel in the region with a tip from intelligence agencies, but found the target location deserted except for papers and Israeli currency worth approximately $10 million. Yahya Sinwar, responsible for planning the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 last year, took over the leadership after Haniyeh's death in Iran a month prior. Sinwar, known for his elusive nature, has repeatedly evaded capture by Israeli forces.

hummus in Grand Cheese Bazaar, the pioneering food shop started by Karen Anand in Mumbai in 1990. The cheese was nice, but what was great was this creamy, tangy, deeply tasty mash of chickpeas, garlic, olive oil and thick tahina sesame paste. It worked like a sauce, but was substantial like a spread and less rich-tasting than cheese or paté, so you could eat more. With some good bread or rotis, it made for a full meal. All I knew was that it was Middle Eastern, so when I went to spend a few weeks in Egypt, I looked forward to eating a lot more of it. But for Egyptians, the pulses that mattered most was ful, slow-cooked fava beans. Chickpeas (which is literally what hummus means) weren’t as popular, either whole or mashed. I searched in supermarkets, but found only some sad tasting, canned hummus. I was told that most people made it at home, or ordered it in restaurants as part of the starters called mezze.

Gold prices ticked up on Monday, extending gains from the last session as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's dovish remarks solidified expectations of an interest rate cut next month.

Lebanon's Hezbollah has drawn on a greatly expanded arsenal during more than 10 months of cross-border hostilities with Israel. One of the world's most heavily armed non-state groups, it says it has used just a small part of its weaponry so far. It launched hundreds of rockets and drones against Israel on Sunday in retaliation for the assassination of a senior commander in Beirut last month, the Iranian-backed movement said. The Israeli military said it had thwarted a much larger attack with pre-emptive strikes. Here are some facts about Hezbollah's weapons:

Fires have broken on a Greek-flagged oil tanker previously attacked by Yemen’s Houthi rebels this week

Israel launched airstrikes inside Lebanon early Sunday that its military said targeted positions of the Shiite militia Hezbollah. In a statement, the Israeli military accused Hezbollah of «preparing to file missiles and rockets toward Israeli territory.» "‎‏In a self-defense act to remove these threats, the (Israeli military) is striking terror targets in Lebanon, from which Hezbollah was planning to launch their attacks on Israeli civilians," Israeli military spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said.

CAIRO/JERUSALEM: Gaza ceasefire and hostage negotiators discussed new compromise proposals in Cairo on Saturday, seeking to bridge gaps between Israel and Hamas as the UN reported worsening humanitarian conditions, with malnutrition soaring and polio discovered. Israeli military strikes in Gaza killed 50 people on Saturday, Palestinian health authorities said. Victims of hostilities over the past 48 hours remain lying on roads where fighting continues or trapped under rubble, the authorities said.

Oil prices rose more than 1% on Friday as U.S. Federal Reserve Bank Chair Jerome Powell signalled interest rate cuts would be among the central bank's priorities in the coming months. Brent crude futures rose by $1.27, or 1.63%, to $78.49 a barrel at 9:50 a.m. CDT (1450 GMT), while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose $1.33, or 1.81%, to $74.34.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Friday said he had spoken with his Israeli counterpart to discuss a range of issues in the region, including the ongoing exchanges of fire on the Israel-Lebanon border and the need to finalize a ceasefire deal. In a post on X, Austin said he also discussed the risk of escalation from Iran and Iran-backed groups in the call on Thursday and told Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant that the United States is well postured across the region.

Veteran PBS journalist Judy Woodruff has apologized for remarks she had made regarding former President Donald Trump and negotiations for peace between Israel and Hamas in Gaza

Chicago: Leaders of an «Uncommitted» movement, which garnered hundreds of thousands of votes in Democratic primaries across the nation in protest of the Israel-Hamas war, have been negotiating for weeks to secure a speaking slot for a Palestinian American at the Democratic National Convention this week. The negotiations stalled late Wednesday when leaders with the Uncommitted National Movement say a Democratic National Committee official called and delivered a firm response: «The answer is no.» The leader, Abbas Alawieh, an «Uncommitted» delegate to the convention and co-founder of the movement, described the call as shocking after weeks of talks that he felt were positive. In response, he and other delegates decided to stage a sit-in outside Chicago's United Center, where the convention is being held. They spent the night on the sidewalk on Wednesday, and vowed to remain until their request was granted or the convention ended Thursday night. «When we ran out of options — doing everything we can and working from the inside, when we ran out of options as uncommitted delegates, we just sat down,» Alawieh said in an interview Thursday.

A French destroyer rescued 29 mariners from an oil tanker that came under repeated attack from Yemen's Houthi rebels in the Red Sea, while also destroying a bomb-carrying drone boat in the area

A Greek-flagged oil tanker traveling through the Red Sea has come under repeated attack, leaving the vessel “not under command” and drifting ablaze in an assault suspected to have been carried out by Yemen’s Houthi rebels

Hamas said it was «keen» on reaching a cease-fire agreement with Israel, denying what it said were US claims it is stalling negotiations to end the devastating conflict in Gaza. The Palestinian militant group Tuesday said remarks by US President Joe Biden and his top diplomat, Antony Blinken, were «misleading and don't reflect the reality of the movement's position.» The comments came a day after Blinken met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and said the next step toward a truce is for «Hamas to say yes.» Blinken said Netanyahu had accepted a proposal the US is calling a «bridging agreement» to tide the sides over until they iron out the final details. Hamas said the proposal was different from a Biden-led plan unveiled in May, suggesting they are unhappy with Israel's latest demands. The two sides are meant to start a new round of negotiations in Cairo this week, but no date's been set for that yet. Egypt is mediating, along with the US and Qatar.

Pro-Palestinian organizers have vowed to flood the streets of Chicago with thousands of protesters during the Democratic National Convention, which [began Monday]. If successful, they will make headlines, but they also will almost certainly alienate allies as they attempt to box in Vice President Kamala Harris on Gaza. Harris has already taken a firmer stand than President Joe Biden in demanding Israel focus its attacks on Hamas rather than the Palestinian people.

Bitcoin remained relatively stable throughout the week, trading between $58,000 and $59,000 as markets anticipated a series of key data releases. The week kicked off with the release of July's Consumer Price Index (CPI) data from both the US and the UK on Wednesday. This was followed by major earnings reports on Thursday from retail giants Walmart and Alibaba. Today, all eyes are on the GDP data expected from Hong Kong and Taiwan, which could further influence market dynamics. Despite these developments, Bitcoin has yet to gather the momentum needed to break above the crucial $60,000 level. A surge in liquidations from crypto derivatives markets has contributed to the lack of upward movement. The US CPI data revealed a price rebound for July, aligning with market expectations. However, this has tempered hopes for a significant interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve in the upcoming month, adding to the cautious sentiment among investors. Additionally, rising geopolitical tensions between Iran and Israel have further intensified market pressures, creating an uncertain environment for risk assets like Bitcoin. Whales are active at the support levels buying the dip.

Hezbollah group said it launched several rocket salvos at Israeli army positions in the annexed Golan Heights on Tuesday «in response» to Israeli strikes on eastern Lebanon the previous day. Hezbollah fighters launched «intense rocket barrages» at two Israeli army positions in the occupied Golan Heights «in response to the Israeli enemy's attack on the Bekaa» Valley — which a source close to Hezbollah said targeted weapons depots in the eastern region. The Israeli military confirmed that around 55 projectiles were identified crossing from Lebanese territory.

NASA is always concerned when it gets to approaching asteroids towards the Earth, and now yet another building-sized asteroid has come very close to the Earth's proximity, making it a major risk factor, which the US space agency has raised serious concerns about.

Israeli strikes killed at least 21 people in Gaza on Sunday, including six children, Palestinian health authorities said, ahead of a visit to the region by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to try to push forward ceasefire talks. The children and their mother were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a house in the central town of Deir Al-Balah, health officials said. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. The Israeli military said it destroyed rocket launchers used to hit Israel from the southern city of Khan Younis, the scene of intense fighting in recent weeks, and killed 20 Palestinian fighters.

Antony Blinken left Saturday on a mission to the Middle East to push ahead a Gaza ceasefire deal, as cautious optimism rises. The top US diplomat, who is putting off vacation plans for his ninth trip to the Middle East since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, will fly to Tel Aviv ahead of expected meetings with the Israeli leadership. He has routinely visited Arab states on previous trips but no further stops were immediately announced.

OpenAI said on Friday it had taken down accounts of an Iranian group for using its ChatGPT chatbot to generate content meant for influencing the U.S. presidential election and other issues. The operation, identified as Storm-2035, used ChatGPT to generate content focused on topics such as commentary on the candidates on both sides in the U.S. elections, the conflict in Gaza and Israel's presence at the Olympic Games and then shared it via social media accounts and websites. Investigation by the Microsoft-backed AI company showed that ChatGPT was used for generating long-form articles and shorter social media comments.