Palestine Financial News

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his new national-security team are planning a major ground offensive in Gaza in the belief that capturing and holding swaths of territory will allow them to finally defeat Palestinian Islamist militant group Hamas, according to people familiar with the government’s thinking. On Sunday, Israel sent infantry into the northern part of the Gaza Strip and areas around Rafah in the south.

Israeli airstrike in southern Gaza killed a Hamas political leader, Salah al-Bardaweel, on Sunday, the militant group said, as Palestinian officials put the death toll from nearly 18 months of conflict at over 50,000. After two months of relative calm in the war, Gazans have again been fleeing for their lives after Israel effectively abandoned a ceasefire, launching a new all-out air and ground campaign on Tuesday against Hamas. Explosions echoed throughout the north, central and southern Gaza Strip early on Sunday, as Israeli planes hit several targets in those areas in what witnesses said was an escalation of the attacks that began earlier in the week. At least 30 Palestinians had been killed in Israeli strikes on Rafah and Khan Younis so far on Sunday, health authorities said. Those killed included three municipal employees, medics said. Hamas said the airstrike on Khan Younis killed Bardaweel and his wife. Israeli officials had no immediate comment.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Israel’s military is expanding its ground operations across the Gaza Strip, with troops operating in key locations across the enclave in an effort to pressure Hamas as talks to stop the fighting and release more hostages have stalled. Israeli troops pressed into the northern Gaza border town of Beit Hanoun on Saturday to lay the groundwork for expanding Israel’s security buffer, a several-hundred-meter-wide zone the military has carved out within Gaza that spans its border with Israel.

Israeli strike killed a senior Hamas political leader in the Gaza Strip overnight, the militant group said early Sunday. Iran-backed rebels in Yemen who are allied with Hamas meanwhile launched another missile at Israel, setting off air raid sirens.

licence plates “all manner of alphabetical permutations and combinations were on view”. This included JA (Jamaica), WAG (West Africa and Gambia), FM (Federated Malay States), BI (British India), M (Mandatory Palestine), EA (Kenya and East Africa) and SAU (South African Union). ToI explained that the UK allowed drivers from most countries to use their cars without paying any charge for 90 days, but because the US had not signed the relevant international convention: “American cars are required to be registered with British number plates and this is done at the ship’s side.” Licence plate-spotting goes back a while.

Hamas ties. The detention of Badar Khan Suri, a postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown University in the US capital, came as fears mount in the academic world that freedom of research and speech is being challenged two months into US President Donald Trump's new term. Suri's lawyer demanded his release and denounced the arrest as a «targeted, retaliatory detention» that was intended «to silence, or at the very least restrict and chill, his speech» as well as that of others who «express support for Palestinian rights.» Early Thursday evening Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles of the Eastern District of Virginia Court ordered Suri «shall not be removed from the United States unless and until the court issues a contrary order.» The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which has also filed an emergency motion to stop the deportation, said Suri was being held at an immigration detention center in Louisiana.

Federal Reserve's hint at rate cuts this year also fostered appeal.

The United Nation on Thursday released the World Happiness Report 2025 that focused on the impact of caring and sharing on people’s happiness. This year, Finland has been declared as the happiest country out of 147 countries. Which one is the unhappiest?

Yemen early Thursday. In Jerusalem, several explosions were heard shortly after the sirens sounded. There were no immediate reports of injuries. Yemen's Houthi group this week resumed missile attacks following the collapse of Israel's ceasefire with Hamas. Police also reported sirens in central Israel in the 4 a.m. attack. The MADA rescue service says it has received no reports of injuries. Israel said Wednesday its troops retook part of a corridor that bisects Gaza, and its defense minister warned that attacks would intensify until Hamas frees dozens of hostages and gives up control of the territory.

«I really wanted to believe that there is still a chance to reach a second stage without renewing this war. But it feels like my building of hope has collapsed, and I have no idea what to do next,» Nimrodi said Tuesday. Nearly 60 families have relatives still held in Gaza. About two dozen hostages are believed to be alive. During the ceasefire's first phase, which began in January, Hamas released 25 Israeli hostages and the bodies of eight others in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. But since that phase ended early this month, the sides have not been able to agree on a way forward. Israel's renewed airstrikes threaten to end the fragile deal.

Oil prices slid on Wednesday after Russia agreed to U.S. President Donald Trump's proposal that Moscow and Kyiv stop attacking each other's energy infrastructure temporarily, which could lead to more Russian oil entering global markets. Brent crude futures were down 12 cents, or 0.2%, at $70.44 a barrel by 0106 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) lost 15 cents, or 0.2%, to $66.75.

«The Trump administration and the White House were consulted by the Israelis on their attacks in Gaza tonight,» White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a Fox News interview. Palestinian medics in Gaza reported dozens of people were killed in the aftermath of a series of the most violent air attacks by Israel on the Palestinian enclave since a ceasefire was reached on January 19 between Israel and Hamas militants. A senior Hamas official said Israel had unilaterally overturned the ceasefire agreement. «As President Trump has made it clear — Hamas, the Houthis, Iran, all those who seek to terrorize not just Israel, but also the United States of America, will see a price to pay. All hell will break loose,» the White House spokesperson said.

Hamas warned that Israel's new airstrikes early Tuesday breached their ceasefire and put the fate of hostages in jeopardy. Israel said it launched the wave of airstrikes across the Gaza Strip because of a lack of progress in ongoing talks to extend the ceasefire. It was not immediately clear if the operation was a one-time pressure tactic or if the 17-month-old war was being resumed altogether. Hamas said Israel's government was responsible for an «unprovoked escalation» against Palestinians. Gaza's ministry of health said at least 44 people were killed in the airstrikes early Tuesday. Israel launched a wave of airstrikes across the Gaza Strip early Tuesday, saying it was striking Hamas targets in its heaviest assault in the territory since a ceasefire took effect in January. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had ordered the strikes because of a lack of progress in ongoing talks to extend the ceasefire. It was not immediately clear if the operation was a one-time pressure tactic or if the 17-month-old war was being resumed altogether.

Gaza early Tuesday morning. Israel launched a new wave of airstrikes across the Gaza Strip, saying it was striking Hamas targets in its heaviest assault in the territory since a ceasefire took effect in January. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had ordered the strikes because of a lack of progress in ongoing talks to extend the ceasefire. It was not immediately clear if the operation was a one-time pressure tactic or if the 17-month-old war was being resumed altogether. «This comes after Hamas repeatedly refused to release our hostages and rejected all offers it received from the U.S. presidential envoy, Steve Witkoff, and from the mediators,» Netanyahu's office said. Taher Nunu, a Hamas official, criticized the Israeli attacks. «The international community faces a moral test: either it allows the return of the crimes committed by the occupation army or it enforces a commitment to ending the aggression and war against innocent people in Gaza,» he said.

economic outlook amid tariffs and trade woes.

Ranjani Srinivasan, an Indian student at Columbia University who opted to «self-deport» after her visa was revoked, has described the terrifying moment when federal immigration agents first knocked on the door of her varsity apartment. The immigration agents were searching for Srinivasan, 37, who had recently learned her student visa had been revoked. Srinivasan, an international PhD student from India, did not open the door when the three immigration agents knocked at it, the New York Times reported. She was not home when the agents showed up again the next night. She packed a few belongings, left her cat behind with a friend and jumped on a flight to Canada at LaGuardia Airport, the report added. When the agents returned a third time, this past Thursday night, and entered her apartment with a judicial warrant, she was gone.

geopolitical tensions, jitters about tariffs escalating trade frictions, and increased hopes of interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve continued to fuel safe-haven demand.

The Houthi-run Health Ministry said the overnight U.S. strikes killed at least 53 people, including five women and two children, and wounded almost 100 in the capital of Sanaa and other provinces, including Saada, the rebels' stronghold on the border with Saudi Arabia. «We're not going to have these people controlling which ships can go through and which ones cannot. And so your question is, how long will this go on? It will go on until they no longer have the capability to do that,» Secretary of State Marco Rubio told CBS on Sunday. He said these are not the one-off retaliation strikes the Biden administration carried out after Houthi attacks. President Donald Trump on Saturday vowed to use «overwhelming lethal force» until the Houthis cease their attacks, and warned that Tehran would be held «fully accountable» for their actions. The Houthis have repeatedly targeted international shipping in the Red Sea, sinking two vessels, in what they call acts of solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza, where Israel has been at war with Hamas, another Iranian ally.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The Trump administration is seeking to deport Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University student arrested last week after his participation in pro-Palestinian demonstrations, under a seldom-used provision of immigration law. Khalil, a 30-year-old lawful permanent resident, is awaiting his fate in a federal Louisiana immigration detention facility after being arrested in New York on Saturday.

Three federal immigration agents showed up at a Columbia University apartment searching for Ranjani Srinivasan, who had recently learned her student visa had been revoked. Srinivasan, an international student from India, did not open the door. She was not home when the agents showed up again the next night, just hours before a former Columbia student living in campus housing, Mahmoud Khalil, was detained, roiling the university. Srinivasan packed a few belongings, left her cat behind with a friend and jumped on a flight to Canada at LaGuardia Airport.

Following the offer on Friday, Israel said the Palestinian militants had «not budged a millimetre» after a proposal from US President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy. The first phase of the truce, which began in January, ended on March 1 without agreement on next steps. A Hamas official said negotiations began in Doha on Tuesday. «The ball is in Israel's court,» a Hamas spokesman said. «We want to solidify the ceasefire agreement and force (Israel) to implement its terms,» Abdul Latif al-Qanou told AFP, accusing Israel of «delaying» its enforcement.